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Danielle -- don't let this stress you. In the end, human beings are 99.99999999 (to infinity) the same. That was proven by the Human Genome Project, way back in the late 1990s. If you saw some of my cousins, you would be shocked. They "look" white - like you! (Whatever that is supposed to mean). Some of them are so "white" that you would never be able to guess that they have even one drop of African in them. My late aunt, Tante Fifi looked like a German woman. Her sister, Tante Ti Ta, looked like a very light skin Black woman. Both were born in Haiti to the same parents. The reality is that everyone, no matter how non-African they "look" are all descendants of Africans. We are all from the same stuff no matter what people want to believe. What I am waiting to see is the SHOCK of Spanish People when they realize that "Iberian Peninsula" = Mixed Black. ** Spain is about 16 miles from Northern Africa -- The Moors. The Spanish and The Moors have been interbreeding for thousands of years. BTW -- Look up the Alhambra Palace to see what The Moors (and Spanish) created.
I haven't seen the video because the series bores me, but in part it has to do with being a left-wing newspaper, therefore with low self-esteem and lack of Christian values, another part because the USA is a traditionally racist country and its victims are also racists like we have had the pleasure of tasting in this same forum. Everyone likes to have someone underneath them, and I mean everyone. Another reason is the lack of an adequate dictionary like Spanish, which I have also been able to verify here, but hey, in a language whose slang dictionary already has more entries than the Oxford one and that few people speak correctly, it is difficult to avoid. You are mulatto, not black. Mulata in Spanish is a compliment. If you call it to a Cuban or a Brazilian girl, they start making faces to you and moving their hips. "Oye cómo va... mi ritmo... bueno pa gozar... mulata!" (Carlos Santana)
@@nytn I love that you 5th Great Grandfather won his freedom. Nöel Coindet v. Benjamin Metoyer because he deserved it 3 months earlier. But thank God he got it and justice was served. 🙏🏽😇
It's because of the one drop rule. Everyone around me considers me black, even without asking me what my heritage is. Everyone who knows me, knows I'm not fully black, but that's still how I'm viewed.
I have an ancestor who is AfroCanadian I would be considered black in the US but I’m a mixed human being with European, Aboriginal Australian and African heritage I’m proud of all my ancestors equally their struggles make me proud to see they came through and had a full and rich life
According to my genetic DNA testing from 2015, my roots are “unwanted Melungeon heritage” hailing from Robeson County in southeast North Carolina. However, I have learned that so many very light-skinned Melungeon relatives chose to “pass for white” in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries to escape from hardship to look for a better life. The funny thing is that I told them that the “One-Drop Rule” did not exist in law until the legislation created and passed a eugenics law called the “Racial Integration Act of 1924” law to replace the outdated 17th-century eugenics law called the “Pocahontas Clause” and then added the One Drop Rule policy until on April 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 law (43 years span). 🤔🤔🤔 I wrote in 2015: everybody, ... I received my AncestryDNA testing results yesterday, and here is my DNA list: Africa: Cameroon/Congo Benin/Togo Ivory Coast/Ghana Nigeria Senegal Mali Africa Southeastern Bantu Africa North Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers America: Native American Asia: Aisa South (India) Europe: Ireland Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden) Europe West (France and Germany) Finland/Northwest Russia Great Britain Europe East European Jewish Italy/Greece
@hellothere4724: Thanks for posting this. This is the most accurate description of the black American experience when it comes to so called white (and Indian) ancestors. Why would I want to identify with people who have never treated me as family let alone as a full citizen of the US? It is not black Americans' mission, calling, or job to engage in one sided love affairs with hostile or indifferent groups in order to "heal" America or to "save" western civilization or humanity from itself.
I am 92% European and 8% African. Oddly enough I have African ancestry on both sides of my family. I only found out because of the Navy tests for blood disorders. I was called to a room with 34 other men and they were all black. I have G6PD deficiency or I would have had to wait another 30 years to find out. On a side note my family always insisted we have native American ancestors. This seems to be common among both white and black people. Both would rather come from natives than the other.
Many natives with darker skin where classified as Black. Many were also enslaved. This is well documented in Virginia if you look up Walter Plecker and the Racial Integrity Act, but I'm sure similar things were happening all over.
Congratulations on getting your story in the Washington Post. I don't think it's that surprising that WAPO would assume that someone who writes about African American ancestry is African American, yes they should have asked but we live in this culture where we live with the myth of racial purity and segregation. Like you said, it's a lot more nuanced in reality.
For black folks it's not that serious. We don't throw out the parts of us that are in you if you add other parts. You just get more parts. White supremacy has been historically eager to erase minority identities while making whiteness exclusive, a denial of history and place as well as a denial of access to upward mobility. Black folks, and Pan-African diaspora movements, have combated this with solidarity similar to how Jewish and Native American people have to resist racial and cultural extermination. Part of that solidarity is making space for mixed-race people by using black as "black AND ______" instead of the white supremacist "Black. PERIOD. When black people say, "black," it's never the end of the sentence, especially in the US where most black folks are already mixed-race in the first place.
The thing that is missing is that if you were alive 50, 60, 70 years ago, all of the success you now have would have been stripped from you, just like that. This is how fragile, harmful and subjective race in America can be if you find yourself on the wrong side of the color line.
yes and no...those labels also tie you to a culture...thing is, many dont want to accept the cultures they are tied to. And due to the racism in this country, this is why many people wont accept being of black or hispanic ethnicities, etc.
The construct was created without our consent and it is applied without our consent. You can choose to opt out, but it’s difficult for me to understand anyone who wants to redefine such a divisive system of description. If anything let’s just tear it down and start anew. As a biracial man (black and white - and I’m actually 53% white and 43% black)…. NO ONE would bat an eye if I call myself black. EVERYONE would bat their eye if I chose the opposite. I am 100% considered a black man. I 100% consider myself a black man. I would have it no other way. Am i part of the “problem” or did the “problem” impose itself on me?
@@markhyman5825 "Racial boxes" have been historically imposed by force. Unless you can "pass" as white, you don't get to opt out as a visibly black person on most places on planet earth..I was actually alive when jim crow was still legal and during the many decades of fighting against jim crow, apartheid and colonialism. I think that people like yourself see the world in very simplistic terms but only when it come to anti black racism. No one ever offer Jewish people the same kind of non solutions to anti-semitism such as not talking about it or disappearing unpleasant history and unpleasant current social realities.
“Hypodescent is the practice of automatically assigning a person of mixed racial ancestry to a lower-ranking racial group. The term comes from the words "hypo-" meaning less or inferior, and "descent" meaning to be derived from. Hypodescent is a concept in anthropology that has been used in societies where some races are considered superior or dominant, and others are considered inferior or subordinate. The opposite of hypodescent is hyperdescent, which is when children are assigned to the dominant or superior race. Hypodescent has been used in the United States to classify people with African American ancestry as Black. For example, in the 1660s, Virginia passed laws that defined the children of female slaves as slaves, regardless of the father's race. This led to the "one-drop rule", which classified anyone with African American ancestry as Black. The principle of hypodescent was used to maximize the number of slaves and minimize the number of citizens with legal protections and economic benefits. It was also used to facilitate the enslavement of children born to slave women and white men.” I’m super mad the comment I kinda worked hard on probably got posted to some commercial or the next video that played. 😩 Whatever! Hypodescent is a concept I learned about in college Anthropology.
What in the world is a lower ranking racial group? If you are attempting to type that Black people, people of African ancestry are a lower ranking racial group.
Hi, I was familiar with just about everything that you wrote, but I didn’t know the term “ hypodescent” which is kind of self explanatory . Thanks…. I always like to read the comments because I learn a lot from doing so.
How can a person who is octoroon, quadroon or a Mulatto be classed as Black when genetically they mainly or half mixed with white people?? This is a blatant lie the person with this mixes are not BLACK
First of all why are calling being Black a lower race!!!! I’m offended by this statement. Also why is she or anyone else so ashamed to be called Black I can see it in her!!! True she is multi racial , if this is what she wants to be called.
@@bendavis1458 its a label she never used to describe herself. My wife had a similar experience being African/Indian she never really knew what box to check she always put her nationality first, which is something I wish America would do.
The so called "one drop rule" isn't any worse than what other racialized societies have concocted to justify their racial hierarchy..Latin American style racism doesn't work any better for black people in Latin America or wherever Latin Americans go either.
@@eileenbrown3197 Everyone knew Slash was half-Black. Neither Steven or Liv knew of their Black heritage. Which is funny in hindsight. They have full lips that are often associated with Black ppl.😂
You are so kind. The law doesn't exist, but the RACIST people who created it still do. The more some things change, the more some things stay the same, like racism.
She's not suddenly black, nor are people going to see her as black and treat her like a black woman. Stop trying to give away my identity because you are fixated on including women who look like her into blackness in order to give you your own semblance of proximity to whiteness vicariously through her inclusion into your race.
@@nytnWhether or not they mean to, they have marginalized you and put into , to their eyes, presumption of you're opinion(s) as self serving and not to be as trusted as a W person's who'd be auto presumed neutral
@@kevingillard5474 From the WaPo article it seems that it was either bundle her story into an article about the African American struggle for equality, or not publish it at all. Danielle's story mentioned five people, two of whom were freed, and one of whom successfully "passed" as white. The fourth and fifth were Danielle and her daughter. It seems to me that her article rightfully belonged under the Douglass headline, for those three. Her ancestral story demonstrates two ways that the African American found freedom and eventual equality in this country. Not just for themselves, but for their children, and for their eventually white descendants.
She says she’s not black and she’s not proud. The cats out of the bag and she wants to shove it back. How could she do all that research and not know that the one drop rule is alive and well. It has the light skinned girls traumatised and melting down on Tiktok by being vile to darker skinned girls.
I remember you originally considered yourself as white when you thought you were full Italian, but to be honest you don't look full white... Maybe hispanic or mixed.
She was going by the more recent USA assignment of Italians as whites. At one time, in the USA, Italians were not considered WHITE of course because many , who came from southern Italy, had dark skin, etc. The fact is that when you come from southern European countries, we cannot be surprised of our African genes. I have 6% Northern African, probably because I’m part from the Canary Islands and I’m very fair, etc. The Spanish people populating these islands, mixed with the Guanches who have been traced to Northern Africa. A lot of our DNA is lost through the generations but, Sub-African genetics are still found in the DNA of some southern Europeans. I say, more power for it. African genes make us beautiful.
Full white? That would make white a purity or what? Many Mediterranean people look a bit tan. Egyptian whites are mixed heavily with Bantus, Dinkas & Nubians. Spaniards and Portuguese look that way. Rafa Nadal is a good example.
Every time I tune in I always see an excellent video. That "One drop rule" was applied, regardless how ridiculous it is. Race is a very subjective political/sociological/societal thing here. Underneath it all is an American caste system that is applied here, and when you break it down and show the very subjectivity of this, people's lack of comfort become very evident. The institutions will do all it can to maintain it..if it can. Always great insights NYTN.
nagone11:. But some of you try to explain it away as if it never existed and had an influence on how people were seen and treated. It's almost like you are saying that history never existed.
@@nagone11 What I'm saying is that was the standard for so long for a lot of black people. There are black people who could pass for white who would fight you if you told them they were not black. They've been black all of their life. I constantly see younger black people telling other black people you are not black. I"m 62 years old and as a child at a family reunion I see some people who I thought were white. I asked my mother why are these white people here and she says their not white that's cousin so and so. Some black people will now try and tell you that a person isn't black if they don't "look black". To me it is kind of like the brown bag test in reverse.
The American that has been stolen to represent the castle system was originally used to describe the real American as the Copper Coloured race that was found in the Americas written in the 1828 Websters dictionary..
I have a white mother and a black father. My DNA comes up 57% European, 37% African, 6% Asian ... No one cares to ask how I identify. I am proud to be who I am and proud of my heritage. I hate how the world categorizes you and that is that. It is so divisive and wrong.
@@godisiam9614 Over the years, I have put everything on my form: African American, Mixed Race, or Other. One time I was at a doctor's appointment because I sprained my knee and for the race section of the new patient form I crossed out the whole menu with a big X, and wrote: Human next to it. The nurse and doctor reviewed my form, laughed, and told me I was right.
@@amybethea6187 I'm African American with some Native American. I haven't gotten a DNA test, because I don't want European White DNA. To me, you appear to be a (very) light-skinned African American or Puerto Rican (Black). All the Black people I know and biracial Blacks love being Black. Especially if they have a Black mother Like the Maury's.
Imposter syndrome and being mixed are almost inseparable based on our One-Drop Rule, Black & White Western thinking on race. You are who you are! You come from many beautiful cultures and should have no shame in identifying with ALL of it!
