Erasing blackness

About a month ago I saw a post about Rochelle Humes, who is a mixed race British singer, talk about presenting a documentary which explores why black women are 4x more likely to die from childbirth than white women in the UK. I was happy to see that a documentary was being made about this subject, so it can bring this issue to light. The next day it came out that Candice Brathwaite, a dark skin black British woman was suppose to host a documentary about the same topic, however this was no longer going ahead. Unfortunately, this concept is not new. Mixed race women are usually used as the face of Black women.

Mixed race women are seen as more palatable to the wider white audience due to their proximity to whiteness. I remember being young and watching black sitcoms. I noticed that when there was a black family, the daughter was usually mixed race, however the sons were always unambiguously black. I did find it strange and wondered why they didn't use a black female actor.

The identity of mixed race people varies between cultures. In the UK people who are biracial are called mixed race. In my country of origin, Ghana, most Ghanaians refer to them as Obroni (white person), in South Africa they are referred to as 'colored' and in the USA, due to the racist one drop rule they are classed as black. As someone who was raised in the UK I see them as mixed race, they are both black and white, not just black. I think it's disingenuous to expect mixed race people to ignore half of their DNA and  only claim their black side. I think this is dangerous as it erases monoracial black women. Further, this causes spaces which should be given to black women more likely to be given to those who are of mixed race. An example of this is when Zoe Saldana who is a mixed Latina actress portrayed Nina Simone, a monoracial black singer. They had to darken Zoe's skin, and make her wear prosthetics to give her fuller black features. There was of course a lot of backlash regarding this. There are plenty of black actresses that they could have easily been cast to play Nina Simone.

The average black woman does not look mixed race (though there may be a few that do). When it comes to representation, it is important for black women to see people that look like them that they can identify with. A lot of high achievers that we see that are the "first black X" are usually mixed people. Look at Barack Obama, the first "black" president in the USA, born to a white mother and Kenyan father and was  raised by his white grandparents. If both of his parents were black I doubt he would have have been able to become president. Halle Berry another mixed person, was the first black woman to win an Oscar for best actress. Even looking at Meghan Markle, despite the racism she is going through, if she was a monoracial black woman she would not have been allowed to even marry Prince Harry. It is easier for mixed race people to enter certain spaces than it is for monoracial black people.

Though the experience of mixed race people and black people do overlap a lot , they will never be the same. I do not doubt that a lot of mixed race people have experienced racism like many black people, but they do benefit from colorism unlike darker skinned black people. I cannot tell a mixed person how they should identify because I myself aren't mixed, and I haven't gone through their experiences. They should be able to have their own spaces and black people should also be able to have theirs. We should be able to recognise that we do have our differences but yet  support each other. There are many mixed race people who have made contributions in speaking out against injustice against black people, look at Bob Marley, even in modern times Colin Kapernick has done a lot for the black community and one of my faves is Akala. This post is not about causing division. We live in a patriarchal world which benefits men, do I hate men? No . We can recognise that someone who is different from you has more privilege, it doesn't mean that you hate them or segregate from them. I believe  that those that have certain privileges over others should use their position to help those who have less privilege than them. For example if there is a role for a black person and you are mixed and have been given that role you should speak out and demand that it is given to black person. We still do have a long way to go when it comes to black representation, especially of black women but I do believe we  can make change.