What do you call bi-racial people?

[Bob_McMillan]

After getting into an internet argument with some guy about the New 52 Wally West, who is black, something came up that really made me think. He was pissed at me for calling Wally black, when Wally is actually bi-racial, and said this was due to me being part of "white supremacist society". That was both hypocritical and funny. The guy had been calling Wally black for his last ten posts, and seemed to think that racism only only applied to black people, which is why he thinks people don't like Wally, and this sentence has ran on for too long. It was funny because A) I am not white, I'm Asian, and B) I live in Asia, where white people are as rare as snow.

But he got me thinking. What do you call Wally West? Caucasian-African American? Most people, in the media and the people I've talked to, simply refer to him as being black. And when I think about it, every other bi-racial person who is half-black is just black, and half-Asians are just Asian. I know some people say mixed ethnicity, or when asked, tell them the exact percentages of their racial makeup. But is it fair to refer to a half-white, half-black person as African-American?

 

[madwarper]

What do you call Wally West? Caucasian-African American?

To put it simply, call him whatever he calls himself.
Or, if he hasn't specifically spoke to his own racial makeup, whatever this iteration's creators/writers called him.
And, if that hasn't happened... Then, I'd say to not worry about it.

Most people, in the media and the people I've talked to, simply refer to him as being black. And when I think about it, every other bi-racial person who is half-black is just black, and half-Asians are just Asian. I know some people say mixed ethnicity, or when asked, tell them the exact percentages of their racial makeup. But is it fair to refer to a half-white, half-black person as African-American?

But again, refer to them as they refer to themselves...

Tiger Woods refers to himself as a "Cablinasian"[footnote]Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian[/footnote], and you should too.

 

[carnex]

How about calling the people or person(s)? Racial connotations are unwanted in wast majority of cases and subjects therefor they should not be even considered.

If you, however, need to make a connotation, it's whatever that person identifies with as long as it's not obviously false or fictional like Tiger Woods self-classification for example. If you are black but feel asian, guess what, you are bloody black (even though many asian nationalities would be offended on being lumped together for historical, cultural and many other reasons)

 

[Parasondox]

Maybe mixed race?

I dunno, I notice some parts of the US gets really sensitive if you say "black" instead of African American. When I first came onto the Escapist, I referred to myself as black (because I am) and someone really had a go at me about using that word. I'm not african nor american.

Its about what the actual person calls themselves. Don't take offensive at those who try to belittle you over the internet who are clearly being hypocrites. Not worth the stress Bob.

 

[Eddie the head]

Preferably what they want to be called. Although if you don't know what they want just go with whatever you notice. No reasonable person is going to hold that kind of ignorance against you.

 

[jklinders]

I rarely refer to anyone by race. If I absolutely must I will refer to them as whatever they most resemble. If someone tries to correct me then there is a checklist

1) Do I know them directly? If so, ask them.
2)If I don't know them directly does the person who is pissing me?
a)if yes then agree with them
b) if no then find out from whatever you can their preference

People really need to chill out about this stuff.

 

[Hoplon]

By their name usually...

 

[Thaluikhain]

And when I think about it, every other bi-racial person who is half-black is just black, and half-Asians are just Asian. I know some people say mixed ethnicity, or when asked, tell them the exact percentages of their racial makeup. But is it fair to refer to a half-white, half-black person as African-American?

This very much depends on where you live. There's been much talk about the power of black blood in the US, where even if your ancestry is mostly white, the black blood wins out or something.

In South America, I'm led to believe there are lots more distinctions used, which confuses black people from the US. Also, there was the comment that Obama is the US's first black president, but if he was in charge of Kenya, he'd be their first white one. Not sure if that is true though.

 

[Aerosteam]

There's actual names for people whose parents are from different continents, one for each combination I think, or at least most of them.

For example: I'm Eurasian. (European + Asian.)

 

[Michel Henzel]

Here have the terms (and I'm translating it from Dutch to English) Halfbloods or mixbloods. Which have a mostly positive connotation.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

John, Sarah, Bob, Malcolm, Doug, Bethany, Roberta, Liz...

