by
Black Girl With Long Hair
This post is a response to When Natural Hair Tells a Different Story.
by Charron “Ronnie” Andrus, Contributing Writer
I have freckles.
Everywhere.
They go hand in hand with my moles.
When I was born my hair was blonde and my eyes were green.
The hair is now a dark brown with red highlights.
Other black women often ask me what color I use to dye my hair refusing to accept it’s my natural color.
My eyes have darkened to a light brown.
And I’ve been asked often whether they are contacts.
Yet none of these physical characteristics have ever caused me to think of myself as anything other than a black woman.
Why would it?
I mean there are women in my family who could pass for white or Hispanic.
But they are still black.
We come in many different shades.
So the idea that freckles, or lighter skin, eyes and hair means that I am less black is ludicrous to me.
But there are many who assume that these things can not be “African” traits.
That there has to be something else to attribute these physical features.
It’s as if anything that is considered “mainstream” when it comes to beauty has to be anti black.
And sadly many black women buy into this lie.
They don’t realize their inherent beauty.
Feel as if they must give it away in order for it to be worth something.
The whole,
“Oh I have red coloring because my family has Indian in it.”
Or
“I have straight/curly/light hair because there is white in my family.”
There’s a distinct flaw in immediately attributing light skin, hair and eyes to a dilution of African blood. These traits can and do exist in purely African blood lines.
Blonde hair and blue eyes:
This coloring is common in people from North Africa especially Berbers. Milder forms of albinism can often present as blue eyes.
Red hair and freckles:
There are African tribes who have a predisposition to red hair and freckles as an expression of their albinism. This type of albinism can also cause a reddish tint to the skin. Hyper-pigmentation due to melanin production can also cause freckles.
These are just a few traits that are more commonly misinterpreted. Educating ourselves on the truth behind our physical differences is the first step in ending divisiveness.
When will we realize that our physical features are black traits and they are beautiful?
I don’t know the answer to that question.
But I think it’s overdue.
Charron “Ronnie” Andrus is a gerontologist and the founder of The Candy Shoppe, where she writes poetry, social commentary, music reviews and more. You can also follow her on Twitter @Ronnie6676
78 Responses
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Hi , my name is Léanne, i’m from France and i’m ”dark skin”. I’m Congolese and I was born in France. I’ve got freckles , my mother got it, my grand father and maybe my ancenstor too. And I don’t think we got a mixed ancestor. I think some people got it and so people dosen’t got it. ( sorry for my english )
I’m a dark skin black woman with natural light brown hair. I got asked many times if I dyed my hair and what dye did I use .
i have freckles and i’m not mixed with anything. my mom has it too and she passed it on to me
I have freckles and so does everyone else in my family. Somehead to toe. I never thought of it as a non black trait. Also myself and many of my relativeshave naturally reddish brown hair
I have a paternal uncle and paternal aunt who both have freckles. My uncle was a light brown with brownish red freckles and red hair. My aunt is high tone with medium brown freckles and black hair. My uncle’s opposite look to my father who was light complexion with black wavy hair made me feel uncomfortble when he would visit when I was very young. I don’t know why. There were too many different looking people on my paternal side. So from a young age I never liked red hair and freckles. Now that I am older, I wish one of my children had inherited that unique, beautiful feature – red hair and freckles! Maybe another generation. Oh, yes, one of my son’s girlfriends has freckles and they have an 8 month old daughter. Who knows? Maybe she will have freckles too!
Did you always have the freckles or did they come later like mine? So, my mother is light skin born with blonde hair (now darker) and blue eyes and still blue. I am dark brown (though other say I’m not dark) but I am. Medium brown eyes and brown hair. The freckles came as I got older. They are only on my cheeks. Why do I have the freckles now?
I’m 49.
I believe people from the Carribean have the best attitude.They know,acknowledge and are proud of their mixed heritage.They know they are a mixed heritage people and don’t have an issue with it.It is interesting especially in the immediate family where even with the same parents, the way the genes have expressed themselves i.e skin colour, nose and eye shape are all different. Its time, certain people grew up and stopped obsessing so much. At the end of the day,it really doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.
My mother has green eyes. The green eyes skip a generation so my kids would get them. My father has straight hair, I don’t know how it would be typed but it sure isn’t type 4. I have light brown eyes, my brother’s are caramel. We are all really light skinned… and no, we don’t have any mix in us. I am full Nigerian. The light skin and light eyes go way back in my family. Living in the U.K, I found it really irritating that people felt I had to have some white in me to justify the way I looked. I tell them they should come to Africa and see the wide spectrum of colours, shapes and hair textures God has created in the beautiful people.
Light skin africans are mixed too they just don’t know. Light skin, light colored eyes, wavy hair, curly hair freckles all of that comes from white people. The european people had relations with Africans thats how the whole light skin thing came about.
Light skinned africans are mixed they just don’ know. Light skin, light colored eyes, wavy hair curly hair freckles, all of that is from white people not Africans.The European men had sexual relations with African women and that’s how the whole light skin thing came about.
Hey, this is very interesting! I could relate in some way. I am Haitian, Spanish(Dominician/Panamian/Cuban), Arab(Syrian/Egyptian),and Indian. I’m telling you, I have dark brown skin so right from the bat you would think I’m straight up African American kind of but I also have this exotic look. I have a nice chocolate shade to my skin. If you see some of my relatives they come in all shades. I consider myself to be very beautiful inside and out. I have nice hair, freckles, and you could only tell the Arab/Indian side because of my eyes there like big, beautiful almond shaped, and my dark features :). I figured I got some of these physical attributes from my ancestors who were pretty much Caucasian, Arab, and Indian looking. I consider myself African American, very proud of it. Black is very beautiful in all shapes and sizes. You find beautiful people from every race :). Its important to keep an open mind to different cultures.
This is a great post. Though, I acknowledge my family’s history of diverse ethnicities that make up the current me. I’m two-toned, the darkest part of my body is my face. I change colors in the summer and winter as well. I happen to have freckles too, but due to my already mentioned attribute, it isn’t noticeable unless you’re looking very closely. I have curly hair as well, which is my whole family’s noticeable trait other than skin tone. I never grew up thinking my differences from my counterparts were better or worse. We’ll I did think they were worse at some point thanks to a movie called Coming to America and curly hair equating to having a jherri curl(mean elementary kids). Anywho! I never thought I was better or worse, but I grew up having people acknowledge my features as if they were surprising or a commodity because of my ethnicity. Today, I really find it frustrating having others make me feel as if I should deny and exclude what my family’s history attributes to me. Saying, that you’re simply ‘this’ as if to sweep your family history under the rug. Or there are those who feel mentioning their seemingly different ethnic existence makes them feel better or above their counterparts. I am simply, a living, breathing, human being. My color doesn’t define me, regardless of what other people feel it is their right to state me as otherwise. I enjoy this site and many others, because I can celebrate and appreciate the similarities of us all as individuals. We are beautiful because it’s the beauty within that reflects to shine out.