In 1985, when i was stationed in italy, i had an italian girl-friend from Prato, a small city out side of Florence, she looked almost identical to you, her skin tone, her hair and facial feature. I guess she would be classified as black here in the USA.
As a Louisiana creole who is white passing or racially ambiguous at best,this is the story of my life. Throughout my life it sometimes seemed like everyone else but me wanted to decide what I am and put me in a box. I never understood, and still don't really,why that was so important to people. It really makes lots of people uncomfortable if you don't look like,act,or conform to their expectations. However,what I do know is I'm not here to conform to anyones rules or expectations when it comes to identity. Those that have a problem with that then that's their issue to work out and not mine. And I offer the same to others. Identify how you want and it's not my place to tell anyone else who they are or aren't. Maybe one day the WP will learn to do the same for others.
I found this video very compelling. I am of Norwegian/Swedish and Finnish descent, but discovered much to my own surprise a few years ago through a new interest in genealogy that we also have a very large Sámi component in our family. It's something that has not been talked about or discussed at all. There is a cultural context here that merits its own discussion, but I won't take it here. I just wanted to say that I have had to confront my own feeling of identity. It is still somewhat of an uphill battle for many reasons, but we will eventually get to a point of.. equilibrium I hope. Thank you for your video.
Warner Oland an actor who played Charlie Chan in the movies was of Sami origin. He was the only actor who did not have to have makeup to play the Chinese character. I find the Sami people fascinating. They toss out the idea of categorizing people by race. They are not of Asia, but bear a resemblance. Meanwhile there are the Xhosa people of South Africa who are not Asian, but also resemble Asians. Time to get rid of the idea of race.
I sometimes follow the blog of a fellow who is of Native American descent. Back in the day he and a girlfriend went to visit the Sami people and they all thought it was interesting that he and his GF looked like they would fit right with the Sami.
I'm not sure what the setup is that introduces the part you wrote (the story's paywalled, so I can't read it all). However, the sub-headline "Readers reflect on race and racism" sounds accurate to me, and not like the Post was saying you personally are African-American; you were telling the amazing story of your ancestor. I'm glad you got to the conclusion you did about the bigger picture. Race in America is dense and complex and painful!
I have seen your videos come up on my stream a few times and I must tell you this. Welcome to the United States of America, I know it’s kind of trendy to say I am part this part that and the other. Some black people ( I said some) weren’t brought here because they were Fulani, Igbo, Ashanti or Wolof they were brought here because they were black. Like brother Malcolm said. I am glad that you are proud of your mixed heritage but at the same time I can’t help but feel it’s part of the same mental disorder that plagues Africa today. I am older than you so I have seen a couple of cycles of this where our people divide themselves into sub tribes right here in America. FBA’s, ADOS, redbones, Creoles and Soulanis are just the latest cycle of names we use while searching for an identity in a Eurocentric society where proximity to whiteness is rewarded and taken away at their whim. I myself they can change what on my birth certificate as many times as they like, just as they did my great grandfather ( mulatto one year something in another ten years). Me I have and will always identify as black, simply a Black American with all the advantages and disadvantages it comes with.
Greatly said. That was something I said to another in the comments that "WE" are almost truly the only set of people who have been reidentified/reclassified over and aver again. BUT the more I keep digging the more I find out and I see WHY they make it there business to HIDE us or the truth! I often get confused b/c the pushback we get in society and even our friends & family. They often refer to us as the "third race" but if you have not looked into this check out Mr. Plecker from the 1920's He began classifying and reclassiffying the Indians to just "COLORED." Here is a little snippet of that truth: EROSION OF NATIVE AMERICAN IDENTITY: Plecker’s reclassification efforts led to the denial of legal recognition for Native American groups, many of whom were forced to identify as "colored." This was devastating for Native American communities in Virginia, who found their cultural identities being erased, OFTEN leading to GENERATIONAL CONFUSION about HERITAGE and ANCESTRY.
As long as you stand with us, defend us, do no harm to us, and love us, and when times become precarious and dangerous you close ranks and have solidarity with us, then yes you are Black. But you must most importantly see yourself as Black and feel the connection! I'm Half Black, and I see myself as Black. Mixed heritage but Black. Especially since this last election. We ain't got allies or friends, not even the indigenous have our backs. We just have us. And you will one day understand that being Black is a blessing, but outsiders make it hard. And those outsiders will put you with us. Also consider that even though you didn't grow up as a Black mixed ancestry person, your ancestors are your ancestors, your genetic connections are what they are. This is the call of tge universe for you to explore your Blackness. Explore it. Make the connection. Don't feel shy. And I'll go a step further. This us also the same experience "fully" Black people in the diaspora have with their Afrucan tribal affiliations! Many people feel this way about connecting with igbo culture, or Akan culture, because we were intentionally separated from our cultures about 500 years ago. But those are still our ancestors, those are still our cultures we had a history before America. Just as much as you are indigenous you are European and African. More than one thing can be true at one time. That why I claim my IGBO heritage with pride! You ARE a Black American. And a woman of African ancestry. Now if you started creating chaos in our community, and causing harm then we will have a problem with you. Such as our problems with the likes of Candace Owen's, or Clarence Thomas, or Omarosa. Those are glaring examples of Black people who used their influence to damage the Black community. Even people like ice Cube I would consider to be detrimental to our community. But you you have the blood connection, and you here to be with us, girl welcome, you just light skinned. Come on in, get you a plate, sit on down, its a blessing to be Black!
Black means not just in color but in your overall attitude, manners and thinkings. Most blacks have victim mentality and as Candace says are thus not accountable for their evil actions in their thinkings and attitudes. But there is a powerful group of blacks who although less in number are responsible, take accountability for their actions and talk with integrity without pointing fingers at anyone. So, they consider themselves to be just Americans because America stands for empowerment, justice and work hard culture which they relate to more than the black community people in general. Black people are so sensitive in their attitude towards those people whoever finds faults with them. A very difficult people who needs to humble themselves a lot.
@debmc369 The world is a small place compared to the past and the American media is everywhere so its easy to understand people . Moreover, India has a huge population of its diaspora there and so Indians are interested in things of the US. Finally, even people of Indian origin are in politics there like Vivek Ramasamy so America doesn't belong to any one people, culture and ethnic group!
A good one! Being part of the human African race should never be a bad thing especially since all human life started in Africa although society has done us a grave injustice! My granddaughter favors you…her Dad is considered white and her Mom is a Black American so we teach her to proud of her ancestral melanated ancestors from Africa because society will always bring what they think is great about White ancestors! You are doing a great thing in breaking down the racial barriers!
I love this channel. Only one like it and you are so cool. Brave, genuine, and faithful, and make no appologies. Rightfully. Also love the viewers and comments❤. I feel the love here and understanding! I feel like watching your videos this year has opened up my heart for understanding, love and seeing people one person and thier story at a time. Thank you. We all have worth and all have a story. So did the people of the past. And its given it a voice. Made things so personal and challeneged the cut and dry the books teach in a few pages. God bless you and keep you. - neighbor from NC
In someway, you have become like your grandmother, a person who you have never met because you know who you are, but you know what’s best to identify as today’s just like Yesterdays😢like grandma 👵🏾
It's not common for someone who does not identify as African American to enthusiastically tell the story of a Black American ancestor who was enslaved (unless they did something extraordinary). Not sure if you had a RUclips channel or website at the time you submitted the article but if staff from the Washington Post saw you, they would easily assume that you identified as Black. Yes, they should have checked, but given the context of the situation, like you said they didn't think about it. Additionally, you didn't realize that people would make this assumption. If people come across your RUclips videos where you're highlighting one of your Black Ancestors, they will likely also assume that you identify as Black. Only until they've watched enough of your videos will they realize that you identify as Italian American? It's not common for White Americans to claim and be proud of their African ancestry if they have it, so if they come across you and your love for your people, they definitely assume that you're Black
I'm a fellow mixed person much older than you. I have experienced people trying to neatly fit me into one particular ethnic box or another for most of my life. I have also known other mixed people who experienced the same thing. Very often we don't exist. Many people can't figure out that people always mixed and mingled. Add to that the fact that many of our ancestors passed for the purpose of self preservation because the group in power was not kind to those of us who were not them. The Washington Post was more concerned about selling their story than who you really are. So, they neatly fit you into the box that they were speaking about. Rude awakening for you. Sorry that you had to experience it. I do love your channel. ❤
Sometimes its not how you self identity, but how the world view you. The question now is how did that make you feel. Did you embrace it or did it make you angry or annoyed. Your deep feelings reveal how you really feel about your African ancestry.
No she does not identify as African American. If you even have followed her ever, you know that her grandmother passed as white. She never claimed to be African American until she took the test. They did not know they were African Americans, so they won't living as African Americans. I don't understand some people, and how they don't understand that. I'm biracial myself but I choose to identify as black. We all don't identify as black, she does not even have that much black ancestry. So she felt like she would be an imposter, and they made her seem like that. When they put her down as an African American. She didn't tell them to do that they decided on that themselves at the Washington Post. You're trying to make this comment, like she doesn't accept being black and that she really feels this way. That's what I'm getting by, reading your comment but I don't see it is that. I don't see any of her information coming across as that. Maybe you should go to her patron account like I did. It's only $1.25 a month you'll get better information cuz you'll get it all. You can't get all the information over here without her being demonetized That's my suggestion for you.
Since the one drop rule is still applied, it should be REALLY easy for all of us to get reparations without being required to take a DNA test. I'll bet my last dollar that they won't make it that easy though 😂
@@nytn Are you disappointed? As long as I've been rockin' with your channel (since day one), I'm thinking you would be PROUD to belong to such magnificent body of people and would embrace the beauty, the strength, and the fierceness that comes with the title, "African-American / Black" ❤🖤💚
You say your grandmother was creole and Hispanic, none of which means she wasn't black. Creole means she was at least half black. The word Hispanic pertains more to culture than race. In other words you can be 100% pure black and also be Hispanic. It sounds to me that you maybe racially mixed (not sure what with) but the one drop rule would play a big part in you being considered black. Europeans have reinforced that for hundreds of years so, with all due respect, your nuances doesn't really matter to anyone else but yourself. Many people of mixed race (half black/half white) see themselves as black through choice, like Barack Obama. When I first saw you I thought you were either black (mixed) or Italian. You're the sort of person who people might ask where your family is from, but it should not have been a surprise to you that the Washington Post considered you to be a black woman based on the fact that your 5th great grandfather was an African slave. Don't ever feel that you haven't got the right to be proud of your African heritage.
I'm glad you published that article and shared with us. Frederick Douglas was misquoted. He said, "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" People from America, Africa, Asia and Europe were enslaved here.
However, let's be absolutely clear about it from Frederick Douglas' speech . . . .ONLY African's were enslaved by LAW, and by such LAW, were deemed NON-HUMAN, 3/5th of a human being AND were not considered "citizens" until challenged by LAW. ONLY African's who were enslaved, CHILDREN were automatically ENSLAVED. To which "American", "Asian", or "European" person enslaved in America experienced what the human beings from Africa experienced while enslaved? I'll wait for a truthful, historical answer.
@@bihsaidwhatnow2392 Indentured-servants(contract-labor) vs hereditary enslavement(generational-bondage), was the fundamental difference between Africans' and All Others, who came to the Americas; But, only after laws were codified to make anyone with African descent, to be deemed as slaves into perpetuity.
@ronniejohnson196 That's wrong as hell.. Indians were the first slaves here.. The Irish and Dutch were indentured servants until they fought with some Indians to free themselves.. This story about slavery was over exaggerated.. I got books that date to 1760 and lower to prove it.. I got my genealogy on both sides to also prove it, and I can show my line to 1780 on one side and 1670 on another side.. Was there slavery? Yes! But nothing like how the people said it was in the 1990s.. How does a historians word in the 1960 supersede a historians word in the 1700s? 🤔
@@ronniejohnson196 And so we are saying the same thing --- besides confirming what I said, was there a point made that I missed or needed correction??? I see @carrgip has a problem with your assessment. . .you might want to educate that font on the reality of enslavement.
It is the presumptive, American way, to tell you what you are. Thankfully, you are a self-aware, conscientious woman who took the time to consider your own thoughts. For certain, more important than anything else, you are a child of God. God bless! ❤
Presumptive American, yes! This brought back a memory which I'd almost forgotten. Many years ago, I met an American priest and when I told him my great grandfather had died in America by falling from a skyscraper he was building in Kansas City, he assumed that he must have been Irish and told me must stick up for the Irish against the British. This was during the period known as 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland. Only afterwards did I realise that the man who died in Kansas was English, not Irish and I've since learned that he didn't fall from a skyscraper but fell into the machinery of a corn mill in rural Kansas. For years I resented Father Chuck's presumption. This seems to be a particularly American trait, or am I being Presumptive. People should stop thinking they know everything about other people after just one brief encounter.
