The Half Series — When Black People Look White (2 of 3)
PART TWO
Katie Burrell with her son:
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 35 seconds. Contains 919 words
Most of you are guessing that Katie’s ethnic background is Black and White. Keep on guessing. The truth will be revealed in the third and final installment of this series along with an exclusive interview with Katie.
As I stated in the beginning, I am the mother of a “biracial” or “mixed” child. I use quotation marks for these words because I do not think they are appropriate or correct, but because these are the words used to describe my child and others like her, I will go with the flow so that you can understand where I am coming from. I think bi or multi-ethnic would be more appropriate.
Why don’t I believe in these terms? Race is a made up social construct. We are all once race. We have different ethnic backgrounds but “race” is not real. We are all mixed in one way or another. The whole White and Black thing was made up for oppressive purposes that are still alive and well today. If it wasn’t I would not be writing this blog. We’re all 99.9% alike in every way.
Let’s move on to Michael Jackson‘s babies; I believe they are his biological children. Why? Because he admitted in an interview to using his sperm for their creation. I can also see Michael in their features and mannerisms. You can see a lot of Debbie Rowe in the two oldest children as well, but aren’t children supposed to look like their mama too?
And uh, people act like Michel was dark as hell before vitiligo took over his skin, not that that would make much difference in what his children would look like. You must also realize that the Jackson clan have mixed ancestry just like every other Black family in the United States. Genes do what the hell they want when they collide. We don’t control them. They control us! Two dark skinned people can produce a light skinned child.
I know many of you think that Michael had an issue being Black and that he bleached his skin and other such nonsense, so in turn he wanted White children, but you need to let that theory go.
Michael suffered from a skin disorder called, vitiligo. Vitiligo is a skin condition in which there is a loss of brown color (pigment) from areas of skin, resulting in irregular white patches that feel like normal skin.
Vitiligo is hereditary and it has been assumed that Prince also has vitiligo because he has patches of white skin near his underarm.
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Apparently the youngest, known as Blanket, is Black and Spanish/Italian. From what I understand, Michael used an anonymous surrogate for him and many people seem to only believe that Blanket is his biological child. Why only Blanket? Because he looks more ethnic?
If Blanket is indeed Black and Spanish/Italian he is naturally going to look more ethnic than his older brother and sister because they are half Black, half Debbie Rowe (Debbie is a White woman, but I don’t know her ethnicity). Duh!
Having a very light skin tone does not make a person any less Black than someone who is black as tar. Being Black is not literally about having dark skin, it’s about your heritage and about what you identify as. Really it’s about the ethnic background of your parents.
I was watching an old episode of America’s Next Top Model from back in 2005 when Detroit native, Naima won. Naima is Black, Mexican, and Irish. Another cast mate, Keenyah, a Black woman (background unknown), stated that she didn’t think Naima was Black because she doesn’t see that in her!
Who the hell is she to define what Black is for someone else and what the hell is she looking for that will make her say , “Ah ha, she is Black!” ? Being a brown skinned Black person does not mean you can define Blackness for someone else with lighter skin, and being dark also does not mean you can’t be of mixed heritage.
You can be as chocolate as I am and not be of African descent and you can be as light as Michael’s children and have a Black parent. Why is this so hard to understand or accept?
Back in my modeling days I constantly heard, “You’re so pretty, are you mixed?” Of course I took offense to this because the implication is that if you’re a pretty Black woman that you MUST be mixed with something else. You can’t just be Black. Give me a damn break!
I recently attended an Undoing Racism Workshop and let me tell you I was blown away by what I learned. Everyone needs to take part in this workshop if it hits your area. I promise, you will be enlightened and a lot less ignorant about race and color issues.
Black people will need to be open to the truth about terms such as, Colorism and Internalized Racism and White people will have to face the fact that they have what is called, Internalized Racial Superiority. I can’t find anything concrete online to directly explain this term, but the truth is out there. Read. There are tons of books that get into these topics.
Start with Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
In the final installment of The Half Series, I will reveal Katie Burrell’s ethnic background and I’m sure you will be shocked. I was!
In the meantime, stop trippin’ about color and love one another.
Click here for the finale of The Half Series.
Originally published at dangerouslee.biz on April 5, 2010.