I always loved black people with freckles, and dimples also. My aunt has big freckles and deep dimples and always made me want some, just because of her big smile!
ok my momma has a red undertone so she’s caramel cuz she’s a sun bather type she has freckles on her cheeks along with moles my best friend mother is black with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes = BUT OUR FAMILY IS FRENCH CREOLE SO…
my momma is relaxed but her natural hair she claims is 4 type hair and i in the other case am 3b/3c just family traits
I can understand and sympathize her comments. I have a dark complexion but I have light brown eyes and soft curly hair. People cant fathom that someone so dark can have those features, but thats how the rest of my family looks. People usually assume I have my hair texturized or Im wearing contacts. The older I get the more I realize how BLACK people lack the ability to associate “good” features with being of African decent.
my family is creole so i have a little cuzn dark skinned so beautiful right have those same features but not the eyes… i think a lot a black people are small minded but not all of them are
I don’t think that you should deny you other racial heritages that make you who you are and most of us in the western hemisphere are multiethnic as our history would show if we were to go back a couple generations of our family history. To say that you attribute the way you look to albinism which is a recessive gene by the way and isn’t at all dominant so it’s occurence is rare within the population, and denying your other ethnic qualities is being a bit dishonest. Most of us are descendants of west Africans and while there are Africans who do have these traits, we did not descend from them. Ashanti, Dahomey, Ibo, Hausa etc who we descended from are dark with kinky hair.If you say that you are predominantly of African descent, I get that. Not everything we can attribute to African genome especially post- colonialism and post slavery era in which we live. In other words we need to be realistic. I know most people who have these traits would proudly say that they are black which there isn’t anything wrong with as it’s their choice with their identity and some do get tired with excessive questioning but unless you have done some extensive gene research and can trace your characteristics to the recessive gene albinism and have also done extensive background research in your family’s history, then I don’t think it’s fair to negate everything as being non- African. It comes off as being a bit Afrocentric and reads as denial.
I couldn’t have said it better. I should’ve read this before commenting lol. This is such a big problem for many people. Especially some of the older generation, for which I can understand. Though, for us as the younger generation, we cannot progress as people of the world by not embracing all that we are. The past is sad as it is beautiful, but we would not exist had it not happened. Acceptance does take time, but it won’t happen if people choose denial for a semblance of unity.
Yeah but well I can get her denial. Like how can you peacefully accept that you you have both the slave’s and massa’s blood, especially when it’s so visible. It’s unbearable. As a fully African woman, I’m happy I don’t have to deal with that
Some people just don’t know any better. But those of us who do know, let’s educate.
I’m Haitian and everyone assumes I’m just black.
This comes down to the “You don’t look Haitian” thing.
There are very light skinned Haitians that are nearly white and people call them that. But no, they’re Haitian.
Skin-color has nothing to do with your heritage. If people don’t want to understand it then let them stay ignorant and ignore them.
I am so light. And my hair is as kinky as it wants to be. Its nice to see women who are like myself. My ‘blackness’ is always in question, by all races. (im even lighter complected than you) But i know who and what i am. And proud of it:)
Anon your response is utterly ridiculous but I am passionate about my continent so I will entertain you. I am talking about people who can trace family back to 6-10 generations. Well before European colonization and well before Arabic trade. The traits you see are highly unlikely to result from admixture involving the typical blonde genus i.e European.
A more reasonable explanation could be phenotypes of albinism. However as many of these individuals are atypical in there presentation of albinism (i.e blue eyes with dark skin, blonde hair with dark skin, straight hair with dark skin), it would actually be more scientifically interesting to investigate. Unlike yourself I will not derive conclusions from the air.
The generations of Africans born in the 20th century could have some levels of admixture but with the exception of South Africa, this is not really widespread.
@Jc – I have spent a lot of time in Afica. I have seen all that you describe. I also have sense enough to know there is admixture involved when I see a blond African with straight hair and blue eyes! Sheesh!
Kemi I agree, Anon has clearly never been in sub saharan Africa. I have seen it all too blonde hair, straight hair and blue eyes (never seen green but i have seen blue). While it is rare, it is not unheard of. Many Africans piped up and said this both in this post and the previous. I guess it is just so inconceivable that a ‘real African’ is anything other than the quintessential so we must all be blind.
I can see an argument coming on about facial structure next lol. My sister and her ‘un African’ pointy nose is in trouble!!
Mek, thanks for your second post clarifying your position. I think a scientific debate has to be about facts and I appreciate that you took the time to restate your views. For example a ‘100% African’ AA resulting from admixture – I like that you said probably not definitively. I am on the total opposite side of the fence on this.
I agree with you on scientists making an assumption on the basis of the ‘representative majority’. Without assumptions, there would be no science. However, here is the flaw. Tishkoff’s paper does state the need for more work on ancestry given that someone who identifies themselves as AA can be as little as 1% African meaning their health risk factors are probably more European than African. This statement tells me that the minority outlying AAs who are not 75-85% African (which is ‘the norm’) do matter because they are probably receiving incorrect medical guidance. Question is how exactly would these people find out if not for ancestry tests?
OJ – What do you mean ‘only a BSc’?! A degree is a huge thing, congratulations. Science is for everyone whether or not you have a degree.
@anon
Personally, I am not trying to associate any “good” traits with Africans. Similar to folks that get questioned about their race when they identify as black but do not have traditionally African features, when the subject of nationality comes up and I say that I am 1st generation african (Nigerian), the first thing most people say is well you don’t “look” african..mind you I’m dark skinned, dark eyes..etc..My little sister gets questioned more because she has long (relaxed) brown hair, brown eyes and she is fair skinned because it is just IMPOSSIBLE for a West African person to NOT be very dark skinned and have black hair…
I will address the Albino/skin cancer comment of course these people with no melanin will get skin cancer, they do not have any method to protect their skin from damage. There is a difference between not having any melanin (albino), having some melanin and have the ability to tan (most white people), having increased melanin (in addition to being able to tan if more is needed)(brown people–arab, indian, african, etc..)