Sounds like you had your first black experience. You begin to see things differently. The more you have the more they can change you. Continue sharing. It's really appreciated.
If she grew up in a Blk neighborhood and had a Blk step-parent, then she'd probably identify as Blk and have a Blk husband. She would've had a different life, a different attitude, different accent, and she'd probably get dreadlocks. There are plenty of Ambiguous mixed people who consider themselves Blk based on their upbringing, like Mariah Carey. If you're ambiguous, you get to choose your identity based on your upbringing and/or appearance.
Growing up Creole, I never identified as African American, but often had that label put on me by others. Thanks to decades of Jim Crow indoctrination, Americans have a compulsion for categorizing people in narrow-minded racial boxes, but what's worse is the shame and gaslighting you often face for correcting them: like claiming you're delusional, self-hating, or "uppity" for identifying as Creole instead of black (or white). Most Creoles aren't ashamed of our African heritage, we just embrace all of our ancestry equally.
Must be wonderful to have a choice. To not be black. To be valued, to be seen, to be all that is beautiful in America. Creole … that’s so much easier, acceptable, just generally better than black. To take the “easy” parts of African ancestry food, music, while leaving behind the hardships of African Ancestry- Jim Crow….. this is the American way.
@@chotsanipwhitt4744 What choice? Having other people, white and black, always dictating what you're allowed to be and resenting you for one reason or another (like you seem to be doing now)? If you think Creoles never had any hardships, then you don't know Creole history. What's wonderful is embracing what God made you and not looking for validation from others, or letting them determine your identity and value... which was my whole point.
@@stevenwayneart We’re all free to choose how we want to be identified, whether true or not. It’s not how the social construct of ‘race’ works. When you look like other Black people they will label you as ‘Black.’ Keep in mind all African Americans, if their family has been here since before the Civil War are also African and European, all, 100%. With that said, I’ve never seen the difference in being Creole, Mulatto or African American. All are Euro-Africans with varying percentages. Given, under French and Spanish rule, Mixed race individuals were given more freedoms, today holding on to the ethnicity seems to be a way for those who are light skin to still assert their superiority and to disassociate themselves from other Negros, especially given many Creoles marry other Creoles, therefore keeping their lineage light skin in a desperate attempt to make sure any privilege is still accessible. That’s on the one hand, on the other, food, dress, language, religion, customs, music, etc are what constitutes an ethnicity. Creoles have developed their own unique culture based on the communities they’ve interacted with and descended from. I guess when I think of ‘creole’ I think of the brown paper bag test.
When you say that's not my life experience. I don't know what people believe is the black experience. There are so many different experiences that some blacks may not be able to relate to another black person's experience. Lifestyle, money and regions can vastly different. The black experience can't be put into a box
It felt dishonest sort of (maybe)( to you since you weren't raised in that way. IIDK, but I think I know what you mean, even tho I'm Brit, Irish, Scott, Norwegian/Swede & a sliver of Welsh & North American Indian. It would be if they called me "Indigenous American", when I was barely aware of that 3% growing up. If that makes sense. Whatever genetic background you have, you are beautiful. If I had to guess (and I'm likely a poor guesser) I'd think you were probably mostly Italian-American but wouldn't be shocked by Irish, African American or Indigenous American 'bits' in the mix, or even something "Middle-Eastern"? maybe? Anyway, 1st vid of yours I've seen. Good video, sorry this happened. Hope you get to an ok place w/it.
African Americans are not even African Americans! Elon Musk is African American: He was born in Africa; his immediate family are from Africa: Polish American,Asian American,German American,typically means you were born in those countries,but settled in America.Further more,most so called Blacks are really different shades of Brown. This lack of truth in language is based more on intellectual dishonesty and the need to create a racial caste system. We as Americans must become better than that: You could be the change young lady! Hopefully this racial caste system will be buried in the archives.👍🏿🇮🇱👍🏼
Us curly haired people worry so much about our hair being "crazy." You have good layers, so it has a nice shape. I'm just as prone to be self-conscious of my curls being crazy. It seems like shiny, controlled hair is the most envied look.
labels, labels, labels. your intelligence in expressing this important nuance in our histories, is BEYOND sensitive and kind. thank you, thank you, thank you!
Now I identify as significantly Black, but not predominantly. Since finding out a year ago that I’m not predominantly Black like I always thought. Now I identify as all of me. When I fill out paperwork, there’s no word that says Creole listed. So, I check Black and Latin. 66% of me is Black (Afro - American and Haitian), and Latin mixture of French from France, French Créole, Canadian French (Cajun), Spanish (Spain) immigrants, Spanish Criollo, Sicilian, Native American Choctaw in which the tribe is Native to Mexico first and foremost and migrated to East of the Mississippi River 2,000 to 9,000 years ago depending on which historian ya ask. So that’s my little few drops of Mexican indigenous ethnically speaking. I’m also Irish bc come to find out my mom’s biological father’s White side was Irish. His Creole side was Spanish immigrant and Spanish Criollo, French immigrants and French Créole, and Black / Afro - American. Then I’m also German and Dutch. I identify myself as all of it. Lol!!! I identify as multi generationally mixed Louisiana Creole of Color. On paper, I mark Black and Latin. Since that is majority of me. And since there’s no Creole word to mark. I’m also just absolutely not marking other. If the form only allows one thing to be checked then I check Black. Bc even though I’m not predominantly Black … Black / African derived is the largest single percentage of me at 33%. I’m also exactly 33% Latin, but that’s a mixture of French, Spanish, and Sicilian. I don’t know why Spanish derived people got the monopoly on the word Latin. Latin literally means from any part of Latin Europe and Hispanic means derived from Spain. We all know inhabitants of and descendants of former Spanish colonies are a mix of Hispanic and Indigenous blood and commonly have different variations of sub Saharan African blood too although not always. We all know that the Latin ethnic groups of Europe all tend to have a little North African and or Arab and or EurAsian / Mediterranean Middle Eastern mixed in them. Although not always. Anyway, I identify as all of me. I identify as Louisiana Creole of Color and multi generationally mixed and I will list everything on any given day of the week. On paper, I’m Black and Latin. Or Black if that’s all they let me mark. I’m going with Science. Lol! My experience growing up was 100% Afro - American only but with a few sprinkles of Creole culture mixed in. I was raised up in predominantly White neighborhoods since the age of seven years old. So … in a sense … my upbringing was also surrounded by White American culture. I was also used to being the only Black girl in my neighborhood friend group. I had Black friends from school though. They didn’t live in my neighborhoods though. I was used to being the only Black girl in my gymnastics class. I was also one of only four Black girls on the dance team. I was just used to being surrounded by White people all the time. 😂😂😂 Even my first husband always used to tell me like hmph! You think like them White folks! 😂🤦🏽♀️😂 Anyway, since finding out I’m way more mixed than I thought I was a year ago … when I did my Ancestry dna … I’ve identified myself as mixed. Period. Lol!
I had similar shocking results (I'm 40% Black, which includes Louisana Creole). I literally cried because I literally had debates for years throughout childhood and college that I was 100% Black. Those Ancestry and 23 & Me results brought confusion and frustration. I still identifying as Black even though I am technically a mutt. 😂😢
@@BeFruitfulMomma those DNA tests are not accurate. they only test a tiny sliver of your DNA. don't let that erase your whole identity. (also, you should probably delete your DNA data from 23&me before they sell the company to some foreign entity.
@@BeFruitfulMomma Most "black" people in the Americas are "mixed" with whites and with some others unless they are recent voluntary immigrants from Africa. I have zero interest in acknowledging kinship with assorted non black ancestors who disowned my kind generations or centuries ago and have stood in opposition to black people living full lives as human beings in the US, Brazil, Cuba, and on and on and on..Unless black people have direct personal relationships with these so called ancestors including things such as inheritance rights, I don't understand why I or any other black people want to engage in one-sided embraces and in one sided love affairs with them..
Not everything about our identity should be subjective. It should be informed by ancestry. If one can't accept one's ancestry, it would be very unfortunate
I’m finding a lot of slave ancestors in my Sicilian ancestry once you get into the 1500s. One marriage record was for a woman with the last name Tagliavia that name is usually a name associated with Sicilian nobility, but immediately after her name was “scava” or slave… I’m starting to understand why a significant part of my Ancestry shows North African
I've found the same thing -- remember that Rome extended into north Africa as well. Two thousand years ago, my ethnicity would have been !00% Roman instead of the patchwork of nations that now ring the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.
That was the reality of Italy, Spain and Portugal and others, ,previous to the 1500s. Africans have been part of the history and the genetic of these countries without a doubt. The difference is that they didn’t discriminate in the same way. Once the black traits disappeared, you became part of the majority race, which is exactly what happens when you continue to admix, an admixture that creates beautiful people……in my opinion.
The North African and Levant blood is brown, not black. I’m a quarter Sicilian and the Berbers were brown indigenous, and other nations were Arab. Honestly, I say “mixed olive ethnicity” at this point, because my half-Polish side is rooted in the Balkans and WASP standards called Poles non-white, and even the Italians made Sicilians leave from the island, or travel in steerage. On government forms, I select Other, non-Hispanic and write in “multi-ethnic”. But they have been taking stem cells from babies born in US hospitals since the 70s, so they already damn well know what a melting pot America is and whom is owed reparations.
I think Frederick Douglass’ Letter was “What to the Slave is the 4th of July”, not African American. African-American was not a term that existed when Douglass wrote his letter, which was about the hypocrisy of celebrating Freedom when the country still allowed the ownership of Slaves. Sounds like the WAPO was posing a different question based on their article’s title, which seemed to play on the words of Douglass’ original essay.
Interesting that you posted this today, considering that just yesterday there was a little debate on IG re: whether you can choose how you identify racially (done really in the context of trans rights and in a way that kind of invalidated both). In that context, a perspective like yours is interesting, as particularly with respect to the nuance you identify and the feeling you may have of having that choice of self identification (no matter how small) taken away from you. Good video and I definitely appreciate you sharing your perspective.
Labelling people is so silly. A Ugandan girl once told me: Being Black is not a color, it's an experience. That to me as someone who was classified as white by the Apartheid Government. And even now, 30 years after the Apartheid era Population Registration Act was abolished I am still asked that my race is. Me, I identify as human.
this is something realllly important. The experience side of it. Strangely, there are things my family does that are clearly connected to hiding ancestry, but by the time it got to me, I didnt know why my family acted that way, ie :ALWAYS staying out of the sun/wearing hats etc. I dont do it though :)
@@nytn Thank you. Interesting that the way you look (skin color, hair) is or was important. In the early days of the Cape Settlement that was not important, but religion was. I have a distant ancestress that, from her name, must have been from the indigenous population. Alas, we will never know anything about her, but she was accepted in the community, so she must have been Christian. So too many freed slaves, or others from Batavia, India and so on. So, I hear you say that, if others label you, that is not good, but if you choose an identity, that is your right. Yes, I agree with that, but still, having lived through Apartheid and seen what labelling can do, I firmly identify as human.
My first wife and I spent many Saturday mournimgs with a elderly Comanche couple. He looked DARK . When he rolled back hid shirts sleeves , his arms could pass for White. Full Blooded Registered Tribal member. Like he was wearing gloves.
Unfortunately, you were raised with a secret. As the truth comes to light, things are naturally going to change. You have a new identity: you are Indigenous, Afro, Anglo, and Latino, and that is beautiful. Sometimes, we have to set aside what we were taught while growing up, especially when it was kept secret, and embrace the truth as adult
"Embrace the truth" . . . . . and EMBRACE the beauty of being BLACK!!! It is when we stop putting "levels" on human beings we will experience the greatness of being human beings.
Yes!!!!! Acknowledge that your Great Grandparents told a bold lie. Lying didn't change they're DNA!!!! They are still BLACK and you are BLACK too. Don't dress it up any longer. Don't continue to carry the lie.
You’re multi generationally mixed. You are part Afro American Louisiana Creole of Color. I’m assuming the Creole is French, Afro American Black, and Native American from what I’ve gathered from your channel. I know you’re also Irish, Italian and Mexican? That just makes you multi - ethnic. Both my mom and dad are Louisiana Creole of Color. I always thought I was predominantly Black though. That’s just what my mom raised me to believe. Since finding out I’m actually only 33% Black … I no longer just only racially identify as Black. I identify as mixed now since finding out I am a year ago. I always knew I was admixed. I always identified as Black first and foremost and secondarily as Creole admixed French, Spanish, Sicilian, German, Dutch, and Native American.
