[spaypets]

But I should note that I'm caucasian, so I am really only answering based on what I've read and what I've been told. I apologize in advance if my words seem inappropriate.

First off, most AA people have some white ancestors.

Years ago, people considered anyone who was, I believe 1/16th Negro (the term used then) to be black, regardless of how they looked. Of course, there were people who "passed" for white and left their families behind, but many others lived in the AA community. Because there was such separation of the races, they had to choose how they were going to identify themselves because it dictated where they would go to school, where they would work and whom they would marry.

Moving forward to today, while we would all like to believe that people are judged by the content of the character, the sad fact is that they are more often judged by the color of their skin. If people treat you a certain way because you look AA, it doesn't matter if one or both of your parents are white, you are being placed in a category and you are likely to come to identify with that category.

A young man with one black parent and one white parent, who has AA features is more likely to get followed in a mall, stopped for driving a nice car, questioned when he's helping a friend move, etc., etc. than his blond blue-eyed brother. Is it any wonder that he would identify with the group that outsiders identify him with?

As the mother of a daughter born in India, I'm accutely aware that as my daughter grows, people aren't going to know that she has two fair skinned parents. I need to give her the tools to deal with the bigotry that brown skinned people in this country face.