I simply mean to say all Sub Sarharan Africans are not monolithic we are not all extremely dark with black eyes and 4z (exaggerating) hair Also, I do not mean to imply that anyone in my fam has green/blue eyes, blond hair, freckles, etc…
The only point that I have been trying to express is that– a variety of traits in regards to skin color, hair type, hair color and to an extent eye color does exist among Sub-Saharan Africans (not North African), because I see it in my parents VERY large families.
I agree with whomever said that blacks who say Africans can have light skin and loose curly hair are just trying to associate “good” qualities to Africans. I am sorry but blue eyes, blond hair and white skin are not African traits. That’s like a Swede saying their kinky hair and caramel skin is a European trait. Heck, I am happy to say that my long thick, very kinky hair, full lips/hips and caramel skin are all beautiful AFRICAN traits. On the other hand, my daughter has green eyes, reddish blond wavy hair and those are her dad’s beautiful Irish traits. She would look mighty stupid attributing them to her African heritage. Let’s be real y’all.
I’ve only got a Bsc but I agree with Mek.
Hi Mek!
No need to apologize for being sciency because I’m a scientist too (though not a geneticist). I know a few of the researchers on the understanding race project as well. Excellent researchers ALL (and many cross-disciplinary). I’m going to ride with them for now on the allele issue, but hey I respect that science is ever evolving and the “truth” is not so black and white. As you mentioned in your post, data gathering and analysis continues. Thanks for clarifying in your second post, and I wish you continued success in your scientific career! That’s an exciting field!
@anonda: sorry for being so sciency (i can’t help it, i swear!) i’ll stop on this one, but before i do i have to say this: i am pretty sure that statement (“ALL of the allelels common in non-African populations are ALSO common in African populations.”) is not true, given that populations continued to evolve after they left africa it is only logical that novel mutations arose that eventually became common and aren’t in africa because they arose later. and we are still developing our concept of common and rare variants, especially for africa.
whoa whoa whoa save for the part about DNA testing i don’t think i was mixing my opinion with fact at all, some of my wording was unclear now that i look back at my statement so maybe it came off as opinion so sorry about that. i am aware of all the “facts” that you guys bring up (and really, a lot of these papers are still hypotheses because we don’t have enough sequence data nor the right type of sequence data) and it IS my opinion that my statements are in concordance with those facts from the papers published by these labs.
regarding high variability in skin color: i never said that SSA didn’t have high skin color variability, but that you are less likely to find a light-skinned (maybe i should’ve said white-skinned, because we all have different ideas of what is light) POPULATION in equatorial region(i said migration and modernity changed that, you have white people, for example, in many equatorial regions and we see that indigenous peruvians who aren’t as dark as equatorial african populations do just fine) simply because of selection. Individuals, yes, but whole populations (which is what i said), no. There is variation (which is why we see the diversity) but who knows how much of that variation is rare and how much is common. now in regards to that Relethford study i am not completely sold because it has such small sample sizes and for the sample sizes it is biased towards overrepresenting africans, so of course you are going to see more variation there especially because we know that africans have more variability. 4 north africans is not enough to show their range of skin color and neither are less than 10 south asians; 24 is probably too low for SSA too; not to mention how these individuals were picked for their original studies (were they biased to getting a range of skin colors)? not to say that the grand observation of the paper isn’t correct, but i am wary of how he shows it. the next step in this type of study would be to see why you have such variability and this paper hasn’t been well-cited as a foundation stone to such work (which is still being done).
regarding admixture: when i say admixture i am not just talking about black/white admixture, but also admixture between different african groups. Even if you get a black american that is “100% african” they are probably (not definitively, but more likely based on the admixture data we have for black american populations and what we know about african american history) a result of admixture of different african lineages. but when we talk about black american populations AS A WHOLE, we describe them as being admixed with white and african lineages. Tishkoff’s papers says this. Not everyone is that way but in population genetics we generalize about populations (that’s why it’s not called something like individual genetics). it’s a fact that the majority of individuals looked at in the study they show this trend and therefore we extrapolate this finding to the broader black american population. Like tishkoff’s paper says, this might just be typical of the population they studied, but the more we genotype the better our data gets and the more it describes the black population as a whole.
Regarding the lactase persistence thing, you don’t find haplotypes conferring lactase persistence in west africa, which is where (as Jc points out as being fact from the tishkoff studies) most black americans have their african origins, so the most PARSIMONIOUS evolutionary HYPOTHESIS (not fact, we don’t have enough sequence data to say it is) is to say that if you are lactose tolerant, you have a allele of european origins. who knows, there might be a unique allele among black american populations that arose during or after the slave trade and that could be very interesting to study, but we need to genotype people at this locus to determine what allele they have to know where it’s from.
regarding higher genetic variation in africa than elsewhere: i would never dispute this and any geneticist who would is an idiot (that last part is my opinion :P). HOWEVER, do you guys know what type of genetic variation they’re looking at? Largely neutral variation. the gene chips in studies like Tishkoff’s look at places in the genome that have polymorphisms at one base pair and these might be linked to a phenotype (lactase persistence, breast cancer), they might be neutral (it is hypothesized that most are) and some are just noise (sequencing error). So even though there is a lot of variation we don’t know what it all means yet. Little in these whole genome analyses studies have been done to see what variation is adaptive and related to phenotypes; I’ve actually talked to Tishkoff before and this is a direction that her lab is moving towards because it is really important for medicine.
Thousands of individuals is NOT tons of sequence data, and like i mentioned above, the type of sequence data is important to consider. the amount of genetic data for africans is abysmally low especially when we recognize how much genetic diversity is there. Geneticists want more and more data so that we can determine how rare certain genotypes/phenotypes are and to get better association studies. the data for this is not good in Africa. Again, I’ve discussed this with Sarah Tishkoff and Carlos Bustamante, another population geneticist who is also interested in admixture (both of them have really good papers on these topic that I would suggest reading).
thanks for the info about admixture tests, I was vaguely aware of them but I know much more about the mtDNA and y-chromosomal ones. It is a fact that they will get better over time as sequencing technology improves and we get more sequence data for more populations. it is also a fact that they will get cheaper as the price of sequencing is already dropping and we haven’t perfected the art yet. And again, it is also a fact that even if you have high diversity some sequences are more conserved than others so you can’t always get the desired and true specificity that a test might promise. And because of those facts, it is my opinion that right now they are a waste of money. this article from Cell sums up a lot of my sentiments about testing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2869013/
and because we are social beings living in a society, social constructs are important whether we like it or not. but they shouldn’t be taken as definitive things and as biology starts to inform our society, i am of the OPINION that these constructs will change (hopefully for the better)!