I love the honesty of your stories even when they are painful or awkward and make me think. It appears the editors saw your story and said, "she's Black", they identified you, for you, as have happened to many Black people in the USA. It sure does make me think a lot about race. Thank you for picking up a sledgehammer and breaking down the walls of race with your stories.
They coined that term AA in 1988. No one was asked if that was what we wanted to be called. We have a movement now to call "black" people of today descendants of freedmen - Foundational Black Americans. We are an ethnicity not a race that devrive from our ethnogenesis in the U.S.A. Its a culture/ ethnicity so that doesn't fit you if you were raised as a white American even if you have common ancestry.
African America is much older than that. I heard it when Afro or Natural first got popular as a hairstyle. There are records as far back as the "late 18th and early 19th centuries". Apparently Aframerican was used in the pre Civil rights era Negro Press publications.
Thanks for being so open about your feelings and vulnerabilities on your channel. You have shared so much of yourself. My background is simple- I'm Asian Indian as far back as we can tell. My son is half Indian, one quarter Italian and one quarter Irish. My ex is of Italian and Irish heritage. Just from a historical perspective, the US is the only country as far as I know that instituted the one drop rule to propagate slavery. Acknowledgement of half white offspring would have drastically reduced the number of people coopted into slavery. It was awful, unconscionable and evil. It is the original sin of the United States. The subject of race ( total social construct) is divisive. Too many people have come out of the wood work proudly declaring themselves racist. Its despicable and destructive. That's why your work is so important Danielle. Keep up the excellent work. Thank you!
I love your videos Forget the ignorant racists. No one can tell you how you identify because if you are American white or black and in-between you are not 100 percent anything.
Don't be embarrassed. You didn't misrepresent yourself. That's that dumbass legacy media... Not on you, not at all. But I get it, so thanks for sharing!
You can have your mix of ancestry and be identified as "Black" only if that is how your family has been historically identified as...but really you are an American of mixed heritage including being Afro-descendant. You identify as however you were raised as. I'm "black" and my grand uncle was very pale, light bright and could pass as "white" but often didn't unless it proved beneficial to whatever circumstances he was dealing with during Jim Crow.
A perspective: I'm biologically and naturally a "human being." Part of the human species/race. Due to the design of white supremacy, I'm expected to identify by human other identities. My birth certificate states I'm a Negro. I grew up Colored and Negro. In the late sixties to early seventies I was both Afro American and Black. In the eighties I was anointed African American. At no time throughout my life was I asked how I choose to identify myself. A reminder, the "one drop rule" is applied to You our Sista.✊🏾
I don't wish to be identified as African American. This is a label that Jesse Jackson came up w/, which I find ironic, since he, himself is of indigenous ancestry. There are Indians in Virginia that were forced to identify as African or negro, simply b/c they were black. This does not consider the fact that all black people are not African Americans or even African. The Australian aborigines identify as black, but not African.. Fijians are black, but not African. Even if you accept the "out of Africa " theory, you need to consider that people who had ancestors who migrated out of Africa thousands of years ago, they have since undergone an ethnogenesis and now have a different culture and language.. Black Americans of African heritage have also undergone an erhnogenesis., w/ a different culture and language.. You are correct. The African American label is not for all blacks. You still have black blood.Nothing wrong w/ admitting to having black blood. It does not cancel out things like indigeneity, Islamic or Jewish heritage..
Of what? Suppose someone takes a DNA test and gets a result showing 1% Congolese, 99% English. Are they defined by that 1%? When mixed race people are Asian-White, like 25% Asian 75% European, what do they get defined as? Or is the one drop rule an "African heritage" only deal? I find the notion of one drop to be really insipid.
@@starventureit was the only way to contain and control slavery and its population that way it wouldn’t run out as an effective form of labor. Same amount of slaves or more were shipped to Mexico during Spanish colonial empire but the slaves were able to buy their freedom and the church allowed everyone and anyone to get married to whoever. Also, there were African descent conquistadors with Spain as it was multi ethnic at the time as well. The US created the one drop rule in order to maintain slavery and had strict segregation that’s why there’s more full blooded black Americans and that’s why Mexicans on average have a percentage of African in them.
Some people will say is because of the one drop rule but that's not the case 41 the one drop has been abolished since for a long time In America we have hypodescent culture and if you have black american heritage you are Seen as black
The USA is so polarized that it confuses us when we claim our mixed ancestry. I have found it’s difficult for Americans to understand that you identify as someone with multiple ethnicities. I identify as Melungeon, but most people don’t understand what that is and then want to argue that you’re white or black or Native. No! I am all three and more. I am a multiracial person. I acknowledge all of them and want to preserve their history to the best of my ability. It’s an important conversation we need to have as a society.
Multiracial is not a race. Everyone has to identify as Blk, Yt or Asian at some point based on their appearance & their upbringing. -- Judging by your profile picture and your name, you appear to be Yt.
Congrats on the article and the continued success of your channel. You have a way of telling stories that invites us in. Unfortunately, looking at the comments some people don’t take their shoes off when they come inside. 😅
ya they completely discount the fact that indigenous americans particularly of central america, south america, and southern usa were the most melanated in servitude. just like they do not include who were brought from europe in servitude. nor the highly advance society the americas had and have.
I keep telling you that you have family in Charlottesville, Virginia on your Goins side. This is probably confirmation for you to reach out and contact this African American family that you may be related to.
Many black descendants of American slavery do not like the term African American.....we prefer #FBA Foundational Black American because we are mixed people of all who were in the Americas....African, European, and in certain cases some Native....we do not look like a Native African in most cases, nor share there culture, and they do not see us as African at all....and we are not.
This actually makes sense, especially in relation to some of my enslaved ancestors, like the one I shared. His family had been in Louisiana territory for a long time. At that point, labeled Negro but a multiracial man with a white slave owner father.
Please speak for yourself Mr Dwayne. Some Black people want to be disassociated with Africa due to self-hate and the negative, poor images of Africa we’ve been fed all of our lives. Everyone else is proud of where they are from. They see a great dignity in being associated with the land from whence their ancestors came. The fact of the matter is we are of African descent, no matter how African Americans or Africans view it. And please believe as someone who’s had an African step-mother (Kenyan) and an African step-father (Tanzanian) who’s actually spent time around Africans outside of the fake internet, I can assure most are not hateful towards us AT ALL. Of course they don’t consider us as African as them. We are Americans! But we are Americans of African descent, and that’s ok, good enough, worthy even. So some of y’all can continue with the tall tales of us being Native American 🙄 or Black Israelites (suddenly we’re Jews in this narrative 🙄), originally from America or whatever mythology you choose to tell yourself but at the end of the day our story begins in Africa, which really ALL OF OUR stories begin in Africa, isn’t that wonderful? We’re from the birthplace of humankind, a land that literally spits up diamonds, gold, precious stones and gems, where lions roam, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, hippos, rhinos. Be proud! There’s more genetic diversity within Africa than in the entire world. 🌍
“The Washington Post must have dug up your black face content, when you worked and promoted Black History Month during high school to support your then boyfriend _Pierre Freeman_ , who proclaims he 💘 when you wore bell bottom jeans”
Welcome to reality. I'm surprised it took this long. In your whole life..... everyone has been either lying to you or snickering behind your back about an obvious cultural/ perceived fact that you somehow missed. This is America and this is the world. Welcome welcome
My ancestors were Black Cherokee, Black Seminole, Black Feet Nation! My Family is Indigenous to the Americas but yet a ton of us are labeled African-American and none of my family members come from Africa at all. I know how you feel.
FBA is a ploy by the three letter orgs. Don’t get fooled. While many of us absolutely have indigenous ancestry ***due to procreation btwn Africans and Natives, and the acceptance of Africans into Native tribes*** that does not mean we aren’t primarily of African ancestry. The blood does not lie. It’s okay to be of African descent and still embrace the fact that our people built and have deep ties to this land.
4:27 It's really annoying for people to police people's classifying of their ancestry. The only proper story is you had an enslaved ancestry and you own entity is multi-racial.
The WAPO article online:www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/03/what-african-american-is-fourth-july-reflections-race-racism-america/
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Danielle -- don't let this stress you. In the end, human beings are 99.99999999 (to infinity) the same. That was proven by the Human Genome Project, way back in the late 1990s. If you saw some of my cousins, you would be shocked. They "look" white - like you! (Whatever that is supposed to mean). Some of them are so "white" that you would never be able to guess that they have even one drop of African in them. My late aunt, Tante Fifi looked like a German woman. Her sister, Tante Ti Ta, looked like a very light skin Black woman. Both were born in Haiti to the same parents. The reality is that everyone, no matter how non-African they "look" are all descendants of Africans. We are all from the same stuff no matter what people want to believe.
What I am waiting to see is the SHOCK of Spanish People when they realize that "Iberian Peninsula" = Mixed Black. ** Spain is about 16 miles from Northern Africa -- The Moors. The Spanish and The Moors have been interbreeding for thousands of years.
BTW -- Look up the Alhambra Palace to see what The Moors (and Spanish) created.
I haven't seen the video because the series bores me, but in part it has to do with being a left-wing newspaper, therefore with low self-esteem and lack of Christian values, another part because the USA is a traditionally racist country and its victims are also racists like we have had the pleasure of tasting in this same forum. Everyone likes to have someone underneath them, and I mean everyone.
Another reason is the lack of an adequate dictionary like Spanish, which I have also been able to verify here, but hey, in a language whose slang dictionary already has more entries than the Oxford one and that few people speak correctly, it is difficult to avoid. You are mulatto, not black. Mulata in Spanish is a compliment. If you call it to a Cuban or a Brazilian girl, they start making faces to you and moving their hips.
"Oye cómo va... mi ritmo... bueno pa gozar... mulata!" (Carlos Santana)
She does not look white
Maybe latina
To be honest she looks like she's half and half
A hybrid
@@nytn I love that you 5th Great Grandfather won his freedom. Nöel Coindet v. Benjamin Metoyer because he deserved it 3 months earlier. But thank God he got it and justice was served. 🙏🏽😇
You're a Gumbo, and mighty Hip one at that.
It's because of the one drop rule. Everyone around me considers me black, even without asking me what my heritage is. Everyone who knows me, knows I'm not fully black, but that's still how I'm viewed.
I have an ancestor who is AfroCanadian I would be considered black in the US but I’m a mixed human being with European, Aboriginal Australian and African heritage I’m proud of all my ancestors equally their struggles make me proud to see they came through and had a full and rich life
White Americans used "Black" synonymous with "tainted"
if you read Isabella Wilkerson's Caste, even the Nazis really couldn't understand the one-drop rule in WWII. They thought it was a step too far.
Ignorant people
According to my genetic DNA testing from 2015, my roots are “unwanted Melungeon heritage” hailing from Robeson County in southeast North Carolina. However, I have learned that so many very light-skinned Melungeon relatives chose to “pass for white” in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries to escape from hardship to look for a better life. The funny thing is that I told them that the “One-Drop Rule” did not exist in law until the legislation created and passed a eugenics law called the “Racial Integration Act of 1924” law to replace the outdated 17th-century eugenics law called the “Pocahontas Clause” and then added the One Drop Rule policy until on April 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 law (43 years span). 🤔🤔🤔
I wrote in 2015: everybody, ... I received my AncestryDNA testing results yesterday, and here is my DNA list:
Africa:
Cameroon/Congo
Benin/Togo
Ivory Coast/Ghana
Nigeria
Senegal
Mali
Africa Southeastern Bantu
Africa North
Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers
America:
Native American
Asia:
Aisa South (India)
Europe:
Ireland
Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden)
Europe West (France and Germany)
Finland/Northwest Russia
Great Britain
Europe East
European Jewish
Italy/Greece
Not complicated for me. My white ancestors never came looking for my family. My Family of African descent mentored me, loved me and accepted me.
👍 to you from me; notice you didn't get a ❤️ from her. B1 💪
@hellothere4724: Thanks for posting this. This is the most accurate description of the black American experience when it comes to so called white (and Indian) ancestors. Why would I want to identify with people who have never treated me as family let alone as a full citizen of the US? It is not black Americans' mission, calling, or job to engage in one sided love affairs with hostile or indifferent groups in order to "heal" America or to "save" western civilization or humanity from itself.
Yeah like I said in America hypodescent rules and your non white ancestry is what makes you are what you are
And all black americans are of admixxed origins many of us came from mixxed ancestors
@@dpeasehead I agree!
