DarlingKris said:

CalhounSq said:

STOP IT, please... get 5 clues, I fear 1 won't do Black people come in all shades - I have a sister much lighter than him & she's BLACK. He was BLACK - be ok w/ that, people

Me and all of my siblings are light skinned and people think we are mixed but we are black. My mom was so light she could of passed for white but she was black and most of her side of the family is light skinned

How do you think that light skinned black people got to be light? If you look at a pure blooded black African, you can tell the difference between them and black Americans. The reason for this is that most black Americans are mixed with white. (We can save the sad history on how that came to be for another thread in P&R).

tmo1965 said:

DarlingKris said:

Me and all of my siblings are light skinned and people think we are mixed but we are black. My mom was so light she could of passed for white but she was black and most of her side of the family is light skinned

How do you think that light skinned black people got to be light? If you look at a pure blooded black African, you can tell the difference between them and black Americans. The reason for this is that most black Americans are mixed with white. (We can save the sad history on how that came to be for another thread in P&R).

That's part of the point - if most Black Americans are mixed anyway, WHAT IS THE POINT OF CLAIMING ALL OF THOSE THINGS when it's often a given & far back in the family tree? Believe it or not, being "just Black" is actually good enough for some of us!

tmo1965 said:

This thread is so weird.

Prince was black. Regardless of what he said extremely early on in his career, he identified as black. He said this a million times.

[Edited 6/7/16 12:10pm]

Gotta give credit to the interviewer as well, he asked the right questions.

JustErin said:

JustErin said:

This thread is so weird.

Prince was black. Regardless of what he said extremely early on in his career, he identified as black. He said this a million times.

[Edited 6/7/16 12:10pm]

THANK YOU & Long time, lady - good to see so many old schoolers come back!

CalhounSq said:

JustErin said:

This thread is so weird.

Prince was black. Regardless of what he said extremely early on in his career, he identified as black. He said this a million times.

[Edited 6/7/16 12:10pm]

THANK YOU & Long time, lady - good to see so many old schoolers come back!

So good to see you too!!

computerblue77 said:

Thank you for posting this Mkilpatrick74. This is the best interivew I've ever heard of Prince.

Seconding the thanks for this interview. I can hear the subtle differences from later interviews. I wonder if he wore shades the entire time then. It feels like he didn't.

wizardtelly said:

tmo1965 said:

How do you think that light skinned black people got to be light? If you look at a pure blooded black African, you can tell the difference between them and black Americans. The reason for this is that most black Americans are mixed with white. (We can save the sad history on how that came to be for another thread in P&R).

You make no sense whatsoever. There's no look of African people considering there are over 40 countries in Africa all with indigenous people. If you're talking about phenotype and genotype sharing, then it's possible to look from a certain part of Africa. Him being from the West, very clearly. Black people have always come in all shades, yet again someone proves that the educational systems readily provided to people have failed them of sociological fact and left them with impression. Black people are inherently darker, no matter how light they themselves come out to be. West Africans, where most black Americans come from, is a large area comprised of countries of indigenous tribes and people of different features. Historically, West African features are responsible for what people consider to be black. Yet again, Prince fits that mold because he is black and looks like his ancestors. It's pathetic of whites and others to want to claim him as mixed race for colonization. He's a black man, blacks couldn't help inter-breeding because it was a prominent thing happening in the Americas, mostly by the force of rape. Save your "sad" revelation for the people who believe that he is a white man or wish for him to be half and half. Pitiful. I'm sorry to sound crass, but blacks have heard these things all before. There's no way to say if you're African, you can't be light. That's ludicrous and actually against science and genetics. We are colored people because our colors range from light and dark. Have a good day. X [Edited 6/7/16 5:28am]

In spite of what Prince told this interviewer, he has always identified as black and indeed, he was black. I was in no way implying that light skinned blacks are not black, nor negating our African heritage. Africa is a very large continent and is comprised of many different cultures and people of various skin shades. When I stated that a person can tell the difference between a black American and an African, I was referring to West Africans because, as you stated, most black Americans are descendents of West Africans.

tmo1965 said:

DarlingKris said:

Me and all of my siblings are light skinned and people think we are mixed but we are black. My mom was so light she could of passed for white but she was black and most of her side of the family is light skinned

How do you think that light skinned black people got to be light? If you look at a pure blooded black African, you can tell the difference between them and black Americans. The reason for this is that most black Americans are mixed with white. (We can save the sad history on how that came to be for another thread in P&R).

Not denying that most black Americans are mixed in some way.

However, you don't have to be mixed with anything to come out light; genetic shuffling will do that on its own. For example, my maternal grandmother was very fair and my maternal grandfather was dark and they had five children with different complexion shades. They both belonged to the same linguistic-religious community in the same part of the state.

I or close relatives of mine have variously been read as Mexican, Iranian, Iraqi, Sicilian and black. The thing is, I'm not mixed at all, but I read as ambigu-brown based on what people expect and want to see.

[Edited 7/20/16 12:44pm]

Thanks for posting this thread. The Interview was facinating.

[Edited 7/20/16 12:46pm]