Thank you Jade and JC- wow Mek you were on track to a great post (and yes race is a social construct) but got a little sidetracked on the science. Note where it says very clearly “ALL of the allelels common in non-African populations are ALSO common in African populations.”
http://www.understandingrace.org/humvar/race_humvar.html
Just because race is a social construct does not mean it is not important! We navigate our lives more in the social spheres than we do in scientific or spiritual or whatever realms you want.
Yes, race is not genetic, WE GET IT! It’s still important.
Jade I agree, Mek you have serious inaccuracies in your statement , I am not a genetist but I am a scientist and there is a big difference between fact and opinion. You have meshed the two in your comment.
Fact: African Americans can range between 99% and 1% West African (99% being the upper mark). It is indeed possible to be AA and ‘100% African’, there is no evidence that everyone AA is actually part European and part African as you say. Examples: Study on 365 AAs and 225 Africans. Second Study on 121 Africans. There are so many excellent publications in hugely important journals such as Nature and Science on differentiating African, European and Asian ancestry on a genetic basis. (Examples Tishkoff in PNAS and Science – full paper here http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/12/10/0909559107.full.pdf+html and http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5930/1035)
Fact: Genetic diversity in Africans is large. Comparing two Africans even from the same tribe is likely to yield significant data on the tribe. Contrast this with unrelated European and Asian DNA actually being quite similar. (Example publication Schuster in Science – http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7283/full/nature08795.html#B4)
Fact: If you add up the individual tests done on Africans, you actually end up with a huge data base of thousands and not a handful as you suggest. Notably the Yoruba and Igbo group is well characterized given that scientific evidence has shown that AA’s predominantly descend from these two groups. ( See database – http://www.africanancestry.com/database.html)
I agree with Mek that race is a social construct, as I said in my original comment, calling yourself Black is totally different from having black skin or being African.
I actually agree with a large part of Mek’s comment but I would like to see fact and opinion separated.
I disagree that DNA tests are not useful. Anyone genuinely seeking an answer in my opinion (opinion!) is likely to benefit from this since family tree tracing is difficult especially beyond 5 generations. DNA tests are not perfect but frankly they are pretty much the most perfectly preserved fingerprint we have.
BTW,
Just to reiterate how looks can be deceiving and may not always indicate high levels of admixture, my husband is chocolatey brown with coily hair in locks. He is damn near 30 percent European, with no other non-African (i.e. Asian or Native American) admixture.
One of our daughters is lighter (caramellish) like me with type 4A hair. The other one is darker (think sienna) with type 3Bish hair.
Mek (and anyone else who is interested),
Racial admixture tests ARE available, not just the maternal/paternal ones via African Ancestry and other companies. AncestryByDNA offers racial admixture tests.
I have done them all. I am 79 percent Sub-Saharan African, 15 percent European, 5 percent Native American and 1 percent East Asian. My paternal African bloodline shares genetic commonalities most found in the Yoruba of Nigeria and my maternal line with the Temne of Sierra Leone, the Kru of Liberia and the Tikar of Cameroon.
If you can part with about $800, you, too, can find out all of this about yourself.
I think she looks beautiful no matter what her background is. Why do we have to analyze the way each other looks? Why can’t beautiful just be beautiful? Why do we have to say things like “pretty dark-skinned” girl? I just think that if someone is pretty they just are, no matter what their features are(light or dark skin, skinny or wide nose, kinky or curly hair..etc…just fall into place to create a beautiful look.
@Mek- Thanks for enlightening some folks!
@Mek–That’s exactly what I tried to explain in my previous comment. Race is a social construct! Blackness doesn’t necessarily translate into “Africaness” or being African. Also, if you REALLY want to get technical, then we can say ALL people are essentially African since it Africa has been proven to be the cradle of civilization. Black is an idea that was created to make WHITE or the “WHITE race” which also is a social construct the standard, the superior, the quintessential race. 100 years ago, Jews and the Irishpeople were not considered white. 200 years ago, any man who didn’t own property wasn’t white. BLACKNESS IS AN EXPERIENCE! IT IS HOW YOU IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR HOW OTHERS IDENTIFY YOU! HOWEVER, YES, PHENOTYPE HAS A LOT TO DO WITH HOW YOU’RE LABELED.Therefore, your blackness is how you define yourself and partially how others define you because unfortunately, others will have their thoughts on what they think your identity should be whether you agree or not.
Thank you to the guest blogger for proving that beautiful is black in all shades, hair types, and hair colors. The natural hair movement is about embracing your natural self. All of yourself, no matter what.
Mek, MANY of the things you posted were very inaccurate.
Human skin color diversity is highest in sub-Saharan African populations.
Relethford JH.
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York College at Oneonta, 13820, USA.
Abstract
Previous studies of genetic and craniometric traits have found higher levels of within-population diversity in sub-Saharan Africa compared to other geographic regions. This study examines regional differences in within-population diversity of human skin color. Published data on skin reflectance were collected for 98 male samples from eight geographic regions: sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Europe, West Asia, Southwest Asia, South Asia, Australasia, and the New World. Regional differences in local within-population diversity were examined using two measures of variability: the sample variance and the sample coefficient of variation. For both measures, the average level of within-population diversity is higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in other geographic regions. This difference persists even after adjusting for a correlation between within-population diversity and distance from the equator. Though affected by natural selection, skin color variation shows the same pattern of higher African diversity as found with other traits.
Thanks @mek…I’d read about Arabs migrating into East Africa as well, so all of this talk that blacks in Africa are 100% pure and proof that these phenotypes are normal variation just isn’t true. (I know that frequently on this blog, people want to point to Ethiopians and Somalians as proof that someone can be “100% African” but still have wavy or curly hair.)
Also, everyone should be aware that Europeans first made inroads into Africa centuries and centuries ago (ancient Greeks and Romans for example), so again, not sure why so many Africans want to chime in to claim pure blood lines. I mean, by this point everyone knows that Cleopatra was of largely European descent right? And Europeans continued to have a presence on the continent and make inroads into different parts repeatedly over time. At this point, we’re easily looking at two millenia of Europeans being there and “mixing” with the locals. Is everyone really ignorant of that fact? Even the Africans?
I spent some time in Southern India and you can see exactly what is mentioned regarding albinos (and you could assume anyone who had similar skin tones)…at any rate, I saw a couple of albinos and they were covered with obvious melanoma (skin cancer spots). Clearly, those people are not going to live long enough to procreate and pass on their genes(and the disfigurement is going to keep them out of it as well)…
I still don’t see why there is this need to pretend that curly-headed, lighter skinned Africans don’t have blends of “other” in their bloodlines. I see this pathological need in some people to believe that it’s possible to look a certain way without having a blended bloodline (which sadly just sounds like, “see we can have “good” hair too without being part white/arab/other”). And I still see a need to justify the aspiration for curls based on proof positive that it really is an “African” trait. (“I can’t want straight or curly hair if it belongs to the white people, but it’s okay if I can link it to Africa” is what I’m hearing)
I wish everyone spent as much time in the library as they did trying to grow long hair.
