scriptgirl said:

Jennifer's from Chicago

It was a lie lol but I was trying to make a point, here this lady who didn't even entertain the idea that she's from USA, let alone she's black. So, I lied about Jennifer coming from the swamps of Louisiana, just to fuck with her and put a shock wave into her system.

Don't even try to tell her that Mariah is black too "Oh lord you guys think everybody IS black!" I kinda miss her to be honest.

[Edited 4/21/12 18:03pm]

nursev said:

Harlepolis said:

I remember this co-worker couple of years ago swearing up & down that "the girl from Flashdance" is French. When I tried to tell her that she actually from bamma ass Louisiana, she gave me the side eye like she was convinced that she was from Nice, and she even gave me the "Get serious" chuckle to boot

The way that Flashdance was marketed was towards folks that "arent of color" they wanted people to believe she was anything but Black I think there was one other Black person in the movie-wasn't it a guy dancer?

It was a girl, and she even joked to a group of people(in which Jenny was a part of) about hating "whiteys" assuming that SHE is whitey too.

I remember while skimming through a Jet magazine article from yahoo talking about the same thing that you pointed out.

Hollywood is def funny.

Harlepolis said:

nursev said:

The way that Flashdance was marketed was towards folks that "arent of color" they wanted people to believe she was anything but Black I think there was one other Black person in the movie-wasn't it a guy dancer?

It was a girl, and she even joked to a group of people(in which Jenny was a part of) about hating "whiteys" assuming that SHE is whitey too.

I remember while skimming through a Jet magazine article from yahoo talking about the same thing that you pointed out.

Hollywood is def funny.

Damn I don't know what made me think it was a guy but yeah they were definately marketing to "other folks" and JET had the skinny back in the pre internet days

I always thought she was half-south american/half-asian

[Edited 4/21/12 18:32pm]

There was a famous supermodel in the 90s, claudia mason, who was half black and half white and she was told to pass for white to get more bookings. she looks less black than Jessica. This is her

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/qNDMl.jpg[/img:$uid]

Alba is just white and Mexican - when she was on the George Lopez talk show, he used to do those tests on some guests (her hubby is black and white)

-- George found out he had 4% African heritage and was so thrilled..

Paula Abdul is Jewish.. she was born here, but her mom (white) is from Canada but her Syrian dad grew up in Brazil.

*Eva Longoria had the test, too.. found out she's part Asian and distantly related to Yo Yo Ma!

[Edited 4/21/12 21:00pm]

Yeah I did think she was half black; her, and Angelina Jolie.

I think I'm still kinda in denial about Angelina like, "I don't care what anybody says, there's someone black in her family tree SOMEwhere."

Not at first, not until I heard a rumor that she was. Always thought she was of some hispanic descent but that's because of the name. People who look like her I don't even try figuring it out because the possible combinations can be just too diverse.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if, say, one of her parents IS biracial - half white, half black - and maybe the other is caucasian or something.

Or half-black and half hispanic, and the other parent is caucasian.

I still kinda do think there's SOME black there. This is gonna sound weird but black people have "Blackdar" or some thing and she sets mine off .

Dren5 said:

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if, say, one of her parents IS biracial - half white, half black - and maybe the other is caucasian or something.

Or half-black and half hispanic, and the other parent is caucasian.

I still kinda do think there's SOME black there. This is gonna sound weird but black people have "Blackdar" or some thing and she sets mine off .

she's not; she had that test done (see my post above)

- her husband is half black (his dad, an actor.. I forget his name.. was in Hill Street Blues back in the day), half white though

[Edited 4/21/12 20:57pm]

Positivity, were you being sarcastic when you said george was happy he has some black ancestry?

scriptgirl said:

Positivity, were you being sarcastic when you said george was happy he has some black ancestry?

no-- he was giddy! and he'd bring it up on many shows - it was the cutest thing... I've never heard about/seen anybody excited to find out they were part black; usually ppl try to hide that in their family trees..

NDRU said:

As my dear departed grandmama used to say...they're all pink in the middle

I thought Jessica was Hispanic and I was right...partially. Then again, something told me she had black roots too.

[Edited 4/21/12 23:46pm]

PositivityNYC said:

Dren5 said:

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if, say, one of her parents IS biracial - half white, half black - and maybe the other is caucasian or something.

Or half-black and half hispanic, and the other parent is caucasian.

I still kinda do think there's SOME black there. This is gonna sound weird but black people have "Blackdar" or some thing and she sets mine off .

she's not; she had that test done (see my post above)

- her husband is half black (his dad, an actor.. I forget his name.. was in Hill Street Blues back in the day), half white though

[Edited 4/21/12 20:57pm]

She's STILL triggering my Blackdar anyway - and it's seldom wrong.

Besides, how scientifically valid can a test administered on a talk show be anyway?

I still say if you shook her family tree some nappy would fall out.

The blackest she ever looked was on her show Dark Angel

scriptgirl said:

The blackest she ever looked was on her show Dark Angel

True. I saw her and immediately assumed she was half black.

Even now though she still looks biracial to me.

She stated in one of her interviews that she's Danish and Mexican.

scriptgirl said:

Since when do Mexicans have African ancestry?

