Razib has written an interesting post on hypodescent in American culture: What are your experiences of this phenomenon?
Barrack is not considered black because black is implicitly considered by everyone to be inferior. It's because it's different--just like the Razib said. The half Japanese person was considered white by the Japanese and Japanese by the white. It's because different environments expect different things. It's not necessarily racism, as you said, although I'm sure that plays a role. The much simpler explanation is that white people expect people to be white. Yellow people expect people to be yellow. This is of course not the case when someone is obviously white or yellow. But when someone is mixed, the differentness pops out at people more, because they see a monstrosity--someone who likes like themselves a little, but also like something completely different. You really don't have to make everything be about racism, you know. Not every issue comes back to unholy racist Americans. That said, I too, have wondered why people say Barrack is black. Clearly he has some black ancestry, but he's also clearly more white than anything else. Same with Colin Powell. Halley Berry's black? Give me a break.
He doesn't look black. He's got brillo hair and relatively dark skin. That's it, really. And Tiger Woods? Give me a break. He's got a few black traits like Barack, but that's it.
so neither of these men look black?? They are white? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I've seen much darker Indians; they don't look black to me at all South Indian Kanikar tribal Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Indians can be extremely dark (in many cases, darker than most North American Blacks), but they will never have curly hair. I'd focus more on the facial features than the darkness of the skin itself when determining if somebody is Black or not.
Obama looks like he is of mixed heritage, mostly Caucasian, I think. Tiger Woods looks like an Indian. He reminds me of Leander Paes Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The guy in your added picture doesn't look Black. He just looks like a very dirty Indian in desperate need of a shower. I'm thinking you could take his skin tone down about three shades with a good scrubbin'. Oh, and if you think Obama looks "mostly Caucasion", then you're colorblind. Or you're just plain stupid. :shrug:
He looks like a mostly Caucasian mixed heritage to me, similar to this Pakistani guy here: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Like I said, you're either stupid or colorblind if you think Obama looks "mostly Caucasion". He clearly has dark enough skin to be considered Black (much darker than regular white skin), to go along with his curly hair, wide nose, etc.
Is this guy white or black? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This one? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Neither. Just like an oriental person is not White, a dark-skinned Indian/Aboriginal is not Black. The first guy looks South Asian (Indian?), so I'm going to say that he's Brown. The guy below looks like an Aboriginal, so I'm going to say he's Red. See how it works?
The first guy is an Arab, which is officially Caucasian, like the "white" Pakistanis. The second is a native American.
They look black because everyone can see they are from African descent. People of African descent are called black by a lot of people.
What the fu ... how are Arabs "officially Caucasian"? What about Afro-Arabs? Are they "officially Caucasian" as well? I figured as much.
