A short while ago a thought came to mind. I mentioned it back in a previous post, but now I’ve realised how potent it can be. I mentioned that I don’t like the term mixed race and gave other terms I’d use in place of it. However, I’ve decided to drop the use of mulatto/ mulatta. It’s unfashionable at best, offensive at worst.
Instead, to refer to half-‘black’ half-‘white’ people I’ll simply use either pardo/ parda (as they do in Samerica) or… ‘grey’!
Yes I’m sticking with the should-be-outdated colour metaphors! Why? For the same reason I put black & white in quote marks when talking about people – to prove how stupid they are! MAYBE someone will finally get some not-so-common sense and notice that since no-one has literally grey skin*, no-one has literally black or white skin either!
Of course, this is just my thinking and no-one has to agree with me. If ‘mixed race’ people prefer other terms, it’s their identity at the end of the day not mine.
Interestingly, this means that most modern-day Asians could be classified as ‘grey’ too due to mixing of aboriginal ‘blacks’ & newcoming ‘whites’! Because it happened so long ago, they’ve forged new identities for themselves – Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Iranians, etc. All good, except that in this post-colonial global racist zeitgeist many people (including most Asians themselves) still think different skin colours & phenotypes = unique origins separate from everyone else.
Imagine that though; Asians being called ‘grey’ instead of brown or yellow! Let’s try it:
Sounds weird. Meh, it’ll catch on I’m sure… 
One Tawny Stranger 
Calling them grey??? It’ll never catch on!lol Also don’t tell Indians or Filipinos their ancestors were black. I told a Fiipino co-worker that….he freaked out!! Thought he was going to have a heart attack!lol They all suffer from anti-blackness. I don’t care how dark skinned they are either. I’ve noticed this with most non blacks. I’m sure you have also.
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LOL. Honestly I’ve never brought up the topic with Asians, i find they like to derail anti-‘black’ racism discussions to talk about anti-Asian racism. Even African history talks they like to derail by talking about their history.
But it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. I see & hear them fearing becoming “too dark” so they wear hoods in summer & umbrellas when there’s no rain! Disgusting.
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I don’t doubt it at all! I’ve seen their reactions before. It’s quite comical.lol Have you read the book When the World was Black? It’s by Supreme Understanding. There’s actually a part two as well. In the book he explains how the world was once dominated by African people everywhere. He does a great breakdown on anthropology and ancient history. He has some great pics in the pic too. He talks about black people being in Japan,Fiji,Polynesia,China, Malaysia,Indonesia and Phillipines. He covers a lot of ground! Be sure to check it out. I think you’ll like it.
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Ah, never heard of that one. Thanks for that! Runoko Rashidi does very similar research, on the history of ‘black’ people all over the world. Asia, “Europe”, Australia, the Americas, etc. I recommend his books, he’s done shitloads of them.
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Yes I’ve learned quite a bit from Rashidi. I had the pleasure of meeting him on two different occasions. I got to sit and have lunch with him after a lecture. And he signed a few books for me. We chatted
about his friends Ivan Van Sertima and Chancellor Williams. Rashidi even wrote the foreword to When the World was Black.
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You got to meet him?!? WHUT?
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Yeah he was a cool brother. Took a few videos and pics with him. He was really down to earth. An experience I’ll never forget.
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