I am 92% European and 8% African. Oddly enough I have African ancestry on both sides of my family. I only found out because of the Navy tests for blood disorders. I was called to a room with 34 other men and they were all black. I have G6PD deficiency or I would have had to wait another 30 years to find out.
On a side note my family always insisted we have native American ancestors. This seems to be common among both white and black people. Both would rather come from natives than the other.
Wrong
Black folks are American Indians
@@robertmarley8852 LOL No.
😂😂😂😂😂@@robertmarley8852
@@robertmarley8852 Not true
Many natives with darker skin where classified as Black. Many were also enslaved. This is well documented in Virginia if you look up Walter Plecker and the Racial Integrity Act, but I'm sure similar things were happening all over.
Congratulations on getting your story in the Washington Post. I don't think it's that surprising that WAPO would assume that someone who writes about African American ancestry is African American, yes they should have asked but we live in this culture where we live with the myth of racial purity and segregation. Like you said, it's a lot more nuanced in reality.
Yea it's clearly bs 😂
Great take. ❤
But her ancestry is African so what's the point? Why are we acting like it's a big deal or a bad thing to have black ancestry?!!!
@@jamdawgutube everyone is related at some point....
For black folks it's not that serious. We don't throw out the parts of us that are in you if you add other parts. You just get more parts.
White supremacy has been historically eager to erase minority identities while making whiteness exclusive, a denial of history and place as well as a denial of access to upward mobility. Black folks, and Pan-African diaspora movements, have combated this with solidarity similar to how Jewish and Native American people have to resist racial and cultural extermination.
Part of that solidarity is making space for mixed-race people by using black as "black AND ______" instead of the white supremacist "Black. PERIOD.
When black people say, "black," it's never the end of the sentence, especially in the US where most black folks are already mixed-race in the first place.
The thing that is missing is that if you were alive 50, 60, 70 years ago, all of the success you now have would have been stripped from you, just like that. This is how fragile, harmful and subjective race in America can be if you find yourself on the wrong side of the color line.
Nope . Not really.
Afr:ican Am:ericans have m:ilked the rac:e ca:rd more for their be:nefit.
American labelling people. It's an obsession.
We got it from Europeans lol
@@nata7536 You don't know Europe of now. The problem is the culture, not the skin, if you like labelling.
It's not just America. Europe and Australia do it too.
yes and no...those labels also tie you to a culture...thing is, many dont want to accept the cultures they are tied to. And due to the racism in this country, this is why many people wont accept being of black or hispanic ethnicities, etc.
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590 There far too many nazi emulators and similar people running around modern Europe to buy that..
The construct was created without our consent and it is applied without our consent. You can choose to opt out, but it’s difficult for me to understand anyone who wants to redefine such a divisive system of description. If anything let’s just tear it down and start anew.
As a biracial man (black and white - and I’m actually 53% white and 43% black)…. NO ONE would bat an eye if I call myself black. EVERYONE would bat their eye if I chose the opposite. I am 100% considered a black man. I 100% consider myself a black man. I would have it no other way. Am i part of the “problem” or did the “problem” impose itself on me?
You are 100%.. you. It's their problem if they want to put you in some racial box.
@@intellectualnapalm_fba Great points!
@@markhyman5825 "Racial boxes" have been historically imposed by force. Unless you can "pass" as white, you don't get to opt out as a visibly black person on most places on planet earth..I was actually alive when jim crow was still legal and during the many decades of fighting against jim crow, apartheid and colonialism. I think that people like yourself see the world in very simplistic terms but only when it come to anti black racism. No one ever offer Jewish people the same kind of non solutions to anti-semitism such as not talking about it or disappearing unpleasant history and unpleasant current social realities.
You are just living in the reality of your society. You could try to change it if you want to but you could also just deal with it as is.
“Hypodescent is the practice of automatically assigning a person of mixed racial ancestry to a lower-ranking racial group. The term comes from the words "hypo-" meaning less or inferior, and "descent" meaning to be derived from.
Hypodescent is a concept in anthropology that has been used in societies where some races are considered superior or dominant, and others are considered inferior or subordinate. The opposite of hypodescent is hyperdescent, which is when children are assigned to the dominant or superior race.
Hypodescent has been used in the United States to classify people with African American ancestry as Black. For example, in the 1660s, Virginia passed laws that defined the children of female slaves as slaves, regardless of the father's race. This led to the "one-drop rule", which classified anyone with African American ancestry as Black.
The principle of hypodescent was used to maximize the number of slaves and minimize the number of citizens with legal protections and economic benefits. It was also used to facilitate the enslavement of children born to slave women and white men.”
I’m super mad the comment I kinda worked hard on probably got posted to some commercial or the next video that played. 😩 Whatever! Hypodescent is a concept I learned about in college Anthropology.
What in the world is a lower ranking racial group? If you are attempting to type that Black people, people of African ancestry are a lower ranking racial group.
Hi, I was familiar with just about everything that you wrote, but I didn’t know the term “ hypodescent” which is kind of self explanatory . Thanks…. I always like to read the comments because I learn a lot from doing so.
How can a person who is octoroon, quadroon or a Mulatto be classed as Black when genetically they mainly or half mixed with white people?? This is a blatant lie the person with this mixes are not BLACK
First of all why are calling being Black a lower race!!!! I’m offended by this statement. Also why is she or anyone else so ashamed to be called Black I can see it in her!!! True she is multi racial , if this is what she wants to be called.
Hypodescent-- super problematic term!
You officially have your black card! Welcome to the family ❤
According to Jeff Bezos anyway :D
Is she confused or upset of being African American or what?
Afro Italian American
@@bendavis1458 its a label she never used to describe herself. My wife had a similar experience being African/Indian she never really knew what box to check she always put her nationality first, which is something I wish America would do.
@@bornfromforeign I've known quite a few...shout out my boys R. Nunn and J. Amato...never forget the famous Franco Harris!
The one drop rule is a helluva drug that this society can't seem to kick.
It won't get kicked until the US confronts its racism head-on.
The so called "one drop rule" isn't any worse than what other racialized societies have concocted to justify their racial hierarchy..Latin American style racism doesn't work any better for black people in Latin America or wherever Latin Americans go either.
Liv & Steven Tyler just discovered there African ancestry. The 1% Law is STILL in effect Danielle. This is the reality of being powerless to labeling.
That was found out years ago on Television
Slash's mother was Black too!
@@eileenbrown3197 Everyone knew Slash was half-Black. Neither Steven or Liv knew of their Black heritage. Which is funny in hindsight. They have full lips that are often associated with Black ppl.😂
Country singer Clint Black found out he have Black American in him also
You are so kind. The law doesn't exist, but the RACIST people who created it still do. The more some things change, the more some things stay the same, like racism.
Welcome to the one drop rule 2024, without trying to be too snarky.
welcome to the club.
Don't worry you'll get used to it.
funny to see it playing out this publicly
She's not suddenly black, nor are people going to see her as black and treat her like a black woman. Stop trying to give away my identity because you are fixated on including women who look like her into blackness in order to give you your own semblance of proximity to whiteness vicariously through her inclusion into your race.
@@nytnWhether or not they mean to, they have marginalized you and put into , to their eyes, presumption of you're opinion(s) as self serving and not to be as trusted as a W person's who'd be auto presumed neutral
@@kevingillard5474 From the WaPo article it seems that it was either bundle her story into an article about the African American struggle for equality, or not publish it at all. Danielle's story mentioned five people, two of whom were freed, and one of whom successfully "passed" as white. The fourth and fifth were Danielle and her daughter. It seems to me that her article rightfully belonged under the Douglass headline, for those three. Her ancestral story demonstrates two ways that the African American found freedom and eventual equality in this country. Not just for themselves, but for their children, and for their eventually white descendants.
@@visionaerie 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
In the words of the prophet James Brown, "Say It Loud - I'm BLACK AND I'M PROUD!"❤🖤💚
She says she’s not black and she’s not proud. The cats out of the bag and she wants to shove it back. How could she do all that research and not know that the one drop rule is alive and well. It has the light skinned girls traumatised and melting down on Tiktok by being vile to darker skinned girls.
You are so perspicacious and honestly raw. Continue speaking truth to power sometimes it is utterly uncomfortable and painful, but also liberating.😎
perspicacious! YOU MADE MY DAY. what a great word :)
@@nytn Not gonna lie. I had to look it up. It's the perfect word and an apt assessment. 🎯
@@nytn I agree . They call English a " Germanic " language , but a very large percentage of English words have Latin or Greek roots.
@@Percept2024English is a mongrel language which steals words from other languages ie Alcohol from Arabic
I commented many months ago that white society determines race and you responded negatively- I am glad you had this experience.
It's disheartening when someone tries to put you in a box
I love that you're sharing this. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼❤
Thank you! I think a lot of people will understand this.
I remember you originally considered yourself as white when you thought you were full Italian, but to be honest you don't look full white... Maybe hispanic or mixed.
She was going by the more recent USA assignment of Italians as whites. At one time, in the USA, Italians were not considered WHITE of course because many , who came from southern Italy, had dark skin, etc. The fact is that when you come from southern European countries, we cannot be surprised of our African genes. I have 6% Northern African, probably because I’m part from the Canary Islands and I’m very fair, etc. The Spanish people populating these islands, mixed with the Guanches who have been traced to Northern Africa. A lot of our DNA is lost through the generations but, Sub-African genetics are still found in the DNA of some southern Europeans. I say, more power for it. African genes make us beautiful.
@@hildaovalle1455 You know, Dennis Hopper's character in "True Romance" had something to say about that. 😜
@@hildaovalle1455 The Moors ruled Spain and Portugal for centuries in the Middle ages.
Full white? That would make white a purity or what? Many Mediterranean people look a bit tan. Egyptian whites are mixed heavily with Bantus, Dinkas & Nubians. Spaniards and Portuguese look that way. Rafa Nadal is a good example.
@inwiththenew,
Yep. She looks Hispanic and like some biracial Black women. Her hair and facial structure says that she has Black genes.
Every time I tune in I always see an excellent video. That "One drop rule" was applied, regardless how ridiculous it is. Race is a very subjective political/sociological/societal thing here. Underneath it all is an American caste system that is applied here, and when you break it down and show the very subjectivity of this, people's lack of comfort become very evident. The institutions will do all it can to maintain it..if it can. Always great insights NYTN.
nagone11:. But some of you try to explain it away as if it never existed and had an influence on how people were seen and treated. It's almost like you are saying that history never existed.
@@beaujac311 What?? I don't follow what you're sayin..
@@nagone11 What I'm saying is that was the standard for so long for a lot of black people. There are black people who could pass for white who would fight you if you told them they were not black. They've been black all of their life. I constantly see younger black people telling other black people you are not black. I"m 62 years old and as a child at a family reunion I see some people who I thought were white. I asked my mother why are these white people here and she says their not white that's cousin so and so. Some black people will now try and tell you that a person isn't black if they don't "look black". To me it is kind of like the brown bag test in reverse.
The American that has been stolen to represent the castle system was originally used to describe the real American as the Copper Coloured race that was found in the Americas written in the 1828 Websters dictionary..
@@beaujac311 i totally agree. I sometimes feel that from this channel but im not sure if thats her intention
I have a white mother and a black father. My DNA comes up 57% European, 37% African, 6% Asian ... No one cares to ask how I identify. I am proud to be who I am and proud of my heritage. I hate how the world categorizes you and that is that. It is so divisive and wrong.
Awesome mindset but how do u identify? B4 racial identity was removed from government driver license, what racial category did u select?
@@godisiam9614 Over the years, I have put everything on my form: African American, Mixed Race, or Other. One time I was at a doctor's appointment because I sprained my knee and for the race section of the new patient form I crossed out the whole menu with a big X, and wrote: Human next to it. The nurse and doctor reviewed my form, laughed, and told me I was right.
@@amybethea6187 I'm African American with some Native American. I haven't gotten a DNA test, because I don't want European White DNA. To me, you appear to be a (very) light-skinned African American or Puerto Rican (Black). All the Black people I know and biracial Blacks love being Black. Especially if they have a Black mother Like the Maury's.
Imposter syndrome and being mixed are almost inseparable based on our One-Drop Rule, Black & White Western thinking on race.
You are who you are! You come from many beautiful cultures and should have no shame in identifying with ALL of it!
thank you for this, it really spoke to me
It is not western, it is uniquely American. Other societies have their own rules.
That's a compliment. If your African American, you're considered awesome in a lot of parts of the world.
It’s because you’re American. Time African and Black Americans started appreciating and loving their country.
Wow that’s crazy and rude of them! On the side note, thanks for sharing this with us.