 

[chuckman1]

Simple if they are half black and half white I say black and white.
If they are half asian and half black I say black and asian.
Half white half arab? White and arab, or a white arab.

I see the word biracial as fine but prefer to just go over the individual ethnicities.
In the United States we also tend to say "mixed" for people who are black mixed with something else, yet for some reason other racial groups don't get this label

 

[murrow]

Portuguese language has the word mestiço that covers it. Not to be confused with the Spanish mestizo, which I believe carries a more specific connotation.

The word is colloquially used to anyone whose ethnicity is difficult to determine and has (to my knowledge, these things change by the minute) no negative connotation over them. In addition, there are specific words for specific racial combinations. Notable ones are cafuzo and mameluco, meaning mixed black-indian and white-indian individuals, respectively. "Indian" here means what US citizens call Native Americans. I understand that the term is seen in a bad light up north, but down here it's widely accepted.

I've also heard that the Brazilian census is operating with a distinction between preto and negro citizens. Both words mean "black" in Portuguese, but the former is meant to denote "pure" black individuals while the latter means both preto and mixed black-and-white individuals. I believe the politically correct word nowadays is pardo, although it used to be mulato and most people still used it in everyday parlance.

Numerous as the terms might be, most people have trouble referring to mixed-race individuals, especially those who, to use your own word, are "half-black". Most half-blacks I know call themselves morenos, which literally means dark-haired, but it's commonly used to denote dark-but-not-that-dark skinned individuals as a whole. That in itself is misleading, as it might apply both to half-blacks as to what Americans call "Latinos".

In my humble opinion, however, phisolophising about this is too much work for too little gain. The need to classify people based on their racial attributes hardly ever comes up in real life. Plus, when it comes to informal, everyday usage, racial referentials can be grossly imprecise. The was a famous episode years ago in which two identical twins applied to University of Brasilia's racial quotas program. One was judged to be a minority and admitted while the other was deemed Caucasian and denied the privilege.

 

[L. Declis]

China just calls them mixed.

Seems fine to me.

Don't worry about people who get so sensitive about race; people who are obsessed with who is what race are the people who are acting like every race is different, you know, being racist.

 

[Shadow flame master]

Mixed. I don't have the time, tact, or patience (usually) to dig through a person's lineage to call them a certain term. So I usually wait until the topic of race comes up and let them say what they want to be called and then I adjust my speech accordingly.

 

[Yopaz]

Honestly I'd settle for their name. I really don't refer to people in terms of race. I thought that races in human was something we discarded a long time ago.

 

[hermes]

Portuguese language has the word mestiço that covers it. Not to be confused with the Spanish mestizo, which I believe carries a more specific connotation.

The word is colloquially used to anyone whose ethnicity is difficult to determine and has (to my knowledge, these things change by the minute) no negative connotation over them. In addition, there are specific words for specific racial combinations. Notable ones are cafuzo and mameluco, meaning mixed black-indian and white-indian individuals, respectively. "Indian" here means what US citizens call Native Americans. I understand that the term is seen in a bad light up north, but down here it's widely accepted.

I've also heard that the Brazilian census is operating with a distinction between preto and negro citizens. Both words mean "black" in Portuguese, but the former is meant to denote "pure" black individuals while the latter means both preto and mixed black-and-white individuals. I believe the politically correct word nowadays is pardo, although it used to be mulato and most people still used it in everyday parlance.

Numerous as the terms might be, most people have trouble referring to mixed-race individuals, especially those who, to use your own word, are "half-black". Most half-blacks I know call themselves morenos, which literally means dark-haired, but it's commonly used to denote dark-but-not-that-dark skinned individuals as a whole. That in itself is misleading, as it might apply both to half-blacks as to what Americans call "Latinos".

In my humble opinion, however, phisolophising about this is too much work for too little gain. The need to classify people based on their racial attributes hardly ever comes up in real life. Plus, when it comes to informal, everyday usage, racial referentials can be grossly imprecise. The was a famous episode years ago in which two identical twins applied to University of Brasilia's racial quotas program. One was judged to be a minority and admitted while the other was deemed Caucasian and denied the privilege.

