Our identity as Black people has been significantly influenced by
mythical traditions which have shaped our thinking and our lives.
For instance, since I was a young boy I have heard the phrase, “One
drop of Black blood makes you Black”. And it is easy to think of many
other myths with vivid word pictures that support racism Within our own
struggle, like the statement, “If you’re yellow, you’re mellow; if
you’re brown, stick around; if you’re Black, get back.” The idea that
there is some hidden genealogy that validates the existence of a pure
race give credence to degrading terms such as “mulatto,” which compares
human beings to mules.
There was a good reason Black blood myths originated: Slave holders
wanted to insure that anyone with Black ancestry would be enslaved.
Caste systems have long outlived their usefulness and, without a doubt,
most of these little mythical sketches of “house and field Negroes”
remain effective in causing divisions among ourselves and some of our
allied ethnic groups.
Generally, public institutions use six categories to identify groups
of people: African American, Native American, Caucasian, Hispanic,
Asian, and Other. In the past fifty years, we of African descent have
shaped our identity from Negro and Colored, to Black and African
American. If we are diligent, someday all of these categories will
disappear.
As a matter of fact, like mulatto, all assigned categories are
dehumanizing. They are rudimentary classifications of us as humans,
placed in a box. The fact of the matter is that no two people in this
world are the same. In effect, every human being is a race.
These days we are faced with a challenge of accepting or rejecting
yet another racial category defined as “Multiracial.” As always, these
categories require us, as a nation of people, to racially and
ethnically identify ourselves. These insidious racial groupings affect
all of us in many ways because institutionalized ethnic classifications
involve the distribution of political power and money.
Psychologically, most Black people identify with the Africans
brought to America as slaves and will like myself mark the racial
category “African American.”
