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Jun
14
Pass With Care: Modern Day Racial “Passing”
Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Family Issues, Pop Culture, Race and Racism by Lyonside
Sorry about the title, folks, but a first post is allowed one bad pun in my book.
Recently I guest-blogged about? some initial reactions to my infant daughters appearance, and I had to face facts: my baby girl at some point in her life, knowingly or not, will likely pass for non-Latino white. In her first three months, Ive dealt with two overtly racial instances on her behalf one was an honest mistake, the other was racist, and the two incidents were dealt with accordingly. Im catching myself second-guessing every compliment about her appearance what are they seeing? What are they really commenting on? Growing up, I only encountered the passing? concept in historical fiction or the odd biography, or when reading up on some of the reasons behind the one-drop-rule, the Black Codes, Jim Crow segregation, and the like.
I figured we were, essentially, past passing. Silly me.
For those not in the know, passing, usually for white, was one of the Deadly Sins someone of African descent could commit against American society. The insane categories given to people with an African-descended parent, grandparent, or great-great-grandparent were supposed to keep the racial boundaries separate, even as they grew increasingly and unpredictably invisible. People who did pass did it for survival, or at the very least to get a slightly more level playing field. Passing used to be a life-and-death type of decision. Acting on a perceived-white appearance could provide opportunities, but these closeted individuals and their families risked social shunning, economic ruin, or outright loss of life and limb.
Pop culture still seems willing to use the concept as a plot device, even as the surface of American society doesnt talk about it much. Passing has been part of the tragic mulatto modus operandi, an action which of course must be duly punished. You could point to, of course, the classic Imitation of Life . But really, I was thinking of an episode of Angel. I still havent seen The Human Stain, which deals with a similar issue and is loosely based on a real person, but the attention Wentworth Miller has received in recent years for his multiethnic background and his taken-for-white appearance makes me remember, subtle as a brick, how far we havent come.
I know multiethnic and biracial folks often have ambiguous features and therefore are assumed to be of various groups (myself included). Matt Kelly, founder of MAVIN, at one point simply answered yes to every ethnicity or country people guessed, right or wrong. But thats not passing in my book, unless youre deliberately denying something about yourself for personal or professional gain.
So I find myself wondering what passing means in the 21st century: where do we see it, or rather, where do we NOT see it? Lest this still be framed as a black/white issue, other minorities in the US have and do pass. It’s not limited to race or ethnicity? either – in the past moreso, I’d think that passing for a member of a Christian majority faith would be fairly common.? I wonder if? one of my future kids? has more appearance-based privilege than the next, how can I as a? parent balance the odds. As much as I want to believe its not there, its the white elephant in the room, and elephants tend to be very messy beasts.
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17 Responses to “Pass With Care: Modern Day Racial “Passing””
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This is something I have though a lot about. I have been with my (white) boyfriend for almost three years and while not formally engaged, we plan on being married and having children one day. I am light and more often seen as being Mexican than Black. I wonder what it will be like for my children. I remember having to fight to assert my heritage in grade school I can only imagine what it will be like for them. I never wanted to pass, I wanted to be seen for who I was. Will they be the same and, if so, how much harder will it be for them? I really liked that episode of Angel, what a great show.
Everyone always seems surprised when I tell them that one of parents isn’t Asian, Latino, or White. No, I’m just a hi-yella Black child!
One thing that gets me about “passing” is in the way that Hollywood uses it to cast their actors and actresses. Jessica Alba (Mexican/European) and Cameron Diaz (Cuban/European), for example, are two actresses who have never had roles where they played an “ethnic” character.
Has anyone ever heard of “passing for black” instead of mixed?
My girlfriends and I recently started using this as a joke, but I think it holds some truth in the way people are perceived: When I see a light skinned Black women with curly/wavy hair, I think of her as mixed, but when I see a woman of the same complexion with chemically straightened/relaxed hair, I think of her as “all black” (whatever that means), and often assume she has two light skinned Black parents.
Am I just weird or do you think other people make these snap judgments unconsciously as well because of our obsession with categorizing people?
I tell people my kid is half black and they do not believe me. One time I was at my second job (doing petitions) and people were talking about my baby. I told one of the men he was half black. (This was a young black man.) He asked me if my wife was around and he told me he did not belive me. I told him my wife was in the parking lot in our car. He went outside and walked up to her and then came back shaking his head saying yes you are right. ( I am glad he confirmed I had a black wife.!!) Another time we were at Kohls Dept store in line and an older white women actually nudged my wife aside and looked over our baby carriage to “peer” into it so she could see our baby.
I think by son will grow up and people will most likely think he is white. I am curious what the future will bring.
I think most people need to “categorize” people. I am guilty of that myself and to this day I still do it. When I was in college I tried to categorize someone by asking what race they were (He was a friend of a friend) and they were totally offended. (It turns out they were mixed race to the tune of something like 12 different races.) Many people feel a need to do this so as to “place” people. I am not saying this is necessarily right but I think it is human nature.
I mean believe me. I know this particular group is very sharp at noticing punctuation and spelling errors. I also know I am guilty of making many of them.
Thankyou Lyonside
Great topic!!!
Passing is a good thing exept when it causes a person to loose their ethnic identity. It is a logical way to avoid racism but it can forever divide some people from their ethinc heritage diminishing an ethic minority group’s political power.