@ Mek: THANK YOU! and Amen! i am so thankful you brought up that North African debate!
I just want to add that, not all “mixed” people (by that i mean, mixed with some white) have the “raped black slave” history, so some people just need to get over that. I am not American, my people didn’t suffer from the slave trade, no-one got raped by “the bad white master”, i am mixed because in my family, people just fell in love with a person and it started from there. So there is no “self-hatred” when i say i love my white grandpa, cos guess what i also love my other black grandpa just the same. So why should i reject white grandpa to only choose black grandpa? hmmm …
Preach, Mek!
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Like others have noted, race is a social construct. Africans, like the author noted, come in a variety of hues, eyecolors, haircolors and hair textures. The origin of humanity comes from Africa. As the world evolved, people evolved to suit their environments. Ok, I am clearly not a scientist; but what I gather is that there is a simplified notion of race yet genetics is so complex that the notion of “blackness” is just not sufficient.
OK, i am a population geneticist, and I was gonna keep quiet about this issue that developed in the last post but now I am gonna open my mouth quickly and then shut up.
RACE IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT. THERE IS NO BIOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF RACE.
HUMAN PHENOTYPES ARE CLINES DEPENDENT NOT ONLY ON GENETICS (NEUTRAL AND SELECTED GENETIC VARIANTS ALIKE) BUT ENVIRONMENT. HENCE PEOPLE NEAR THE EQUATOR ARE DARKER NO MATTER IF YOU’RE IN AFRICA OR ASIA BECAUSE DARKER SKIN IS GONNA KEEP YOU ALIVE, AND LIGHTER IN THE NORTH. YOU THEN HAVE INTERMEDIATE PHENOTYPES IN THE MIDDLE DUE TO NOT ONLY ADMIXTURE BUT ALSO DUE TO INTERMEDIATE ENVIRONMENTS WHERE VARIATION IS ACCEPTABLE. YOU DONT DONT DONT GET LIGHT-SKINNED POPULATIONS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, SOUTHERN INDIA, AND INDONESIA BECAUSE—LIKE ALBINOS—THEY’D WOULDN’T SURVIVE. OF COURSE MIGRATION, MODERNITY, AND ADMIXTURE HAS CHANGED THIS, BUT IT ISN’T NATURAL BY ANY MEANS AND IS A PRETTY NEW DEVELOPMENT, SO IN BLACK AMERICAN LINEAGES YOU CAN’T ATTRIBUTE LIGHT SKIN ETC TO AFRICAN ANCESTRY BUT INSTEAD ADMIXTURE (THE SAME THING AFRICANS FROM THESE REGIONS WOULD HAVE TO ATTRIBUTE IT TO, EITHER ADMIXTURE WITH EUROPEANS OR ARABS FROM THE NORTH)
THERE IS A LOT OF VARIATION IN AFRICA, BUT NOT ALL OF THAT VARIATION IS IN BLACK AMERICAN POPULATIONS. BLACK AMERICAN POPULATIONS ARE THE RESULT OF ADMIXTURE FROM PREDOMINANTLY EUROPEAN MALES AND AFRICAN FEMALES OF WEST AFRICAN AND CENTRAL AFRICAN DESCENT. SO IF YOU HAVE A TRAIT THAT IS PREDOMINANT IN WHITE POPULATIONS THAN WESTERN/CENTRAL AFRICAN ONES, IT’S PROBABLY BECAUSE YOU GOT IT FROM WHITE ANCESTORS. NO SHAME IN THAT, IT IS WHAT IT IS
BERBERS AND NORTH AFRICAN ARABS (THERE IS A DIFFERENCE—A BIG CULTURAL ONE) ARE ADMIXED PEOPLE (NORTH AFRICA IS A FUCKING CULTURAL SEA, READ YOUR HISTORY) SO ITS BULLSHIT TO USE THAT AS AN EXAMPLE OF WHY SOMEONE OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN ORIGINS (READ: A BLACK AMERICAN) HAS BLONDE HAIR OR BLUE EYES OR WHATEVER. LIKE I SAID HUMAN POPULATIONS ARE CLINAL AND BERBERS HAVE BLUE EYES FOR THE SAME REASONS THAT ANY BLACK AMERICAN WOULD—ADMIXTURE WITH EUROPEANS.
BECAUSE WE ARE ADMIXED, THOSE GENETIC TESTS ARE A WASTE (THEY ONLY TELL YOU ABOUT MATERNAL LINEAGE OR PATERNAL LINEAGE TOO IF YOU ARE A GUY, BUT THAT STILL LEAVES A LOT UNSAID FOR MOST OF US). THE DIVERSITY OF AFRICA HAS TOTALLY BEEN UNDERESTIMATED TOO (STUDIES IN MY FIELD THAT GET PUBLISHED IN THE TOP TWO SCIENCE JOURNALS OF THE WORLD TYPICALLY FEATURE A SET OF LIKE 20 NIGERIAN INDIVIDUALS OR SOMETHING RIDICULOUSLY LOW, WHEN THOUSANDS OF EUROPEANS OR ASIANS ARE GENOTYPED). IN THE STUDIES YOU PAY FOR, THEY HAVE DATA FROM MORE POPULATIONS, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO BE MEANINGFUL. SAVE YOUR MONEY UNTIL THE SCIENCE GETS BETTER, WHICH MIGHT BE A WHILE :(.
WE NEED TO GET OVER OURSELVES. WE HAVE WHITE BLOOD AND AFRICAN BLOOD BOTH IN OUR LINEAGES (AND NOT REALLY THAT MUCH NATIVE AMERICAN BLOOD, YOUR GRANNIES PROBABLY LIED TO YOU). THAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU MORE OR LESS BLACK OR WHITE BECAUSE RACE IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT THAT CHANGES DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU ARE AND WHEN. WE ARE ALL GENETIC VARIANTS OF THE HUMAN TYPE AND TRUE OUR VARIATION HAS ORIGINS IN POPULATIONS THAT HAVE CONTINENTAL DESIGNATIONS, BUT BECAUSE WE AS BLACK AMERICANS ARE SO ADMIXED WE CAN’T SAY X TRAIT IS AFRICAN OR Y TRAIT IS EUROPEAN—IF YOU CAN TOLERATE LACTOSE AND YOU ARE NOT EAST AFRICAN, THEY YOU HAVE A EUROPEAN HAPLOTYPE FOR THAT GENE (BECAUSE LACTASE PERSISTANCE ONLY AROSE IN SELECT EUROPEAN AND EAST AFRICAN POPULATIONS) BUT THAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU EUROPEAN.
