What makes a person a particular race?

[Lettow77]

 A black person raised in a white area is black. You, raised briefly in a mexican home, are no more mexican than you would be if you stayed there your entire life, and spoke it.

Its biology.

[garbon]

So while a lighter-skinned person can claim a darker race due to culture, it cannot go the other direction?

Not in the least. There is the constant threat of being told that you aren't black enough (which was a good reason for me not to join in on any black events at stanford), which also happens to a fully "black" person of alternate sexuality.

Personally, I don't care what race I am, as long as I'm perceived favorably by whomever is making a racial judgment. So if that means at times, I'm Indian, so be it.

[dps]

What I mean by "raised white" or "raised Hispanic" is that culturally you understand that way of life to be "normal". So, for me, eating rice and beans with tortillas with every meal is "normal", but for my other Welsh/English-Americans, that's "foreign". For a white person to be raised "black" they understand what someone else means when they say that greens and macaroni and cheese are essential for any meal to be complete.

Note: Yes, I completely understand that I'm feeding the stereotypes. I apologize in advance for doing so.

The point I tried to make is that race isn't about what you eat, or what kind of clothes you wear.  Basically, it boils down to your skin color, the type of hair you have, and a few other biological factors.  Those things determine how others view you;  if you look white, people are going to consider you white--if you look white but have dietary habits that aren't perceived as "white" people are going to consider you to be a white person with unusual taste in food, not as a non-white person.  Or, at the risk of, as you put it, feeding the stereotypes, a light-skinned black man can pass as white even if he eats lots of watermelon and fried chicken, but a dark-skinned black man can't pass as white even if he hates watermelon and chicken.

[merithyn]

Your race is your skin colour ( skin colour further divided into things like facial features). Like Garbon said it's mainly a perception of how others see you. A black man from lousiana and a black man from California would have little in common, but both are black.

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

I imagine a child raised by parents of a different race must have it tough in a lot of cases. a black kid raised by white parent, for instance, will no doubt be seen as "black" by his white peers, and "too white" by his black peers.

That's actually where this topic came from. We had a parent with a middle-eastern child, a mixed black/white child, and a full white child, and she wasn't sure what race to put down for any of the children since they were all raised "white" from a white mom.

[Valmy]

Your race is determined by how your particular culture views your phyiscal traits.  A black dude can be culturally white all he wants but he will still be black, and vice versa.

However race is often not that simple.  There are more and more people who are mixed race and they sort of get lumped into the ever increasing pile of 'brownish people of indeterminate origin' which is sorta where I predict most of humanity will end up eventually.

[Admiral Yi]

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

That's because Hispanic and Latino and all those aren't racial categories, they're descriptions of geographic origin.

[Valmy]

that's actually where this topic came from. We had a parent with a middle-eastern child, a mixed black/white child, and a full white child, and she wasn't sure what race to put down for any of the children since they were all raised "white" from a white mom.

What is the context?  I think race in this country is completely self identified.

But if they are applying for a black scholarship or something they probably need to have the right physical traits.

[HVC]

Your race is your skin colour ( skin colour further divided into things like facial features). Like Garbon said it's mainly a perception of how others see you. A black man from lousiana and a black man from California would have little in common, but both are black.

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

Yeah, Hispanics (and i i guese portuguese people) are weird. We run the gambit in colours. So i guess they go sliding scale:

1If you speak Spanglish you're hispanic regardless of skin colour

2 If you don't have an accent you go by colour. dark = black, white = white, and tanned puts you back into hispanic.

[merithyn]

Not in the least. There is the constant threat of being told that you aren't black enough (which was a good reason for me not to join in on any black events at stanford), which also happens to a fully "black" person of alternate sexuality.

Personally, I don't care what race I am, as long as I'm perceived favorably by whomever is making a racial judgment. So if that means at times, I'm Indian, so be it.

I knew you'd have an interesting take on this, as you live this every day.