For example, the portion of the white population in America who are part jewish, however due to neglect of their parents, adoption persicution or other reasons these folks don’t know their true ethnic heritage. Then later on these same people, without knoledge of their ethnic ancestry, might be more suseptable to bias against jewish people. The same holds true for the African americans. How many African Americans have been lost due to the same process? I wish there were a way to go back in history and give all the decendants of ocroons and quadroons the names and race of their African American ancestors. We might find that prominant families like the Clintons or Bushes have African,Jewish,Arab, Gypsy,Asian or American native ancestors. The results would be interesting. I have read that in South Africa many whites with African ancestry began letting the fact that they were part African be known for advantages with the new Black controlled government.
I asked my bi-racial daughter after she got into college which box she checks when she has to declare her “race.” She said, “Whichever will do me the most good.”
I must tell you, though, Dale, that she was veeeeery light (barely yellowish) as a baby and got darker with age, so be prepared. She’s honey-colored now, but three hours in the sun gives her charcoal knees.
Mike R: You’ve missed the point, and I’m going to try my damndest to keep my temper.
>Passing is a good thing exept when it causes a person to loose their ethnic identity.
HOW is passing in a racist society a good thing? It has meant denying your family who can’t “pass,” sometimes moving away from everyone who ever knows you, from living in fear of discovery. There’s a very good reason I chose the word “closeted” in my post.
>It is a logical way to avoid racism but it can forever divide some people from their ethinc heritage diminishing an ethic minority groups political power.
Um, OK, but you’re basically saying “oh well, society is racist, pass as pass can,” then. I don’t think anyone ever passed for white for the fun of it, and for centuries it was a DEADLY SERIOUS thing. I don’t think people were really concerned about their political power if passing meant that they could get a decent job, or even some basic RESPECT from fellow human beings.
>the portion of the white population in America who are part jewish, however due to neglect of their parents, adoption persicution or other reasons these folks dont know their true ethnic heritage. Then later on these same people, without knoledge of their ethnic ancestry, might be more suseptable to bias against jewish people.
OK – what? Yes, some people who have Jewish heritage may lose that along the way. Judaism is a religion that is often seen as an ethnic group because of its ties to certain microethnicities (say, Eastern European), its historic tendency toward inmarriage, and language/cultural attributes. But some people are Jewish without the ethnicity part, and some people are secular Jews and follow another faith or no faith. That DOES NOT mean that they’re passing. If a heritage is lost, it’s lost. If it’s done to blend in with the majority culture, it could be considered passing, but NOT if it extends into the next generation. Passing implies a willful action, not birth circumstance. If someone converts or loses faith, that isn’t passing either.
Now, WHY would a secular Jew or someone with Jewish ancestors automatically be biased against Jews? Or rather, more or less so than the rest of the society they live in?
Lyonside Thankyou
I would love to see someone who was African American pass their way into the White House and then reveal their Black Heritage. I believe an African American president like Obama or Congalizza Rice would be great for the USA. Another exapmle, an FBI agent who infiltrates a racist group in order to catch violent members. More power to this countries minorities is a legitimate reason to want to pass. the kind of passing that can have advantages for the minority group is what I speak of. If by passing one can cause advantages to one’s family or bring prestige,power or justice to your ethinic group at the same time, it could be good. Now the fact that one would have to do this is tragic, but taking life’s lemons and making lemonade is what I mean. People doing the best that they can for themselves in this race biased country.
Lyonside
Your point about Jewish peple you are right, I need to clarify myself. I meant to say that it is great when people aknoledge that they have jewish ancestors. I wish everyone who knew of them would pass that knoledge on to others like Mrs. Clinton. My wife is part French Jewish by nationality.
Why do people insist on having “biracial” kids? Don’t you know that you are harming your kids??? They will be mixed up not knowing where they really belong. You’re living your own fantasy and imposing extra problems on your kids. A child who has two black or two white or two latino parents is much better off. Life is hard enough if you are of one race, why make it harder for your kids. Think about what they need, not what you want.
NA, Please go away. You’re banned.
To everyone else–I have no idea how these white supremacist trolls get through.
I’m not sure what blogging software you’re using, but if it has a setting that requires people to have at least one approved comment before being allowed through without moderation, you might try that, in addition to whatever filtering you’re already doing.
This is what you get when you have a biracial kid. Some mixed up kid that doesn’t know where they really belong. People ought to stick with their OWN race when having kids.
Get out of my post thread, Troll! You’re an idiot if you think that I don’t know who I am. And since my child is 5 MONTHS OLD, she knows exactly who she belongs with, and that’s Mommy and Daddy.
Speaking of, why don’t you go running back to yours?
I know this is an old thread, but I stumbled upon it while researching for a paper. I’m in a Literature in Film class this semester. The class’ main focus is ‘passing.’ We have read and watched the films and books mentioned here. One more that I would recommend is Charles W. Chesnutt’s “The House Behind the Cedars.”
There is only one human race.
Who ever thinks that a mixed race child suffers for being mixed is a RACIST. Any one can suffer , it has nothing to do with race.A child of white racist or any other ethnecity suffers when the child is being forced to hate another child of a different race, by punishing them for not thinking alike.Race has nothing to do with it.Some kids who have parents of desame race are abuse is that ok? because the parents of the child married their own so call kind?Every one who thinks that racist way they are just making an excuse , they are trying to say that no one should intermarriage , because is wrong , it has nothing to do with being mixed , racism , that what it means , hate , people with low self steem who needs to feel good about themselves by puting some one else down,pure evil.Any one should marry who they please and it is no one else’s business.Those who made a racist comment are”RACIST IDIOTS” , GET A LIFE.