THIS IS IN CAPS FOR EMPHASIS, NOT BECAUSE I AM PASSIONATELY ANGRY OR ANYTHING :).
I didn’t mind the original – original post, it’s just that these topics just do go over well. You only have to look at the most commented threads which debtate blackness, browness, africaness, lightness, etc. I mean if you’re consistently reading or posting on a website titled “black girl long hair” you can assume that you and 98% of the remaining readership is black *enough* to still have some type of black hair. For a website that I read primarily for inspiration about hair, hairstyles and hair products, that’s good enough for me. Everything else is beside the point.
@Egyptianbella- Girl u got some issues! That kind of hate will eat you up. Let it go. It aint that serious.
AND BY THE WAY, I HATE FRECKLES? I DONT LIKE THEM ON ANY RACE. I ESPECIALLY DONT LIKE RED HAIR AND FRECKLES ON WHITE PEOPLE. IT LOOKS BAD ON ANYONE SO STOP ACTING LIKE ITS A BEAUTIFUL TRAIT CAUSE ITS NOT. WHITE PEOPLE CAN HAVE THAT UGLY TRAIT.
WHITE PEOPLE NEVER WANT TO CLAIM BEING MIXED WITH BLACK. SO WHY DO WE ALWAYS WANT TO CLAIM THEM?
DAMN, FULL BLOODED AFRICANS DO HAVE CURLY SOFT HAIR! THEY ALSO CAN HAVE LIGHT BROWN EYES. THEY DO NOT HAVE BLUE EYES BUT THEIR EYES CAN BE LIGHT WITHOUT BEING MIXED WITH SOMETHING.
WHAT IS AN AFRICAN TRAIT? DO AFRICANS HAVE LONG HAIR? YES! DO AFRICANS HAVE LIGHT EYES? YES! DO AFRICANS HAVE SOFT CURLY HAIR? YES! DO AFRICANS HAVE KINKY HAIR? YES! DO AFRICANS HAVE LIGHT SKIN (WITHOUT BEING MIXED)? YES! DO AFRICANS HAVE DARK SKIN? YES! SO WHAT THE HELL! AFRICANS HAVE HAD DIFFERENT TRAITS FOR CENTURIES. I HAVE A LONG NOSE AND PEOPLE ALWAYS TELL ME I LOOK LIKE IM MIXED WITH A DIFFERENT RACE BECAUSE OF MY NOSE. THATS IGNORANT! AFRICANS HAVE LONG NOSES, WIDE NOSES, SLANTED EYES, ALMOND SHAPED EYES, ETC… AFRICANS WERE ON EARTH FIRST SO EVERY OTHER RACE COPIED THEIR TRAITS! DONT BE IGNORANT!
WHY WOULD WE THANK OUR WHITE ANCESTRY FOR ANYTHING? THEY RAPED US AND ABUSED US IN THE PAST, SO WHY SHOULD WE BE HAPPY TO HAVE WHITE BLOOD FLOWING THROUGH US? IM AM NOT HAPPY AND I DONT CLAIM HAVING WHITE BLOOD IN ME AT ALL. WHITES DONT CLAIM HAVING BLACK BLOOD IN THEM, SO WHY SHOULD WE? LETS JUST CLAIM OUR BEAUTY FROM AFRICA AND BE PROUD OF THAT. TRUTHFULLY, WE WILL ALWAYS BE BLACK TO WHITE PEOPLE AND WE SHOULD LOVE THAT. BLACK GIRLS ROCK!
@anon- most black people have some trace of white in their blood thanks to the historical event of slavery. And since most african americans are descendants of slaves, most will have “white features”. That doesnt mean their not black. There a light skin people with full lips, kinky hair, and dark eyes. And brown and dark people with curly hair, light eyes, and light hair. Which is more “black”? Please inform me. There is diversity within the Black race. My friend straight from nigeria has light skin and brown hair. Is she not african? Theres many different people, and no one way to define “black”.
This model can claim to be anything she chooses but it is obvious that somewhere there is caucasian blood in her lineage. I get annoyed when I hear black people say that their straight hair, light skin or blue eyes can be an African trait. NOT!! These are not African traits! I don’t see them as being anymore beautiful than true African traits such as dark skin, kinky hair, full lips….. Why can’t we embrace true African features? People say ridiculous things like, “black people come in all shades, hair textures and so on” Umm, if they are on the lighter spectrum with straight hair and light eyes, you best believe something else is up in there. The problem is when you assume the latter is somehow better and you want to associate Africa with it. I seriously doubt there were any blond, blue-eyed Africans stepping off slave ships.
Some peoples opiinions you just cant change so I just keep it pushing
I supposedly (I dont see it lol) have greyish/light brown eyes
and my hair is…..curly mostly, but its also kinky
My hair turns red like RED and light brown during the summer
I love all the features I have
But recently while I’ve been transistion friends have said “O your hair is curly, your pretty, keep on wearing it that way”
What was I before???
And just today this girl was thinking about growing her hair out and her friend said don’t do that and I said why not, she said “Well you can do it cause your hair is that way” refering to my curly hair
I think the most shocking one was when my friend and I were in the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and said “I think I’m getting lighter” she said “Isn’t that a good thing” I said “It’s because I have eczema” and she said “So?” I was just like are you serious, there’s a bacteria on my face and it’s a good thing cause I’m lighter?
If people wanna use an excuse to believe their not beautiful instead of taking a good look at themeselves and loving who they are I can’t stop them, But I will be an example with the way I carry myself, I am a proud Black young lady 🙂 I was gonna say woman but I’m only 17 lol =]
THANK YOU! (That is all)
Go, beautiful!
