I really do wanna know -why don't black people with non-black ancestry acknowledge it?

This thread is a rehash of a rehash of a rehash - and all the rehashes are comprised of such utter bullshit

I love that the author thinks she's original w/ this shit...

I love the "Prince ain't just Black!!!" comments, or should I call them "cries"

I love the notion that P purposely stays out of the sun to keep from getting dark

Keep it going Org - all the dumb shit you can muster, lets keep it going. We've only had many years worth of this exact discussion. Let's enlighten each other... with our bullshit

CalhounSq said:

You coulda answered my question....




I really do wanna know -why don't black people with non-black ancestry acknowledge it?

Hey,ya'll dont go forgetting that he was infatuated with EGYPT for awhile.

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Really?


funny!

CalhounSq said:

You coulda answered my question....




I really do wanna know -why don't black people with non-black ancestry acknowledge it?

TheCatWoman said:

Remember how he kept marketing that Mayte was an Egyptian princess? CRAPPOLA.

CalhounSq said:

"Black" in the US isn't an ethnic cateory.. is SOCIAL racial category... meaning Anglo-caucasians called all descendants from African "black" regardless of how many times their ancestors had been mixed with other things or what type of black person they are... so african american people today still deny the diversity of their ethnicity because history dictates that thats what one should do... and no one bothers to question it.

I think all that will change as America continues to become more ethnically diverse, and more young mixed people come to accept both or all sides of their heritage.

CherrieMoonKisses said:

I was not a FAN back then, I use to be a strong person ya know ..

anyway, so Mayte was an Egyptian princess? interesting

meow85 said:

Umm, many Black people are DYING to acknowledge what else is in them I don't think that's the issue at all. The problem is when you elevate everything else you are BUT the Black part. There's a lot of people stuck on that & until shit balances out (which it likely never will, sadly) I'm really not trippin'.

African Americans are mixed w/ all kinds of stuff, it all goes way back & runs through all of us - so what is there really to acknowledge? Should there be no more Black people in the US b/c all of us are this & this & that? At the end of the day I'm BLACK - that's how I see myself, how the world sees me, that's my reality. And what's wrong w/ that?

And why can't some people embrace Prince as a Black man? Why is that an actual issue with some folks? I didn't even know his ethnicity was being debated until I came on this board It wouldn't even come up if people didn't feel so fiercely that "he is NOT Black"!!! Why does he have to be something else just b/c folks want him to be? If he was just a dude working @ the grocery store, what would he be to you all? (and don't give me that "his eyes!! his complexion!!" bull b/c you just ain't seen enough Black folks if that's your argument ).. Would folks be fighting over his ethnicity then? BEGGING & pleading for others to recognize what else he is or what else they think he is? Would they care if he was just some dude w/ an afro & corns on his feet from those damn heels?

What about his siblings? (let's conveniently forget that both of his parents are Black people ) - do any of them look "just Black"? Are they not born of the same mother & father? What would make Prince different from them? His fondness for perms?

What about people who LOOK "just Black" but are mixed - does anybody make banners about their ethnic roots or is it just b/c Prince looks a certain way? I'm just trying to understand the absolute NEED to highlight the other. I know why I'm certain that he's Black - why are others so certain that he's not?

Take Lenny Kravitz for example - it's common knowledge that his parents are of two different races. But if you just saw Lenny walking down the street digging in his ass, what race would you think he was? In fact, who looks MORE Black - Lenny or Prince?? Yet, who's really mixed? They are who they are, right? It's all so fucking goofy, but I don't hear anyone crying over Lenny considering himself a Black man in the rock music world... maybe that's lurking on a Lenny board somewhere

The politics of being Black in this country are just too difficult, too sensitive, too washed in blood & death to be dismissed just b/c it makes some folks more comfortable. And when people can't fathom that someone who looks like Prince is "just Black"... acts like Prince & is "just Black"... I find it irritating. In how many different ways should I stand to hear that "just Black" isn't good enough? Is undesirable? Is "please GOD, don't let them say that about Prince!! I love him too much!!!" Nah, not trying to hear that at all.

I dig anybody who can say I'm this & I'm that & NOT put one down while elevating the other or feel any shame or try to run from who they are. Let's get there first, b/c we're far from that... There's just too much junk in the water. I know who he is... he knows it too... y'all can take it or leave it...




.
[Edited 12/29/05 4:02am]

Prince is African American, period.

JonnyApplesauce said:

Cool! What part of Africa was he born in?

meow85 said:

Umm, many Black people are DYING to acknowledge what else is in them I don't think that's the issue at all. The problem is when you elevate everything else you are BUT the Black part. There's a lot of people stuck on that & until shit balances out (which it likely never will, sadly) I'm really not trippin'.

African Americans are mixed w/ all kinds of stuff, it all goes way back & runs through all of us - so what is there really to acknowledge? Should there be no more Black people in the US b/c all of us are this & this & that? At the end of the day I'm BLACK - that's how I see myself, how the world sees me, that's my reality. And what's wrong w/ that?

And why can't some people embrace Prince as a Black man? Why is that an actual issue with some folks? I didn't even know his ethnicity was being debated until I came on this board It wouldn't even come up if people didn't feel so fiercely that "he is NOT Black"!!! Why does he have to be something else just b/c folks want him to be? If he was just a dude working @ the grocery store, what would he be to you all? (and don't give me that "his eyes!! his complexion!!" bull b/c you just ain't seen enough Black folks if that's your argument ).. Would folks be fighting over his ethnicity then? BEGGING & pleading for others to recognize what else he is or what else they think he is? Would they care if he was just some dude w/ an afro & corns on his feet from those damn heels?

