Why is it a half white person is never called white?

[Anonymous]

[WhiteSteve]

My guess would be that, since white-dominated cultures typically seem to treat non-white people differently and worse, in such a society, anyone who isn’t purely white in a broadly observable sense will likely be perceived and treated somewhat (or very) differently, so their life experience is altered by that. So, say if someone achieves something uncommon, like Barack Obama winning the presidency, for example…. the biggest hurdle for him, if we’re being intellectually honest, was that he outwardly presents as a black man in his physical characteristics. Unfortunately, many people care about that, and his detractors went after him for it, whether they said it in so many words or not. So, while it’s a feat for anyone to achieve the office of POTUS, it’s ESPECIALLY an attention worthy feat for Obama to have won in a country with a good amount of racial tensions.

Thats a large-scale example, but the point is that many people see physical characteristics and make suppositions based upon them. If Obama was more sneakily biracial and presented more as a white man in his physical features, it’s probably a footnote, maybe even an obscure one. So, just apply that logic to everyone on a smaller scale, and it’s just talking about your day-to-day life experiences. Some people will make judgements or treat you differently based on your characteristics, and people love to categorize. You can’t possibly mistake me for anything other than a white man. My girlfriend is half-white, half-Puerto Rican, but she presents as a Latina, and she gets treated as such sometimes. It might even be other Latino people being miffed when she doesn’t speak Spanish, it’s not just white people who can do it, but they do represent the majority, or at least the most dominant faction, in America.

I think it will becoming increasingly difficult to maintain as we all continue fucking each other, lmao, but as it stands today, there’s still enough common distinction and white people are still the perceived majority, so “white” is “usual” for now, and anything else gets categorized as “other”, and we all seem to be desperate to know “what ARE you?”, as much as we shouldn’t be asking those questions of each other, haha

[FunkyMonkee]

Been wondering the same thing for decades! If your 99% white, I mean, you glow in the dark, and you have a drop of black blood in you, you're black! But, if you're as black as can be and you have one drop of white blood in you, you're still black!!

[Alli39]

So first, I'm white and am speaking based on what I've heard from mixed race people, not personal experience so just take this with a grain of salt.

Part of it is just an appearance thing. I guess paleness/caucasian looks are recessive. Part of it actually has to do with how people identify. Because the "default identity" in many ways is "white" (at least in the west), when you have any non-white aspect to your identity, people notice the "otherness". People often choose to identify with this "otherness" because it's called out so frequently that they connect to it more (ex. if half the food you eat is traditional to another country, a visitor isn't going to notice the shared eating habits, they're going to notice the foods they're not used to and probably comment on it). People experience differences more strongly than similarities. Some people also identify with their minority status as means of connecting/re-connecting with their ethnic communities. But honestly the identity side is super complicated and sometimes confusing, so I won't try and (badly) explain it any further.

[DizzyDesii]

They are if they’re light enough. I know a lot of mixed people who are solely deemed white OR black based off appearance and their demeanor/personality/actions. Yes it would be better to refer to them as mixed but unfortunately most are not

[DizzyDesii]

Like for the longest, Mariah Carey, KJ Apa, Pete Wentz, Megan Markle, and Halsey were deemed solely white despite being mixed with different stuff

[heyuas]

People like Barack Obama and Halle Berry are half white but their skin looks closer to the brown side so they aren’t considered white by people

[Alexandrubaschet08]

Because at last in my language is a name for that person. "mulatru" that all i can say.
English create many problem in society because its language and poor meaning.

[Anemone978]

I am half Native American and white but I look fully white.. I go as white lol

[CuriousMufuxka]

Because the other color shows. Which would you rather be?

[jshm2]

Because they are mixed, not White.

[gorydetails]

There’s societal cred to be a minority currently.