Historically, it had negative connotations.

Mestiços were people of mixed race (in colonial Spanish america, it referred specifically to black-white mix), and it was part of a caste system pretty much like in other colonial countries: At the top where the "pure white" or Europeans and first generation of Europeans, then those born in the colonies, then mixed races and finally natives, not European foreigners and slaves. So, for a person being identified as Mestiço was a way to set a ceiling in the social ladder. The system survived a lot longer than the colonies but eventually grew in disuse.

From my understanding, the situation was better in Portuguese Latin america than in Spanish Latin america, because the king setting there meant that society didn't put European immigrants at the top of the ladder...

OT: As you said, racial references can be extremely imprecise, so I see no point in referring to people on terms of a single race, specially because the country I live in has such a high level of mixed races that it becomes more like a gradient...

 

[happyninja42]

After getting into an internet argument with some guy about the New 52 Wally West, who is black, something came up that really made me think. He was pissed at me for calling Wally black, when Wally is actually bi-racial, and said this was due to me being part of "white supremacist society".

It varies a lot with people. I know several black people, who will declare that if you have any amount of black in you, you are black, period. They don't even consider a mixed ethnicity as actually being mixed. They basically state that the dominant race in your makeup is black, and thus all the others are secondary, and thus, you are black. It's a really odd bit of mental gymnastics, but I've seen it, so the fact that he had the opposite opinion doesn't surprise me. People do weird shit all the time when it comes to race.

That was both hypocritical and funny. The guy had been calling Wally black for his last ten posts, and seemed to think that racism only only applied to black people, which is why he thinks people don't like Wally, and this sentence has ran on for too long.

Yeah, people get fucking weird about race, especially when there is mixed ethnicity in the equation. You will get people arguing completely opposite points all the time.

It was funny because A) I am not white, I'm Asian, and B) I live in Asia, where white people are as rare as snow.

White people, rare as snow, hah, I see what you did there. Also, I find a perverse bit of humor in the fact that you are self identified as a non-white Asian, and your forum handle is Bob McMillan. A name combination that would suggest anything but a non-white Asian. I don't really care either way, I just find that funny.

But he got me thinking. What do you call Wally West? Caucasian-African American? Most people, in the media and the people I've talked to, simply refer to him as being black. And when I think about it, every other bi-racial person who is half-black is just black, and half-Asians are just Asian. I know some people say mixed ethnicity, or when asked, tell them the exact percentages of their racial makeup. But is it fair to refer to a half-white, half-black person as African-American?

Honestly it depends on the person. Some people identify as black, even if they have mixed heritage, others don't. I don't think there is any right answer to this. As to what I call them, I generally don't call them anything related to their ethnicity, unless the subject matter is specifically about that. And in my experience, someone's race just isn't a relevant subject at pretty much any time in a regular conversation. Given the pigment variation I've seen for people who would identify as 100% black, I don't even attempt to guess if they are mixed or not. I've known plenty of very light skinned black people, who were not mixed, so there really isn't any way for me to know other than simply asking "Hey, so are you mixed or not?" And I'm just not going to ask that question, because I simply don't care what their ethnicity is.

So, that long ramble aside, I don't really know if I can answer your question. I guess if I had to come up with a generic term to describe someone of mixed ethnicity, I would probably just used "mixed". But even that doesn't work really well. I mean I'm technically a mixed ethnicity, the only difference is that all of my racial mixes happen to have the same white variant of skin pigment. I'm part German, part Irish, part Scottish, part English, and probably some other European oriented ethnic groups to some degree. So by my standard, I'm "mixed" too. Which makes the term less useful. So, I usually just call them "sir" or "maam" and go from there.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Portuguese language has the word mestiço that covers it. Not to be confused with the Spanish mestizo, which I believe carries a more specific connotation.

At least in Argentina it means the same thing, "bi-racial". We also take mulato though that's a tad more specific to black + white.

 

[Emanuele Ciriachi]

My children are italian/chinese; "mixed race" or "half-blood" are common terms we use.