Paula Patton is the Black “Mission Impossible” Girl…or is She??

To play devil's advocate here, we can't say they are non-black women when we (black people) insist to everyone that the "one-drop rule" is still in full effect.

Plus, with more and more men and women dating, mating, and procreating with non-black spouses the men, women, boys, and girls will require representation in both television and movies. Paula and Robin have two children, Kobe Bryant and his soon-to-be ex-wife have two children, Tiger Woods and his ex-wife have two children; as well as, a whole host of non-celebrity pairings of couples such as the men and women that participate on this blog myself included.

Alas, it is a double-edged sword, we can't pick and choose when to accept individuals of bi-racial parentages into the collective and then reject them summarily once they are no longer an asset (i.e. political strength).

shesthedifferencemaker

I suspect RT is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He is careful not to antagonize BM so his records and cred are unaffected and is also quick to proclaim Paula P as a BW which clearly she is not; at least not fully, as a way of appeasing BW. Kinda like sitting on the fence. Personally I am not crazy about RT, I have only heard one song (which was just ok) of his so do not know if the hype is true or he is simply getting a major pass on his music because he is married to a 'sista'.

Probably parrots whatever PP professed opinion is. They both have careers to protect. shesthedifferencemaker

shesthedifferencemaker

Well to be fair, I recognize a measure of truth to what Thicke asserts (though as to his motives for his frank contradiction as some folks may seem wary of, I cannot be altogether certain), as I have personally seen and interacted with many of these kinds of men in my life. I believe his underlying point is that we need to be careful of falling into the pitfall of steriotyping that could easily lead many BW (esp. the perceived important ones of gentrified "respectability")of shooting first, ask questions latter.

shesthedifferencemaker

For instance, I've had the unforgettable experience of talking to or "vetting out" a professional Black Woman for a possible lady friend inside a city library I encountered. I learned in my intial (and last) chat and from simple observation that she worked for the FBI, drove an slick executive-looking expensive car with clothes to match, and other woopty woo woos. etc. After politely listening to her and discerning something that was a bit disturbing about her personal philosophy, I summed it up back to her with a mild mannered "Oh, so shoot first and ask questions later" to which she delightfully acknowledged (attended by llight chuckles) with an affirmative "Yes!", as if experiencing the joy of being thoroughly understood in perfectly succint way. I thought "uh oh..this is not good for obvious reasons", as she didn't correct me to make it conclusive that she was not joking. Now this is just one example among legions that I've typed on.

SurlySammyshesthedifferencemaker You made no sense at all.

Try again.

*sigh*, not evern a penny, huh? In that case, where's my tin cup...alms, alms for the poor...alms.

Sophia

"That is how Halle's daughter is likely going to be treated, no matter how she identifies. You look white, you will be treated as such, and vice-versa".

Agree Sophia. And I do not see that changing for a very long time, if ever in this country.

Sophia

I was under the impression that Nicole was half-Black.

AIOSophia She is half-black, Lionel and Brenda Ritchie adopted her after one of Lionel's bandmates in the Commodores had a baby with woman and they didn't want the baby i.e. Nicole.

eugeniamitchellAIOSophia I watched or heard an interview with Paris and Nicole back when they had that silly "reality" show. When asked about her race Nicole and Paris both spoke at almost the same time "I'm Black" "She's Black"...

Sophia Both Halle Berry's daughter and Nicole Ritchie are rich so I'm not surprised.

Chocomusings

Choco, the US government and the attitudes of millions of people both White & Black in this country disagree with you on that!

Jamila - I agree w/you. I can see you are a fellow historian.😃

Jamila

I agree Jamila. I can definetly now see that in how I was raised when I look back and think about it.

Jamila"Humans are social creatures and we all have a need to belong'"

and why do we have a need to belong Jamila? What's the point of it all? What's the fundamental reason for this? to feel important? To be a part of something that we need bigger than each of ourselves for added strength, protection.....extended personal security? Something to justify our faith for living for being and becoming...whatever that may be? Ya strive to get in where ya fit in, (huh?) that is, if your're in your right mind.

Here is something I've always kept in mind for a while with an attending source to give credit where it is rightfully due.

"....we are basically social animals - not just from force of habit but because we could not otherwise survive."

-Ian Robertson, "Sociology" Second Edition 1981

Sure, the book may be dated (much like gasoline and coal and tar roofing) but there's something about this basic premise that cannot be entirely rejected.

Jamila - Preach girl! I feel like you must have been sitting in on one I the history classes that I teach. I feel like you are reading my mind. The human race technically is a species. But...race, as my history professor said, is "perceived by people as a social construct."