My principal, a black woman, said  when we had this discussion that what I feel I am is what I am. I feel Mexican, because the most important of my formative years were, in fact, Mexican. And yet, to the outside world, I am white because that's what their eyes tell them I am when they see me. Lately, whenever I fill out paperwork, I've been putting down Hispanic White (as opposed to Non-Hispanic White). It seems more honest, and yet to some, I could see this as being complete bunk.

For our children at the middle school who are mixed and must decide which heritage to pick, it's an entirely different ball of wax. Especially when so many are being raised by their white or black grandparents. Which side do they pick? The side that's raising them? Or the side that determined their skin tone?

[dps]

Your race is your skin colour ( skin colour further divided into things like facial features). Like Garbon said it's mainly a perception of how

That's actually where this topic came from. We had a parent with a middle-eastern child, a mixed black/white child, and a full white child, and she wasn't sure what race to put down for any of the children since they were all raised "white" from a white mom.

Your race is your skin colour ( skin colour further divided into things like facial features). Like Garbon said it's mainly a perception of how others see you. A black man from lousiana and a black man from California would have little in common, but both are black.

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

I imagine a child raised by parents of a different race must have it tough in a lot of cases. a black kid raised by white parent, for instance, will no doubt be seen as "black" by his white peers, and "too white" by his black peers.

That's actually where this topic came from. We had a parent with a middle-eastern child, a mixed black/white child, and a full white child, and she wasn't sure what race to put down for any of the children since they were all raised "white" from a white mom.

To address the second point first, in what context was the parent being asked the race of the children?  I assume it wasn't for the census, since this isn't a census year (and I don't think you're talking about something that happened in 2000), plus the U.S Census now includes a mixed-race option.

As to the first point, "Mexican" isn't a race.  It's a nationality.  There isn't any such thing as being "biologically Mexican" as there is a way to tell from their DNA if someone is a Canadian citizen.

[Sheilbh]

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

That's because Hispanic and Latino and all those aren't racial categories, they're descriptions of geographic origin.

Yeah the Hispanic and Latino thing confuses me.  Hispanic is a sub-category of white in this country (and I think it will become one in the US too), it's an ethnic-national background thing here, not at all to do with race.

I wonder if the difference is because of the larger numbers of mixed Hispanic-native in countries that have lots of emigrants to the US, like Mexico.

[merithyn]

What is the context?  I think race in this country is completely self identified.

But if they are applying for a black scholarship or something they probably need to have the right physical traits.

In our school district, a child must pick a race - a single race - when they register for school. "Other" is not an option, neither is "mixed race". So, in order to register for school, the parents much choose a race. If one is not chosen, the default is "white".

[garbon]

Your race is your skin colour ( skin colour further divided into things like facial features). Like Garbon said it's mainly a perception of how others see you. A black man from lousiana and a black man from California would have little in common, but both are black.

I imagine a child raised by parents of a different race must have it tough in a lot of cases. a black kid raised by white parent, for instance, will no doubt be seen as "black" by his white peers, and "too white" by his black peers. 

It isn't simple though, as people's perceptions don't always align with one's racial background. I'm quite a testament to that.

[dps]

Dang, there's been a lot of quick replys in this thread. 

Also, the quoting still sucks here.   

[dps]

This doesn't work very well. I have cousins who are as pale as I am, but are biologically Mexican. At the same time, I know a woman who is dark skinned, black hair, and dark brown eyes, looking for all the world Hispanic, and yet is white.

That's because Hispanic and Latino and all those aren't racial categories, they're descriptions of geographic origin.

Yeah the Hispanic and Latino thing confuses me.  Hispanic is a sub-category of white in this country (and I think it will become one in the US too), it's an ethnic-national background thing here, not at all to do with race.

I wonder if the difference is because of the larger numbers of mixed Hispanic-native in countries that have lots of emigrants to the US, like Mexico.

The use of "Hispanic" as a racial classification in the U.S. is the result of politicians trying to suck up to voters with a Latin-American background.