My maternal grandmother was also MGM (sketchier clues, but also African/Native American mix)
My paternal grandfather was full blood French, my paternal grandmother was full-blood Haitian.
What does that make me on the cultural/race marker? I have my own theories, but would love feedback. A hint is: I don’t consider myself black, nor African-American. I was not raised in the Black culture predominantly although I learned about it. It’s not that I don’t "look" black (I mean, my granddad’s father was mullatto and yet the only identifying marker that he was mixed was his hair was very oily and wavy (He was as dark as his Watutsi father, but was the spitting image of his strawberry blonde, fair eyed mother. The height of his father showed up genetically in his grandson’s! He was the height of his much smaller mother)!
I’ve heard everything from Creole, to divisions of Mullattoism. I’ve paid homage to every aspect of my lineage and refuse to refute any part of ME! I have siblings who have the exact replica of my lineage and siblings who differ. Would love to have feedback on this interesting topic. Beside, many, many people are coming out about how they truly feel about being pigeon holed into forcibly claiming some insulting version of who they are. There must be some value in the genetic variations of our evolutionary and planetary selves.
My youngest sister is more fair than both my parents and the fairest amongst the siblings. I have an aunt on my mother’s side who could "pass", with knee length, deeply dark brown, straight hair and very fair skin. I have a mocha skin tone, but am not a "red bone". No red exists in me, just hints of yellow undertones. My hair does not curl, behaves much like Caucasian hair in the styling process (in fact I cannot use ethnic products made for Black hair or it will break), but ‘looks’ ethnic.
Many times I have been told I am not Black (I think that is more about culture due to my attitudes and speech pattern than it is about race). I could also be ignorant about what is race and what is culture. As is ‘Black’ a race or is ‘African American’ a culture?
My viewpoint and attitudes seem very, very opposing to other Black’s culturally. Also I do not fall for the banana peel of believing that if you have one person of African culture in your blood line that makes you entirely African. I have just as much Native American blood as I do African, as I do Caucasian. I have no Spanish blood that I know of (As my paternal grandfather hailed through the French line of Basqueian blood, though there is also a Spanish lineage of that same Pre-Indo European genetic code) and haven’t seen anyone of that culture, heritage or geographical mix in photos or passed in the oral history (French and Spanish differ greatly genetically even though close in geographical proximity and share a language base in Rome’s language diaspora and the Basqueian diaspora genetically. Then again, I am no authority on exxxxxxactly how French differs from Spaniard, lol).
See why I ask, "What am I", lol!
Umm, I don’t want anyone to get it confused that I am not HAAAAAPPPY with me. I am. Very happy because I am undoubtedly original, lol! Just as original in this new awakening as the originals must have been at the appearance of humanity’s existence.
It’s the EXACT points that you are all speaking of that encouraged me to ask the question. I wish we ALL would get out of the "check box" attitude of who we are. We, none of us, were created in a vacuum. That lesson is resoundingly clear when the direct line is not so much so. After taking all into perspective and being the author of my own separate definition of who. I consider myself to be a juxtaposed paradox of what any person really is. A person is not the sum total of the parental lineage, traits or cultural aspects – especially when genetic and cultural variances occur. So, I’m glad to see the dialogue changing – as one person suggested we just be American (I think so too). Others suggested I join the Human Race, while a