To me discussion about race is too complex and we shouldn’t always go by the way u look and the nature has proved me that many times. Example there is one football(soccer) player in UK Ryan Giggs when u look at him u would assume he’s ur typical white man but in reality his paternal grandfather is black (from sierra Leone) and he proudly claims his blackness (which makes me happy to finally see a white looking person claim their blackness) and has an African last name lol. Many of us have diluted ethnicity(especially African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans) but to me to self-identify as something u have to grow up in that environment and practice their customs. If u grew up with black culture despite having white and/or indians in u it’s natural that u feel more black and self-identify as such. I’m light skin with freckles too (i guess freckles are that common among black people), as far as I know my family originated from Africa. But I cannot deny the fact that my African born grandmother had blue/grey eyes so does my nephew (brother’s son) which pretty much leave us to sometimes question our bloodline. Even though i don’t like to look deep into it but it’s there and it could be from anything that i just cannot assume it to be white. What makes us as black people more beautiful is our diversity, be it in skin shades, hair types etc… I’ve embraced what i was instilled growing up which is my beautiful blackness but am still open to anything new i could learn about my background. But I’m still a proud African woman with freckles. To me I say identify yourself as whatever u want as long as u know about the culture lol.
It was good piece and I understand where the writer is coming from.
On general note though, I just wana say that we have to be careful that in our attempt to identify who we are that we do not neglect other aspects of our racial ancestry. Sure you can find 100% Africans with features like the writer, but does that mean that every black person who has green eyes, freckles and brown hair is black and nothing else? Not really. I have to agree with Anon. It seems as if when a black person identifies with any other race, they are automatically assumed to be ashamed of who they are. I could never understand why some people get angry when a person identifies themself as being “bi-racial” or even “muli-racial”. Being black is a strong and powerful thing, but why should a “mixed” person pretend that they are only black and nothing else? Why are the other races deemed unimportant????
I dont see it as running away from your identity. It is actually embracing all aspects of who you are…..
It goes both ways. Some blacks with features like our writer are indeed 100% black while others arent.Its as simple as that. I just dont see why some people should be chastised for acknowledging that they are black and something else.
@Anon, i could not agree with you more!! i am really annoyed at all this: “i am 100% African”, even when the person looks whiter than white and as it turns out both their maternal and paternal grand-parents are white! lol :).
I am also annoyed when people ask me about my heritage and i mention that i am multiracial (my grand father is Italian and my grandmother is half French half West African), they flinch and give me the whole “self-hatred” spiel, why bloody ask me in the first place if you are not prepared to hear the answer?
why must i only acknowledge my black side and not my white side, especially that i grew up with both? so i should disown my white family and only claim my black one? why does one have to be better (for whatever reason) than the other? oh, people just need to move on.
So yes, in Africa there are features such as described in the article, but could it also simply be that she just inherited those features from her “mixed” background, however far into history the “white” came in? genetics genetics!
anyway, when people now ask me what i am, i just say multiracial, if they don’t like that answer, well, it’s for them to deal with it, cos when i say black, i get “huhuh gurl, with that light skin …nah …”, if i say multiracial, i get “huhuh another one of them, claiming to have white and what not in her!”.
Can i win this war? no! but i am sure as hell not going to even try to fight in it. I am who i am and i love everything about where i come from. Identity is not just about how one looks or the inherited genes, it’s also about where one grew up and the actual upbringing.
My baby looks Asian and people on the street often ask me if my Asian “boss” is nice (they assume i am the baby sitter), but as far as i know there is no “Asian blood” in either my husband’s or my family. When he grows up and he is asked what he is, should he say: black/multiracial (like me his mother), or white (like his father) or Asian (like the way he happens to look)?
Bottom line:
We are all humans, and let’s just embrace whatever we look like, and recognise that the blood that flows in all our vessels has the same composition: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma and platelets. Now you can have light/dark skin, blue/green/gray/brown eyes, freckles/no freckles, straight/wavy/curly/kinky hair, same blood!
Deal!
I love my people. I love African People. I love looking African. I love my African Features. And I am tired of them being put down by the mainstream! BUT! I am not completely African. NO ONE who has had family in this great melting pot for more than a century can claim to be 100% ANYTHING. Not even white people!!! SOOO many white people are part native american too, some even part black way way back! What I mean to say is…I want our blackness our Africaness to be celebrated. But part of the reality of black people of African people is that were are in DIASPORA! We are diverse! We are ethnically mixed! It is reality! And denying reality is self-hating. It is ok to love yourself for you white features as long as you don’t hate your black ones. We should be able to love features from all over the world because everyone is beautiful. I am PRO-black and AFROCENTRIC because our people need to be lifted up. It doesn’t mean we have to put other people/features down. To be black in America is to be mixed! And I am proud of all of that…sometimes that mixture was as the result of rape in slavery..sometimes not…whatever it was, black people/African descended people (mixed with whatever) have survived and thrived! And for that I am proud.
Wow some of yall are NEVER satisfied! Lol.
I thought this was a good piece. It was far more informed than the other one. Yes, no one knows for sure without a DNA test, but the bottom line is not to pigeon-hole “african” features in my opinion.
I’ve been to Africa and even in a place like Ghana there are so many different groups of people with different features regardless of shade.
Whether the author has white lineage or is “purely” African, she is our sister. We are are women of the African Diaspora. I’m content when we can at least agree on that.
Just because some Africans have red hair or freckles doesn’t change the fact that it is far more likely than not that any black person in America (or any other “Western” country) has those traits because of a mixed race history. Unless you know of your African ancestors (ie they voluntarily immigrated from Africa) most of our slave ancestors came from areas of Africa where those traits were not common, and certainly not common enough to have tons of light skinned, curly-haired descendants running around America and the Caribbean. Acknowledging that my skin color or other characteristics are partially due to white ancestors does not make me any less black than anyone else. Lying to myself about the source of these characteristics certainly doesn’t build me up. And acknowledging that some of my beautiful characteristics are partially non-black doesn’t make me or anyone else less beautiful.
*”diluted”
I have to agree with this.. It strikes me as odd that our culture thinks that it is impossible for a 100% black person to be light skinned, light-eyed, non-3c/4a hair and red or brown hair. I’m 1st gen Nigerian-American, My family is 100% Nigerian and in my familty alone there are all shades of skin, hair and eye color.. from the fairest skin shade to the darkest and everything inbetween..and we are not diluted with anything..
@Anon,
I agree with you so much! There are many different traits in Africa, but a vast majority of us African Americans are not 100% African (no matter what we look like). It’s absolutely ridiculous to say/believe so without any DNA testing. I understand the author is trying to take the other side of the argument and rather than claim white or Native American roots, claim African roots, and I appreciate what she’s trying to do. But she just falls into the same system of trying to say you have this much of this and this much of that in you based on your looks. Also, for us African Americans to deny the fact that we are practically all mixed is to try to undo something that already happened and can’t be undone. What would serve this author’s purpose much more is if we embraced those classically (stereotypically) African qualities for their beauty. Fairer skin, lighter eyes, etc are already embraced, even if some Africans possess them, because most Europeans have them. We don’t really need to spend time defending these “favorable” qualities as African. Instead we should defend African qualities in the many different forms in which they come, particularly the ones that are less favorable.