What about his siblings? (let's conveniently forget that both of his parents are Black people ) - do any of them look "just Black"? Are they not born of the same mother & father? What would make Prince different from them? His fondness for perms?

What about people who LOOK "just Black" but are mixed - does anybody make banners about their ethnic roots or is it just b/c Prince looks a certain way? I'm just trying to understand the absolute NEED to highlight the other. I know why I'm certain that he's Black - why are others so certain that he's not?

Take Lenny Kravitz for example - it's common knowledge that his parents are of two different races. But if you just saw Lenny walking down the street digging in his ass, what race would you think he was? In fact, who looks MORE Black - Lenny or Prince?? Yet, who's really mixed? They are who they are, right? It's all so fucking goofy, but I don't hear anyone crying over Lenny considering himself a Black man in the rock music world... maybe that's lurking on a Lenny board somewhere

The politics of being Black in this country are just too difficult, too sensitive, too washed in blood & death to be dismissed just b/c it makes some folks more comfortable. And when people can't fathom that someone who looks like Prince is "just Black"... acts like Prince & is "just Black"... I find it irritating. In how many different ways should I stand to hear that "just Black" isn't good enough? Is undesirable? Is "please GOD, don't let them say that about Prince!! I love him too much!!!" Nah, not trying to hear that at all.

I dig anybody who can say I'm this & I'm that & NOT put one down while elevating the other or feel any shame or try to run from who they are. Let's get there first, b/c we're far from that... There's just too much junk in the water. I know who he is... he knows it too... y'all can take it or leave it...




.
[Edited 12/29/05 4:02am]

JonnyApplesauce said:

Cool! What part of Africa was he born in?

meow85 said:

That's it in a nutshell. Because of the brutality of our enslavement, Prince and most African Americans will never know our origins in Africa.

We should just suck it up and forget about it, right?

I'm sure it's not your intention to belittle our experience, but I do encourage you to take a second and think about the ramifications of your statement.

I'm trying very hard not to be overly sensitive about it and I ain't picking on you Meow. I just want you to try and look at it from another perspective, that's all.

babynoz said:

It's definitely not my intention. If I said anything off, feel free to point it out. I just don't get it.

I'd never tell someone else they should just "suck it up" because my people, both Native and Metis (mixed) get that same message all the time. I know the frustration it brings up when we're told just to forgive and forget.


I happen to be proud that I'm mixed. I guess I just don't understand why anyone would want to deny any part of their heritage that they're aware of. By the same logic that's applied when saying a person is black because they look it and people treat them as such, I'd have to call myself white. But that would be a lie, and IMO would be as good as saying I'm ashamed of the part of me that's not obviously visible.
[Edited 12/29/05 23:00pm]

JonnyApplesauce said:

Cool! What part of Africa was he born in?

Meow, I appreciate that you always speak from the mixed perspective you know it first hand & the history of your ethnic makeup is difficult too I also think it's interesting that you appear White & make sure to mention your Native heritage. I think I understand why you do that, which makes it even more interesting that in a way you're "asking" Black folks to do the opposite. I dunno, maybe it's strictly from a "celebrate all that you are" standpoint but I wonder if you'd be so eager to mention your White heritage if your apppearance was more Native American. Maybe so...

But like Rhonda & I have said it's kind of silly to reach back generations & generations to claim all the things that we are (as Black people) b/c we're many things. It's about more than just a look that a person has or doesn't have - for me it's a realistic sense of who I am. It just doesn't make sense for me to go around claiming Native American & White - if I did it would only be b/c I insisted on people knowing that... & what would be my reason for wanting people to know that SO BAD when it's already implied simply by my being born Black in America It's been said many times that Blacks in this country are all mixed somewhere along the way anyway

Obviously you're doing what makes you comfortable (i.e. your parents are either both White or both Native American & your mix comes from a grand parent or further back) & that's cool. For me it's not practical, the mix is more than a generation back - I'm Black. Black is good enough for me

meow85 said:

that's sorta unfunny and I'm one that doesn't even care for term.....


Let's not start mockin' each other meow.....k.

CalhounSq said:

Even if it was reversed and I looked Native I'd still tell people I was half-white. I'd still be proud of what I am, regardless of my looks.

It wouldn't be the same as it is now though. Now, telling people that I'm mixed lowers some people's opinion of me, but if I looked Native and told people I had white in me, some would think better of me.


My mom is white and my dad is Cree Metis.

The part that cracks me up? My dad's mom (white) was racist. She came from a small, rural town. Granny was kinda crazy, and her best friend/rival for years was a woman named Jennie Thurston who was arguably even more racist than she was. So when a Cree drifter came into town, Granny went out drinking with him and got herself pregnant out of wedlock on purpose. All so she could have a "darkie" child to piss off Jennie Thurston. Well, it worked. Jennie never spoke to her again, and my dad was the first coloured resident in the history of the town.


I never said it was a proud family history.
[Edited 12/30/05 13:19pm]

meow85 said:

But let's say your mix was a generation or two back - would you still be so adamant about stating your mix? Just curious

Kitten said:

Yeah I'm going to agree with this. Alot of his girlfriends kinda had a similar "exotic" look but I don't think he puts alot of thought into that. It's not like that is the only thing he likes.