In 1985, when i was stationed in italy, i had an italian girl-friend from Prato, a small city out side of Florence, she looked almost identical to you, her skin tone, her hair and facial feature. I guess she would be classified as black here in
the USA.
Something is very wrong with that notion. Just saying
@@raulrambomeplease do elaborate
Then she was American, not Italian.
@study the early Ellis island history how italian emigrates was classified.
@@cmerritth Bla, bla, bla. If it makes you feel good, that's fine.
As a Louisiana creole who is white passing or racially ambiguous at best,this is the story of my life. Throughout my life it sometimes seemed like everyone else but me wanted to decide what I am and put me in a box. I never understood, and still don't really,why that was so important to people. It really makes lots of people uncomfortable if you don't look like,act,or conform to their expectations. However,what I do know is I'm not here to conform to anyones rules or expectations when it comes to identity. Those that have a problem with that then that's their issue to work out and not mine. And I offer the same to others. Identify how you want and it's not my place to tell anyone else who they are or aren't. Maybe one day the WP will learn to do the same for others.
I found this video very compelling. I am of Norwegian/Swedish and Finnish descent, but discovered much to my own surprise a few years ago through a new interest in genealogy that we also have a very large Sámi component in our family. It's something that has not been talked about or discussed at all. There is a cultural context here that merits its own discussion, but I won't take it here. I just wanted to say that I have had to confront my own feeling of identity. It is still somewhat of an uphill battle for many reasons, but we will eventually get to a point of.. equilibrium I hope.
Thank you for your video.
Warner Oland an actor who played Charlie Chan in the movies was of Sami origin. He was the only actor who did not have to have makeup to play the Chinese character.
I find the Sami people fascinating. They toss out the idea of categorizing people by race. They are not of Asia, but bear a resemblance. Meanwhile there are the Xhosa people of South Africa who are not Asian, but also resemble Asians. Time to get rid of the idea of race.
Me too. A famous fiddler on the border of Sweden and Norway, "Lapp Nils" from 150 years ago was Sami. His tunes are still played.
I sometimes follow the blog of a fellow who is of Native American descent. Back in the day he and a girlfriend went to visit the Sami people and they all thought it was interesting that he and his GF looked like they would fit right with the Sami.
I have been writing about this.
About the Sámi.
I don't care what you are called you are so cool!
you seriously made my day
I'm not sure what the setup is that introduces the part you wrote (the story's paywalled, so I can't read it all). However, the sub-headline "Readers reflect on race and racism" sounds accurate to me, and not like the Post was saying you personally are African-American; you were telling the amazing story of your ancestor. I'm glad you got to the conclusion you did about the bigger picture. Race in America is dense and complex and painful!
ahhh I didnt know it was paywalled!! Ill find a work around. The back and forth with the editor gets to the meat of the issue (I explain in the video)
@@nytn❤
I have seen your videos come up on my stream a few times and I must tell you this. Welcome to the United States of America, I know it’s kind of trendy to say I am part this part that and the other. Some black people ( I said some) weren’t brought here because they were Fulani, Igbo, Ashanti or Wolof they were brought here because they were black. Like brother Malcolm said. I am glad that you are proud of your mixed heritage but at the same time I can’t help but feel it’s part of the same mental disorder that plagues Africa today. I am older than you so I have seen a couple of cycles of this where our people divide themselves into sub tribes right here in America. FBA’s, ADOS, redbones, Creoles and Soulanis are just the latest cycle of names we use while searching for an identity in a Eurocentric society where proximity to whiteness is rewarded and taken away at their whim. I myself they can change what on my birth certificate as many times as they like, just as they did my great grandfather ( mulatto one year something in another ten years). Me I have and will always identify as black, simply a Black American with all the advantages and disadvantages it comes with.
Greatly said. That was something I said to another in the comments that "WE" are almost truly the only set of people who have been reidentified/reclassified over and aver again. BUT the more I keep digging the more I find out and I see WHY they make it there business to HIDE us or the truth! I often get confused b/c the pushback we get in society and even our friends & family. They often refer to us as the "third race" but if you have not looked into this check out Mr. Plecker from the 1920's He began classifying and reclassiffying the Indians to just "COLORED." Here is a little snippet of that truth:
EROSION OF NATIVE AMERICAN IDENTITY: Plecker’s reclassification efforts led to the denial of legal recognition for Native American groups, many of whom were forced to identify as "colored." This was devastating for Native American communities in Virginia, who found their cultural identities being erased, OFTEN leading to GENERATIONAL CONFUSION about HERITAGE and ANCESTRY.
As long as you stand with us, defend us, do no harm to us, and love us, and when times become precarious and dangerous you close ranks and have solidarity with us, then yes you are Black. But you must most importantly see yourself as Black and feel the connection! I'm Half Black, and I see myself as Black. Mixed heritage but Black. Especially since this last election. We ain't got allies or friends, not even the indigenous have our backs. We just have us. And you will one day understand that being Black is a blessing, but outsiders make it hard. And those outsiders will put you with us. Also consider that even though you didn't grow up as a Black mixed ancestry person, your ancestors are your ancestors, your genetic connections are what they are. This is the call of tge universe for you to explore your Blackness. Explore it. Make the connection. Don't feel shy. And I'll go a step further. This us also the same experience "fully" Black people in the diaspora have with their Afrucan tribal affiliations! Many people feel this way about connecting with igbo culture, or Akan culture, because we were intentionally separated from our cultures about 500 years ago. But those are still our ancestors, those are still our cultures we had a history before America. Just as much as you are indigenous you are European and African. More than one thing can be true at one time. That why I claim my IGBO heritage with pride! You ARE a Black American. And a woman of African ancestry. Now if you started creating chaos in our community, and causing harm then we will have a problem with you. Such as our problems with the likes of Candace Owen's, or Clarence Thomas, or Omarosa. Those are glaring examples of Black people who used their influence to damage the Black community. Even people like ice Cube I would consider to be detrimental to our community. But you you have the blood connection, and you here to be with us, girl welcome, you just light skinned. Come on in, get you a plate, sit on down, its a blessing to be Black!
Ice Cube and a whole lot them showed us what sellouts they really are this election.
Love it
Black means not just in color but in your overall attitude, manners and thinkings. Most blacks have victim mentality and as Candace says are thus not accountable for their evil actions in their thinkings and attitudes. But there is a powerful group of blacks who although less in number are responsible, take accountability for their actions and talk with integrity without pointing fingers at anyone. So, they consider themselves to be just Americans because America stands for empowerment, justice and work hard culture which they relate to more than the black community people in general. Black people are so sensitive in their attitude towards those people whoever finds faults with them. A very difficult people who needs to humble themselves a lot.
How can you even know what Blacks Americans think and feel ?? According to your page you are in India. @@NiviWord
@debmc369 The world is a small place compared to the past and the American media is everywhere so its easy to understand people . Moreover, India has a huge population of its diaspora there and so Indians are interested in things of the US. Finally, even people of Indian origin are in politics there like Vivek Ramasamy so America doesn't belong to any one people, culture and ethnic group!
A good one! Being part of the human African race should never be a bad thing especially since all human life started in Africa although society has done us a grave injustice!
My granddaughter favors you…her Dad is considered white and her Mom is a Black American so we teach her to proud of her ancestral melanated ancestors from Africa because society will always bring what they think is great about White ancestors! You are doing a great thing in breaking down the racial barriers!
It really brings it home how persuasive the idea of race is they took one look at you and decided who you were.
This is how the one drop rule works. They decide for you.
I love this channel. Only one like it and you are so cool. Brave, genuine, and faithful, and make no appologies. Rightfully.
Also love the viewers and comments❤. I feel the love here and understanding! I feel like watching your videos this year has opened up my heart for understanding, love and seeing people one person and thier story at a time. Thank you. We all have worth and all have a story. So did the people of the past. And its given it a voice. Made things so personal and challeneged the cut and dry the books teach in a few pages. God bless you and keep you.
- neighbor from NC
Well said !! :)
❤@@SuperAnimelover100
In someway, you have become like your grandmother, a person who you have never met because you know who you are, but you know what’s best to identify as today’s just like Yesterdays😢like grandma 👵🏾
Well done on your article, Danielle, and thank you for the insight.
It's not common for someone who does not identify as African American to enthusiastically tell the story of a Black American ancestor who was enslaved (unless they did something extraordinary). Not sure if you had a RUclips channel or website at the time you submitted the article but if staff from the Washington Post saw you, they would easily assume that you identified as Black. Yes, they should have checked, but given the context of the situation, like you said they didn't think about it. Additionally, you didn't realize that people would make this assumption. If people come across your RUclips videos where you're highlighting one of your Black Ancestors, they will likely also assume that you identify as Black. Only until they've watched enough of your videos will they realize that you identify as Italian American? It's not common for White Americans to claim and be proud of their African ancestry if they have it, so if they come across you and your love for your people, they definitely assume that you're Black
You are right that I didn’t know how it would be perceived, I was just excited to share! I did not have youtube back then
I'm a fellow mixed person much older than you. I have experienced people trying to neatly fit me into one particular ethnic box or another for most of my life. I have also known other mixed people who experienced the same thing.
Very often we don't exist. Many people can't figure out that people always mixed and mingled. Add to that the fact that many of our ancestors passed for the purpose of self preservation because the group in power was not kind to those of us who were not them.
The Washington Post was more concerned about selling their story than who you really are. So, they neatly fit you into the box that they were speaking about.
Rude awakening for you. Sorry that you had to experience it.
I do love your channel. ❤
You're Caucasian.
Blackness is a state of mind that she definitely doesn't have.
Sometimes its not how you self identity, but how the world view you. The question now is how did that make you feel. Did you embrace it or did it make you angry or annoyed. Your deep feelings reveal how you really feel about your African ancestry.
Neither angry or annoyed, but imposter syndrome!
@@nytn I bet. Someone trying to speak for you sometimes is annoying in and of itself, especially when they misspeak.
Self identity is most important. The world is not who has the right to identify people.
No she does not identify as African American. If you even have followed her ever, you know that her grandmother passed as white. She never claimed to be African American until she took the test. They did not know they were African Americans, so they won't living as African Americans. I don't understand some people, and how they don't understand that. I'm biracial myself but I choose to identify as black. We all don't identify as black, she does not even have that much black ancestry. So she felt like she would be an imposter, and they made her seem like that. When they put her down as an African American. She didn't tell them to do that they decided on that themselves at the Washington Post. You're trying to make this comment, like she doesn't accept being black and that she really feels this way. That's what I'm getting by, reading your comment but I don't see it is that. I don't see any of her information coming across as that. Maybe you should go to her patron account like I did. It's only $1.25 a month you'll get better information cuz you'll get it all. You can't get all the information over here without her being demonetized That's my suggestion for you.
I know where you are going with this, but it is dismissive of her multi-heritage.
Since the one drop rule is still applied, it should be REALLY easy for all of us to get reparations without being required to take a DNA test. I'll bet my last dollar that they won't make it that easy though 😂
I hope you get over the embarrassment. You have an amazing message, and you are an asset to society. Your strive for honesty is important
You should know better than most about the "one-drop" rule.
back in 2020 I had no idea! Im learning fast and furious over here LOL
@@nytn Are you disappointed? As long as I've been rockin' with your channel (since day one), I'm thinking you would be PROUD to belong to such magnificent body of people and would embrace the beauty, the strength, and the fierceness that comes with the title, "African-American / Black" ❤🖤💚
Im extremely proud of my ancestry!
You say your grandmother was creole and Hispanic, none of which means she wasn't black. Creole means she was at least half black. The word Hispanic pertains more to culture than race. In other words you can be 100% pure black and also be Hispanic. It sounds to me that you maybe racially mixed (not sure what with) but the one drop rule would play a big part in you being considered black. Europeans have reinforced that for hundreds of years so, with all due respect, your nuances doesn't really matter to anyone else but yourself. Many people of mixed race (half black/half white) see themselves as black through choice, like Barack Obama. When I first saw you I thought you were either black (mixed) or Italian. You're the sort of person who people might ask where your family is from, but it should not have been a surprise to you that the Washington Post considered you to be a black woman based on the fact that your 5th great grandfather was an African slave. Don't ever feel that you haven't got the right to be proud of your African heritage.
I'm glad you published that article and shared with us. Frederick Douglas was misquoted. He said, "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" People from America, Africa, Asia and Europe were enslaved here.
However, let's be absolutely clear about it from Frederick Douglas' speech . . . .ONLY African's were enslaved by LAW, and by such LAW, were deemed NON-HUMAN, 3/5th of a human being AND were not considered "citizens" until challenged by LAW. ONLY African's who were enslaved, CHILDREN were automatically ENSLAVED. To which "American", "Asian", or "European" person enslaved in America experienced what the human beings from Africa experienced while enslaved? I'll wait for a truthful, historical answer.