For example, I myself am light-skinned and often people make ignorant comments to me about how great my skin or hair is. I try to shut them down as much as possible stating that there’s no such thing as “good hair” and that beauty comes in all shades. I guess if someone were attacking me and saying I didn’t look African, I might be tempted to take up the same defense as our author here. But as far as I’m concerned, chances are the author got her freckles from a white lineage. And who cares? Anyone who believes her to be less black is ignorant and needs to be educated about what truly makes someone black. Well, that’s my two cents. Great discussion!
i think the first two commentors didn’t see (or missed) the big picture of what the author was trying to say. a lot of people when describing their features, often deemed as “exotic,” will add something extra besides african/black in their lineage. it goes back to this ideal of not wanting to be a “regular black girl.” (see this post by a belle in brooklyn: http://www.abelleinbrooklyn.com/home/2010/9/1/visual-aesthetics.html)
yes. she has freckles. light eyes. reddish hair. but she’s just black. and that’s okay. she’s defining beauty for herself and showing a different side to black beauty.
kudos for that. definitely gonna check out the blog & twitter.
and btw, i love freckles. my mom has them. my supervisor is mexican and has them. they’re a doll!
http://msjanelle.blogspot.com
I wrote this piece (as well as the one on my site) not as a kudos to myself or a tirade against anyone else. I just want to build up all of us regardless of coloring. And I want to bring attention to the fact that anything considered mainstream, including straight hair, light coloring, are often perpetuated as non African. This is a non truth and I wish women of color would stop falling for it. We are beautiful and there doesn’t have to be any * on the end of that.
P.S. the picture is of a model, it’s not me 🙂
This post is no less inane than the original one. Still lots of conflation and confusion. And the implications of the bit about “not realizing our inherent beauty” and the “distinct flaw of not attributing certain traits to our African bloodline”…well, I’ll just that leave that alone.
Also, being black is a social construct. We identify or are identified as black e.g. the black experience in America. Yes, phenotype plays into this as well but the concept of race has no biological significance. The Khoi, Berbers and Arabs of Africa are African but they don’t necessarily identify as black. To be black in America is to have lived the black experience and/or be identified as black.
“Why do people get so threatened by this concept? Okay, so some of you got your green eyes from your African ancestors. Some of you have red hair from them too. And guess what, some of you didn’t….”
And that I believe should sum everything up in a nutshell.
I think it is equally as intolerable to be possibly mixed and deny everything but the “black” part as it is to be non-mixed and claim “non-black” ancestry to make yourself feel better about life. The time has come where everyone really needs to get over this race debate and worry about more important things like the economy and bettering education or…who has some fly shoes on sale lol. Yet if you reallllllly have a burning desire to classify yourself then like someone said…get a DNA test…
I know there was a recent post about not getting offended by opinion posts. I’m in no way offended by this post and I think it adds to the discourse on the identities of black women. I just think some of the language can be perceived as offensive territory. For instance, using words such as “pass for.” I just think it can insinuate that passing for white is a good thing. I’m not saying that’s what the author meant, though. Also, Hispanic signifies one who is a of spanish speaking origin. It’s not a race or culture and there’s no one phenotype for a Hispanic person.
The other point I would like to make is, I think every Black woman’s experience is valid, and I would hope that most if not ALL black women would view their experiences as valid as well, regardless of whether someone does or doesn’t recognize your blackness (whatever that may be or mean).
You and I could be sisters. I don’t know how to attach a photo to this comment but we favor so much it’s a bit frightening. As a child I struggled with loving my freckles because like most kids I wanted to fit in. I agree that my race and/or ethnicity are often questioned when I have never doubted my blackness or African ancestry. My brother had blue eyes until he was about 4 and now they are gray and his hair is quite red. We are some of the most diverse peoples in the world and we should celebrate our individuality rather than use it as a tool to create a hierarchy of blackness. I now love my freckles and the beautiful women that passed them down to me.
ok soooo SHE is beyond GORGEOUS!!!! I always wished I had red hair & freckles…I think its sooo stinkin awesome..since I dont have those sweet traits..I rreeaally want my babies to have it & it really burns my muffins when ppl say “well I guess bess find u a reeeal fair white man” Now dont get mewrong- olives me sum mens…not matter their race, color, creed, I see beauty EVERYWHERE & I refuse to limit myself- but That is THEE dumbest to say…there ARE black folks with red hair & freckles & u just reinforced my arguement!!!! So I guess what I’m saying is thanks!! 🙂 Stay AMAZING!!!!
Ugh, are we on this again? Why does it matter? Is this writer going to get applauded for not attributing her lightness to having white ancestry? A lot of American Blacks have white ancestry. Period. A lot of people who aren’t biracial by virtue of their parents don’t have to go back that far to see the racial diversity in their bloodlines. And no one is claiming to be better than you by mentioning that they have a non-black parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent.
Why do people get so threatened by this concept? Okay, so some of you got your green eyes from your African ancestors. Some of you have red hair from them too. And guess what, some of you didn’t. I think it reveals a lot about people who get riled up if someone talks about non-African ancestry. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone in the U.S. whose family has been here for a few hundred years who didn’t.
Why is there this need to be 100% and suggestion that anyone who mentions anything less is ignorant and self-hating?
Is someone going to write an article explaining how her tan skin, prominent nose, and dark curly hair came from her Mediterranean ancestors since many people in Europe have those features? Probably not. Apparently you’d better thank Mother Africa for everything or face the wrath of the internet mob.
I’m so tired of this whole “I’m more natural than you b/c my hair is kinkier” and now the “I love myself more b/c I’m going to pretend to be 100% African” or “I can love my light skin only if I pretend that it only came from African ancestry, otherwise I’m self-hating and uppity.”
And yet we continue to fawn over the things that we express so much disdain others for complimenting in themselves. Or is it that it’s okay to love your curly hair or your long hair as long as you thank only your African ancestors for it but not your white ones?
Seriously, DNA tests do not cost that much. I urge anyone looking for real answers to invest in one.
I said in the original article that hair and physical traits are not good indicators of whether you are of African ancestry or European ancestry or whatever. I disagree with the substance of both articles regarding attributing traits to genetics without actually doing the scientific test.
I actually think that the topic of what defines you as being Black is totally different from whether or not your maternal and paternal lineage is African (i.e not everyone Black is African and not everyone African is Black).
In this regard I agree with the article, you can identify yourself as you wish.