A species in biology is group of individuals that can and <strong>DO</strong> interbreed. Hybrids happen rarely between species but they have no significant effect. By that rule, races are far from separate specicies. Jamila

Perfectly stated. We had a discussion about race in my sociology class a few weeks ago. I asked my professor whether race was determined by what a person identified as, or what society at large saw them to be. She said it is both. I agree. MayaHope

deleted_1910844_AJ1997 Good luck with your cleaning, you remind me I need to get to grocery store to get the rest of my Holiday dinner menu. Chores...I hate 'em.

deleted_1910844_AJ1997

Do not work too hard now gurl!

So people are really arguing over social status, then. Interesting. deleted_1910844_AJ1997

I don't know what benefits mixed people are supposed to have but that seems to keep popping up in this thread. Perhaps examples need to be used. Other than "oh she is light skin and that's why she keeps getting magazine covers".

"Mixed " peple do have more benefits in the eyes of racists people, black and white. Some whites are more comfortable with mixed people than they are with blacks. Bellydancer

Fefe32Bellydancer Interesting. One of my friends in high school was bi-racial (mother white, father black). My friend identified as white, but was not really accepted by the white students as white. Even her own cousins did not acknowledge her.

Yeah, in American it's not realistic for a "mixed" race person to call themselves "white" and expect to be treated as such. Not with the history of what race means in this country. And that could be a very dangerous way to think considering all the racism and hatred in this country. It's 2011, but still it's there. The Working Home Keeper Bellydancer

Oh, and in more "liberal" white circles, a mixed person is often seen as a more approachable or agreeable black person.The Working Home Keeper Bellydancer

Fefe32Bellydancer And some whites are more comfortable with dark skin black people, I find that with ww and bm.

You know, kinda black, but not too black. I've talked to "mixed " family members who do acknowledge the extra benefits,Bellydancer

In the US and Latin America, "mixed" people have often been considered a sort of 'buffer' group between whites and the darker skinned natives and/or slaves. Blacks have often elevated lighter skinned blacks because they were closer to being white and white people have often elevated lighter-skinned blacks above darker skinned blacks.

One of my main problems with programs like Affirmative Action for African-Americans is that the benefits of such programs (particularly when it comes to college admissions) is that most of the beneficiaries are the children of African immigrants ( instead of former black slaves) and black children of mixed parentage (black and non-black). The end result is that AA benefits which were intended to go to the progeny of the former slaves has actually ended up going to people whose forefathers were not slaves and lighter-skinned blacks who have also been able to draw upon the advantages of having a white parent.

Bellydancer

I agree, with the whole thing about affirmative action programs not benefiting those intended to benefit from it. I live in NYC , and most of the "black" people in colleges there seem to be africans or caribbean people. There has definitely been a problem in the way these programs have been implemented. Jamila Bellydancer

Race (which is an inaccurate term, we are really all different ethnic groups not different races) is both a biological reality and a social construct. There are different phenotypes that different ethnic groups share in common and these phenotypes are rooted in the different genotypes of each ethnic group. Certain genetic sequences became widespread in an ethnic group and then future generations carry those genes, which is why scientists can now trace a persons genetic heritage back several hundred or a couple thousand years. So I would say that race/ethnicity are socially constructed concepts designed to come up with a way to categorize groups that share a common history and lineage. Fefe32

Word. Race is entirely a social construct and it gets on my nerves when people attempt to use biology to explain something that is purely social. I mean, a review of US history should show how subjective the concept of race is. Among the European groups that came to America, only certain groups were considered white - those primarily of western European descent, excluding certain Celtic groups like the Irish. Also, this concept of race developed during the wake of modern day chattel slavery...to establish a caste system based on phenotype and ethnicity to determine who has access and who doesn't. (Anglos v. Celtics, Anglos v. Blacks, etc). Fefe32

Fefe32 I think even though most Black people are aware that society labels them as Black, they (like all people) think of themselves 1 as individuals, and 2/3 etc as belonging to a culture (In my case Caribbean), a religion, or their family etc. I'm constantly reminded by other people and the media that I'm Black as if I forgot I have brown skin! Often what is a cultural affiliation, African America, is labeled a racial one, Black (to the extent that race is an acceptable way to categorize people). So I'll take a guess and say that even though Halle says she Black, what she means to say is that she's African American culturally.

Yes, I get what you're saying. I consider myself to be caribbean-american. That's my culture, I think that's probably what Halle means too. I hope.iHeartLove

Jazmine I wonder why it has to be a topic at all. I see Nahla as black from conditioning in my time. Today, you can do and be whatever. Let her decide....we all do. She may chose Lioness as her identity, lol!

Mocha ZJazmine

I agree completely. Nahla should see herself as she chooses..

My understanding is that Halle seeing her daughter as black was a hot button issue for the childs father. It was being said that he didn't like his daughter being identified as black. It just seems to me that Halle seeing herself as black (when she is bi-racial) and what racial identity she would assign (for lack of a better word) to their children should/would have been a discussion before they had kids.