@@bihsaidwhatnow2392 Indentured-servants(contract-labor) vs hereditary enslavement(generational-bondage), was the fundamental difference between Africans' and All Others, who came to the Americas; But, only after laws were codified to make anyone with African descent, to be deemed as slaves into perpetuity.
@ronniejohnson196 That's wrong as hell.. Indians were the first slaves here.. The Irish and Dutch were indentured servants until they fought with some Indians to free themselves.. This story about slavery was over exaggerated.. I got books that date to 1760 and lower to prove it.. I got my genealogy on both sides to also prove it, and I can show my line to 1780 on one side and 1670 on another side.. Was there slavery? Yes! But nothing like how the people said it was in the 1990s.. How does a historians word in the 1960 supersede a historians word in the 1700s? 🤔
@@ronniejohnson196 And so we are saying the same thing --- besides confirming what I said, was there a point made that I missed or needed correction??? I see @carrgip has a problem with your assessment. . .you might want to educate that font on the reality of enslavement.
@@carrgip "and All Others, who came to the Americas", referred to just that, and Not to Native-Americans' who Were Here Already. Peace...
"This is not a special thing happening to me. " Exactly
It is the presumptive, American way, to tell you what you are. Thankfully, you are a self-aware, conscientious woman who took the time to consider your own thoughts. For certain, more important than anything else, you are a child of God. God bless! ❤
Presumptive American, yes! This brought back a memory which I'd almost forgotten. Many years ago, I met an American priest and when I told him my great grandfather had died in America by falling from a skyscraper he was building in Kansas City, he assumed that he must have been Irish and told me must stick up for the Irish against the British. This was during the period known as 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland. Only afterwards did I realise that the man who died in Kansas was English, not Irish and I've since learned that he didn't fall from a skyscraper but fell into the machinery of a corn mill in rural Kansas. For years I resented Father Chuck's presumption. This seems to be a particularly American trait, or am I being Presumptive. People should stop thinking they know everything about other people after just one brief encounter.
Sounds like you had your first black experience. You begin to see things differently. The more you have the more they can change you. Continue sharing. It's really appreciated.
If she grew up in a Blk neighborhood and had a Blk step-parent, then she'd probably identify as Blk and have a Blk husband. She would've had a different life, a different attitude, different accent, and she'd probably get dreadlocks.
There are plenty of Ambiguous mixed people who consider themselves Blk based on their upbringing, like Mariah Carey.
If you're ambiguous, you get to choose your identity based on your upbringing and/or appearance.
Growing up Creole, I never identified as African American, but often had that label put on me by others. Thanks to decades of Jim Crow indoctrination, Americans have a compulsion for categorizing people in narrow-minded racial boxes, but what's worse is the shame and gaslighting you often face for correcting them: like claiming you're delusional, self-hating, or "uppity" for identifying as Creole instead of black (or white). Most Creoles aren't ashamed of our African heritage, we just embrace all of our ancestry equally.
I never thought of it this way.
Must be wonderful to have a choice. To not be black. To be valued, to be seen, to be all that is beautiful in America. Creole … that’s so much easier, acceptable, just generally better than black. To take the “easy” parts of African ancestry food, music, while leaving behind the hardships of African Ancestry- Jim Crow….. this is the American way.
@@chotsanipwhitt4744 What choice? Having other people, white and black, always dictating what you're allowed to be and resenting you for one reason or another (like you seem to be doing now)? If you think Creoles never had any hardships, then you don't know Creole history. What's wonderful is embracing what God made you and not looking for validation from others, or letting them determine your identity and value... which was my whole point.
@@stevenwayneart We’re all free to choose how we want to be identified, whether true or not. It’s not how the social construct of ‘race’ works. When you look like other Black people they will label you as ‘Black.’ Keep in mind all African Americans, if their family has been here since before the Civil War are also African and European, all, 100%. With that said, I’ve never seen the difference in being Creole, Mulatto or African American. All are Euro-Africans with varying percentages. Given, under French and Spanish rule, Mixed race individuals were given more freedoms, today holding on to the ethnicity seems to be a way for those who are light skin to still assert their superiority and to disassociate themselves from other Negros, especially given many Creoles marry other Creoles, therefore keeping their lineage light skin in a desperate attempt to make sure any privilege is still accessible.
That’s on the one hand, on the other, food, dress, language, religion, customs, music, etc are what constitutes an ethnicity. Creoles have developed their own unique culture based on the communities they’ve interacted with and descended from.
I guess when I think of ‘creole’ I think of the brown paper bag test.
When you say that's not my life experience. I don't know what people believe is the black experience. There are so many different experiences that some blacks may not be able to relate to another black person's experience. Lifestyle, money and regions can vastly different. The black experience can't be put into a box
Thank you for your authenticity.
❤ Is it bad to be black? Can’t listen to this now … will later
Didn’t think you’d be so upset by being associated with Royalty.
Lol I don’t identify as African American either. I am Black. I never say African.
It felt dishonest sort of (maybe)( to you since you weren't raised in that way. IIDK, but I think I know what you mean, even tho I'm Brit, Irish, Scott, Norwegian/Swede & a sliver of Welsh & North American Indian. It would be if they called me "Indigenous American", when I was barely aware of that 3% growing up. If that makes sense.
Whatever genetic background you have, you are beautiful. If I had to guess (and I'm likely a poor guesser) I'd think you were probably mostly Italian-American but wouldn't be shocked by Irish, African American or Indigenous American 'bits' in the mix, or even something "Middle-Eastern"? maybe? Anyway, 1st vid of yours I've seen. Good video, sorry this happened. Hope you get to an ok place w/it.
African Americans are not even African Americans! Elon Musk is African American: He was born in Africa; his immediate family are from Africa: Polish American,Asian American,German American,typically means you were born in those countries,but settled in America.Further more,most so called Blacks are really different shades of Brown. This lack of truth in language is based more on intellectual dishonesty and the need to create a racial caste system. We as Americans must become better than that: You could be the change young lady! Hopefully this racial caste system will be buried in the archives.👍🏿🇮🇱👍🏼
Us curly haired people worry so much about our hair being "crazy." You have good layers, so it has a nice shape. I'm just as prone to be self-conscious of my curls being crazy. It seems like shiny, controlled hair is the most envied look.
Curly hair is enchanting. Lively, unrepresented, a symphony. ❤
labels, labels, labels. your intelligence in expressing this important nuance in our histories, is BEYOND sensitive and kind. thank you, thank you, thank you!
Now I identify as significantly Black, but not predominantly. Since finding out a year ago that I’m not predominantly Black like I always thought. Now I identify as all of me. When I fill out paperwork, there’s no word that says Creole listed. So, I check Black and Latin. 66% of me is Black (Afro - American and Haitian), and Latin mixture of French from France, French Créole, Canadian French (Cajun), Spanish
(Spain) immigrants, Spanish Criollo, Sicilian, Native American Choctaw in which the tribe is Native to Mexico first and foremost and migrated to East of the Mississippi River 2,000 to 9,000 years ago depending on which historian ya ask. So that’s my little few drops of Mexican indigenous ethnically speaking. I’m also Irish bc come to find out my mom’s biological father’s White side was Irish. His Creole side was Spanish immigrant and Spanish Criollo, French immigrants and French Créole, and Black / Afro - American. Then I’m also German and Dutch. I identify myself as all of it. Lol!!! I identify as multi generationally mixed Louisiana Creole of Color. On paper, I mark Black and Latin. Since that is majority of me. And since there’s no Creole word to mark. I’m also just absolutely not marking other. If the form only allows one thing to be checked then I check Black. Bc even though I’m not predominantly Black … Black / African derived is the largest single percentage of me at 33%. I’m also exactly 33% Latin, but that’s a mixture of French, Spanish, and Sicilian. I don’t know why Spanish derived people got the monopoly on the word Latin. Latin literally means from any part of Latin Europe and Hispanic means derived from Spain. We all know inhabitants of and descendants of former Spanish colonies are a mix of Hispanic and Indigenous blood and commonly have different variations of sub Saharan African blood too although not always. We all know that the Latin ethnic groups of Europe all tend to have a little North African and or Arab and or EurAsian / Mediterranean Middle Eastern mixed in them. Although not always. Anyway, I identify as all of me. I identify as Louisiana Creole of Color and multi generationally mixed and I will list everything on any given day of the week. On paper, I’m Black and Latin. Or Black if that’s all they let me mark. I’m going with Science. Lol! My experience growing up was 100% Afro - American only but with a few sprinkles of Creole culture mixed in. I was raised up in predominantly White neighborhoods since the age of seven years old. So … in a sense … my upbringing was also surrounded by White American culture. I was also used to being the only Black girl in my neighborhood friend group. I had Black friends from school though. They didn’t live in my neighborhoods though. I was used to being the only Black girl in my gymnastics class. I was also one of only four Black girls on the dance team. I was just used to being surrounded by White people all the time. 😂😂😂 Even my first husband always used to tell me like hmph! You think like them White folks! 😂🤦🏽♀️😂 Anyway, since finding out I’m way more mixed than I thought I was a year ago … when I did my Ancestry dna … I’ve identified myself as mixed. Period. Lol!
You forgot that many people in Europe are dependents of the Moors especially Spaniards and Portuguese.
I had similar shocking results (I'm 40% Black, which includes Louisana Creole). I literally cried because I literally had debates for years throughout childhood and college that I was 100% Black. Those Ancestry and 23 & Me results brought confusion and frustration. I still identifying as Black even though I am technically a mutt. 😂😢
@@BeFruitfulMomma those DNA tests are not accurate. they only test a tiny sliver of your DNA. don't let that erase your whole identity. (also, you should probably delete your DNA data from 23&me before they sell the company to some foreign entity.
@@BeFruitfulMomma Most "black" people in the Americas are "mixed" with whites and with some others unless they are recent voluntary immigrants from Africa. I have zero interest in acknowledging kinship with assorted non black ancestors who disowned my kind generations or centuries ago and have stood in opposition to black people living full lives as human beings in the US, Brazil, Cuba, and on and on and on..Unless black people have direct personal relationships with these so called ancestors including things such as inheritance rights, I don't understand why I or any other black people want to engage in one-sided embraces and in one sided love affairs with them..
Not everything about our identity should be subjective. It should be informed by ancestry. If one can't accept one's ancestry, it would be very unfortunate
I’m finding a lot of slave ancestors in my Sicilian ancestry once you get into the 1500s. One marriage record was for a woman with the last name Tagliavia that name is usually a name associated with Sicilian nobility, but immediately after her name was “scava” or slave…
I’m starting to understand why a significant part of my Ancestry shows North African
I've found the same thing -- remember that Rome extended into north Africa as well. Two thousand years ago, my ethnicity would have been !00% Roman instead of the patchwork of nations that now ring the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea.
You mean "enslaved" . . . . . . .
That was the reality of Italy, Spain and Portugal and others, ,previous to the 1500s. Africans have been part of the history and the genetic of these countries without a doubt. The difference is that they didn’t discriminate in the same way. Once the black traits disappeared, you became part of the majority race, which is exactly what happens when you continue to admix, an admixture that creates beautiful people……in my opinion.
The North African and Levant blood is brown, not black. I’m a quarter Sicilian and the Berbers were brown indigenous, and other nations were Arab.
Honestly, I say “mixed olive ethnicity” at this point, because my half-Polish side is rooted in the Balkans and WASP standards called Poles non-white, and even the Italians made Sicilians leave from the island, or travel in steerage.
On government forms, I select Other, non-Hispanic and write in “multi-ethnic”. But they have been taking stem cells from babies born in US hospitals since the 70s, so they already damn well know what a melting pot America is and whom is owed reparations.
In regards to the article title "quote," Frederick Douglass never identified as "African American" but rather "Negro" and also "Freedman."
I think Frederick Douglass’ Letter was “What to the Slave is the 4th of July”, not African American. African-American was not a term that existed when Douglass wrote his letter, which was about the hypocrisy of celebrating Freedom when the country still allowed the ownership of Slaves. Sounds like the WAPO was posing a different question based on their article’s title, which seemed to play on the words of Douglass’ original essay.
You are right!! I misspoke there
Interesting that you posted this today, considering that just yesterday there was a little debate on IG re: whether you can choose how you identify racially (done really in the context of trans rights and in a way that kind of invalidated both). In that context, a perspective like yours is interesting, as particularly with respect to the nuance you identify and the feeling you may have of having that choice of self identification (no matter how small) taken away from you. Good video and I definitely appreciate you sharing your perspective.