Obviously not all, but the African slave trade made it's way to Mexico as well. The first time I visited the country in the 80's I was about 16, and I was stopped by the ladies in airport security. Imagine the combination of confusionl, freak-out, nearly pee in my pants from laughter fit i had when they explained to me they were stopping me to ask what I used in my hair. Turns out they had African ancestry and as such wanted to know what hair relaxer I used and how they could get it (it was just plain old Dark&Lovely Super ) . Here I was thinking I was being busted for being underage taking a bottle of Tequila in my luggage to the States

To learn more about those with African ancestry in Mexico; here's a great PBS documentary from Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.- The chair of African American studies at Harvard University. It's taken from his PBS series "Blacks in Latin America" and breaks down the slave trade and influence it had on trade, politics, and culture throughout the Carribbean, Central and South America. This episode traces the African roots that exist in Mexico and Peru.

Dren5 said:

PositivityNYC said:

she's not; she had that test done (see my post above)

- her husband is half black (his dad, an actor.. I forget his name.. was in Hill Street Blues back in the day), half white though

[Edited 4/21/12 20:57pm]

She's STILL triggering my Blackdar anyway - and it's seldom wrong.

Besides, how scientifically valid can a test administered on a talk show be anyway?

I still say if you shook her family tree some nappy would fall out.

The DNA tests are administered before the guests are actually on the show, and the results are revealed in front of the studio audience.

(in totally unrelated news, something about that dang hand intrigues yet scurrs me )

nursev said:

scriptgirl said:

Well Jessica looks "blacker" to me than Jennifer Beals, whose dad is black

Back in the day-Jennifer looked Black to me. Just light skinned. Folks wanted her to be something else though, but we claimed her

When I was living in NY, someone told me that they went to school with Jennifer, and she doesn't identify with her black side

scriptgirl said:

There was a famous supermodel in the 90s, claudia mason, who was half black and half white and she was told to pass for white to get more bookings. she looks less black than Jessica. This is her

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/qNDMl.jpg[/img:$uid]

I remember Claudia very well. One of my all-time favorite It-Girls, and was known for her ambiguous, sometimes even androgynous look: she used to keep her hair cropped in a close-cut pixie. She wasn't so much passing for white as she was being booked for some indescribable exotic mixture that could work from Milan to Paris and back. I know alot of people who would assume that she was North African in those days, and that worked well for Europe as they embrace of lot of African style on the top tier of high fashion. She hasn't aged a bit, it seems.

PositivityNYC said:

scriptgirl said:

Positivity, were you being sarcastic when you said george was happy he has some black ancestry?

no-- he was giddy! and he'd bring it up on many shows - it was the cutest thing... I've never heard about/seen anybody excited to find out they were part black; usually ppl try to hide that in their family trees..

True. I've heard his call-in interviews to The Tom Joyner Morning Show whenever he's promoted something there in the past, and he always brings it up; it is cute, actually. You know folks usually try to keep that waaaay on the down low.

nursev said:

Never thought Jessica had any Black in her but I do think that Paula does ^ somewhere way down in her family tree somebody was creeping

I have a short article with a Jessica Alba food Q&A from an old "Bon Appetit" Magazine. She talked about her Mexican side of the family, and then mentioned that her mom (the caucasian side) was from the south, so she actually grew up eating deep southern/soul food a lot, learned how to cook it fairly young and still eats it regularly. When she went own the list of the things she likes to eat, I crracked up. The girl eats like a 70 year old Baptist Usher, collard greens and all. You know that's prolly how she snagged her husband Cash. Cause if you can burn in the kitchen ...

Dren5 said:

scriptgirl said:

The blackest she ever looked was on her show Dark Angel

True. I saw her and immediately assumed she was half black.

Even now though she still looks biracial to me.

Wow... I never once thought she was black or part black... as a mutt myself, I can usually guess who's got what in their family tree just by looking at them

** "biracial" isn't just for black and white (same with the old "mulatto" term... one of my great-grandfathers was half Eastern Band Cherokee and half black, and his WWI draft card has him listed as mulatto) -- it simply means: of 2 races.

she's white Latino (and with Mexico [since Latino is not a "race"], it's more of a indigenous/native american [which is considered a racial category])

PositivityNYC said:

Dren5 said:

True. I saw her and immediately assumed she was half black.

Even now though she still looks biracial to me.

Wow... I never once thought she was black or part black... as a mutt myself, I can usually guess who's got what in their family tree just by looking at them

** "biracial" isn't just for black and white (same with the old "mulatto" term... one of my great-grandfathers was half Eastern Band Cherokee and half black, and his WWI draft card has him listed as mulatto) -- it simply means: of 2 races.

she's white Latino (and with Mexico [since Latino is not a "race"], it's more of a indigenous/native american [which is considered a racial category])

Yep. In fact... the more I look at her, the less black I see in her so I think your description is accurate.

Timmy, youtube her in dark angel-esp the pilot episode. girl looks half black

I just know that she was hot, well, until she started to speak.

kewlschool said:

I just know that she was hot, well, until she started to speak.

Well since the origin of homosapiens are from Africa, doesn't that mean we all have a little black in us?

kewlschool said:

I just know that she was hot, well, until she started to speak.

I've seen worse actresses...