Ohhh I am not on IG anymore so out of the loop. Thats cool to hear
Labelling people is so silly. A Ugandan girl once told me: Being Black is not a color, it's an experience. That to me as someone who was classified as white by the Apartheid Government. And even now, 30 years after the Apartheid era Population Registration Act was abolished I am still asked that my race is. Me, I identify as human.
this is something realllly important. The experience side of it.
Strangely, there are things my family does that are clearly connected to hiding ancestry, but by the time it got to me, I didnt know why my family acted that way, ie :ALWAYS staying out of the sun/wearing hats etc. I dont do it though :)
@@nytn Thank you. Interesting that the way you look (skin color, hair) is or was important. In the early days of the Cape Settlement that was not important, but religion was. I have a distant ancestress that, from her name, must have been from the indigenous population. Alas, we will never know anything about her, but she was accepted in the community, so she must have been Christian. So too many freed slaves, or others from Batavia, India and so on. So, I hear you say that, if others label you, that is not good, but if you choose an identity, that is your right. Yes, I agree with that, but still, having lived through Apartheid and seen what labelling can do, I firmly identify as human.
It’s so strange that my brother was listed as black on his birth certificate but on his death certificate he was listed as white!
Died 1995.
Born 2024.
Welcome back one drop rule.
@@jimmyalfonda3536 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Never died. . . . .just REINCARNATED!!!. . . . .In my Kendrick Lamar's voice ❤🖤💚!!!
What do you mean it died in 1995?...
My first wife and I spent many Saturday mournimgs with a elderly Comanche couple. He looked DARK . When he rolled back hid shirts sleeves , his arms could pass for White.
Full Blooded Registered Tribal member. Like he was wearing gloves.
Unfortunately, you were raised with a secret. As the truth comes to light, things are naturally going to change. You have a new identity: you are Indigenous, Afro, Anglo, and Latino, and that is beautiful. Sometimes, we have to set aside what we were taught while growing up, especially when it was kept secret, and embrace the truth as adult
"Embrace the truth" . . . . . and EMBRACE the beauty of being BLACK!!! It is when we stop putting "levels" on human beings we will experience the greatness of being human beings.
Yes!!!!! Acknowledge that your Great Grandparents told a bold lie. Lying didn't change they're DNA!!!! They are still BLACK and you are BLACK too. Don't dress it up any longer. Don't continue to carry the lie.
In America, the minute you have a natural tan and your hair is curly, they quickly identify you as black or anything else but white.
Call me whatever you want as long as you call me for supper! 🙂
You’re multi generationally mixed. You are part Afro American Louisiana Creole of Color. I’m assuming the Creole is French, Afro American Black, and Native American from what I’ve gathered from your channel. I know you’re also Irish, Italian and Mexican? That just makes you multi - ethnic. Both my mom and dad are Louisiana Creole of Color. I always thought I was predominantly Black though. That’s just what my mom raised me to believe. Since finding out I’m actually only 33% Black … I no longer just only racially identify as Black. I identify as mixed now since finding out I am a year ago. I always knew I was admixed. I always identified as Black first and foremost and secondarily as Creole admixed French, Spanish, Sicilian, German, Dutch, and Native American.
Welcome to the black family! I watched you all the times.
I love the honesty of your stories even when they are painful or awkward and make me think.
It appears the editors saw your story and said, "she's Black", they identified you, for you, as have happened to many Black people in the USA.
It sure does make me think a lot about race. Thank you for picking up a sledgehammer and breaking down the walls of race with your stories.
You are from African decent though. All African Americans have a mixture of other ethnicities.
This happens to me I am dark skin latin but sometimes white people think I am black but black people feel I am latin, crazy.
They coined that term AA in 1988. No one was asked if that was what we wanted to be called. We have a movement now to call "black" people of today descendants of freedmen - Foundational Black Americans. We are an ethnicity not a race that devrive from our ethnogenesis in the U.S.A. Its a culture/ ethnicity so that doesn't fit you if you were raised as a white American even if you have common ancestry.
African America is much older than that. I heard it when Afro or Natural first got popular as a hairstyle. There are records as far back as the "late 18th and early 19th centuries". Apparently Aframerican was used in the pre Civil rights era Negro Press publications.
Thanks for being so open about your feelings and vulnerabilities on your channel. You have shared so much of yourself. My background is simple- I'm Asian Indian as far back as we can tell. My son is half Indian, one quarter Italian and one quarter Irish. My ex is of Italian and Irish heritage.
Just from a historical perspective, the US is the only country as far as I know that instituted the one drop rule to propagate slavery. Acknowledgement of half white offspring would have drastically reduced the number of people coopted into slavery. It was awful, unconscionable and evil. It is the original sin of the United States. The subject of race ( total social construct) is divisive. Too many people have come out of the wood work proudly declaring themselves racist. Its despicable and destructive.
That's why your work is so important Danielle. Keep up the excellent work. Thank you!
I love your videos Forget the ignorant racists. No one can tell you how you identify because if you are American white or black and in-between you are not 100 percent anything.
Don't ever be ashamed of who you are!!!
Don't be embarrassed. You didn't misrepresent yourself. That's that dumbass legacy media... Not on you, not at all. But I get it, so thanks for sharing!
Legacy media needs to go away
You can have your mix of ancestry and be identified as "Black" only if that is how your family has been historically identified as...but really you are an American of mixed heritage including being Afro-descendant. You identify as however you were raised as. I'm "black" and my grand uncle was very pale, light bright and could pass as "white" but often didn't unless it proved beneficial to whatever circumstances he was dealing with during Jim Crow.
A perspective: I'm biologically and naturally a "human being." Part of the human species/race.
Due to the design of white supremacy, I'm expected to identify by human other identities. My birth certificate states I'm a Negro. I grew up Colored and Negro. In the late sixties to early seventies I was both Afro American and Black. In the eighties I was anointed African American.
At no time throughout my life was I asked how I choose to identify myself. A reminder, the "one drop rule" is applied to You our Sista.✊🏾
You couldn't choose how to identify yourself yet you are imposing some stupid rule onto her to make her the same race as you? how dumb is that
@@jr2no160 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
When we were kids (and I am a pale, white old lady) there was no check box for White/Spanish/Latina. Only for Caucasian.
I don't wish to be identified as African American. This is a label that Jesse Jackson came up w/, which I find ironic, since he, himself is of indigenous ancestry. There are Indians in Virginia that were forced to identify as African or negro, simply b/c they were black. This does not consider the fact that all black people are not African Americans or even African. The Australian aborigines identify as black, but not African.. Fijians are black, but not African. Even if you accept the "out of Africa " theory, you need to consider that people who had ancestors who migrated out of Africa thousands of years ago, they have since undergone an ethnogenesis and now have a different culture and language.. Black Americans of African heritage have also undergone an erhnogenesis., w/ a different culture and language.. You are correct. The African American label is not for all blacks. You still have black blood.Nothing wrong w/ admitting to having black blood. It does not cancel out things like indigeneity, Islamic or Jewish heritage..
One drop.
I got a hate speech warning for saying that in reference to Kamala.
@ That’s ridiculous. The one drop rule still stands supported by the Supreme Court and the state of Louisiana as recently as 1986.
Of what? Suppose someone takes a DNA test and gets a result showing 1% Congolese, 99% English. Are they defined by that 1%? When mixed race people are Asian-White, like 25% Asian 75% European, what do they get defined as? Or is the one drop rule an "African heritage" only deal? I find the notion of one drop to be really insipid.
@@starventureit was the only way to contain and control slavery and its population that way it wouldn’t run out as an effective form of labor. Same amount of slaves or more were shipped to Mexico during Spanish colonial empire but the slaves were able to buy their freedom and the church allowed everyone and anyone to get married to whoever. Also, there were African descent conquistadors with Spain as it was multi ethnic at the time as well. The US created the one drop rule in order to maintain slavery and had strict segregation that’s why there’s more full blooded black Americans and that’s why Mexicans on average have a percentage of African in them.
I got my bow and arrow
A sling shot too in case Goliath stocky
Some people will say is because of the one drop rule but that's not the case
41 the one drop has been abolished since for a long time
In America we have hypodescent culture and if you have black american heritage you are Seen as black
The USA is so polarized that it confuses us when we claim our mixed ancestry. I have found it’s difficult for Americans to understand that you identify as someone with multiple ethnicities. I identify as Melungeon, but most people don’t understand what that is and then want to argue that you’re white or black or Native. No! I am all three and more. I am a multiracial person. I acknowledge all of them and want to preserve their history to the best of my ability. It’s an important conversation we need to have as a society.
Multiracial is not a race. Everyone has to identify as Blk, Yt or Asian at some point based on their appearance & their upbringing. -- Judging by your profile picture and your name, you appear to be Yt.
The idea that our identities are only what we experience floors me.
White, liberal, racism. That’s why.
stop
Fake bot-I see you everywhere
@@KevinBaker-p9d Is that why 14 people hit the thumbs up? If you see me everywhere, you’re a stalker. Smh.
Your a troll your channel has no content like your skull, they have racist conservatives too. How many Klansman and Nazis support Trump ?
Because murderous white conservative anti-black racism has been so much better, right?
Congrats on the article and the continued success of your channel. You have a way of telling stories that invites us in. Unfortunately, looking at the comments some people don’t take their shoes off when they come inside. 😅
ya they completely discount the fact that indigenous americans particularly of central america, south america, and southern usa were the most melanated in servitude. just like they do not include who were brought from europe in servitude. nor the highly advance society the americas had and have.
I keep telling you that you have family in Charlottesville, Virginia on your Goins side. This is probably confirmation for you to reach out and contact this African American family that you may be related to.
Many black descendants of American slavery do not like the term African American.....we prefer #FBA Foundational Black American because we are mixed people of all who were in the Americas....African, European, and in certain cases some Native....we do not look like a Native African in most cases, nor share there culture, and they do not see us as African at all....and we are not.
This actually makes sense, especially in relation to some of my enslaved ancestors, like the one I shared. His family had been in Louisiana territory for a long time. At that point, labeled Negro but a multiracial man with a white slave owner father.
FBA makes a lot of sense. In the past worked with a lot of Black Africans.
We FBA are part Black Indigenous/ Part African/Part Black European.
I'm an injun
Phuk FBA
DENIAL is so ugly
Please speak for yourself Mr Dwayne. Some Black people want to be disassociated with Africa due to self-hate and the negative, poor images of Africa we’ve been fed all of our lives. Everyone else is proud of where they are from. They see a great dignity in being associated with the land from whence their ancestors came. The fact of the matter is we are of African descent, no matter how African Americans or Africans view it. And please believe as someone who’s had an African step-mother (Kenyan) and an African step-father (Tanzanian) who’s actually spent time around Africans outside of the fake internet, I can assure most are not hateful towards us AT ALL. Of course they don’t consider us as African as them. We are Americans! But we are Americans of African descent, and that’s ok, good enough, worthy even. So some of y’all can continue with the tall tales of us being Native American 🙄 or Black Israelites (suddenly we’re Jews in this narrative 🙄), originally from America or whatever mythology you choose to tell yourself but at the end of the day our story begins in Africa, which really ALL OF OUR stories begin in Africa, isn’t that wonderful? We’re from the birthplace of humankind, a land that literally spits up diamonds, gold, precious stones and gems, where lions roam, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, hippos, rhinos. Be proud! There’s more genetic diversity within Africa than in the entire world. 🌍
By the way, i admire your presentations immensely!
“The Washington Post must have dug up your black face content, when you worked and promoted Black History Month during high school to support your then boyfriend _Pierre Freeman_ , who proclaims he 💘 when you wore bell bottom jeans”
Welcome to reality. I'm surprised it took this long. In your whole life..... everyone has been either lying to you or snickering behind your back about an obvious cultural/ perceived fact that you somehow missed. This is America and this is the world. Welcome welcome
My ancestors were Black Cherokee, Black Seminole, Black Feet Nation! My Family is Indigenous to the Americas but yet a ton of us are labeled African-American and none of my family members come from Africa at all. I know how you feel.
FBA is a ploy by the three letter orgs. Don’t get fooled. While many of us absolutely have indigenous ancestry ***due to procreation btwn Africans and Natives, and the acceptance of Africans into Native tribes*** that does not mean we aren’t primarily of African ancestry. The blood does not lie. It’s okay to be of African descent and still embrace the fact that our people built and have deep ties to this land.
4:27 It's really annoying for people to police people's classifying of their ancestry. The only proper story is you had an enslaved ancestry and you own entity is multi-racial.
Thank you for sharing this not that you owed us an excuse but we all need to be sensitive to how others identify self. A lesson for the multitude.🤔