People Of Color

I am not sure what you are looking for in response? Were you accused of being a racist and feel the need to rebut the accusation with your topic? As for skin color I have three bi-racial great-grandsons the mother is white and the father is black and all three boy each have a different skin color tone. From very dark to very light so it is pretty obvious that the family genes are paramount in the resulting skin color of the children. In my family it is first generation but it can also show again in mixed races from generations ago.

I lived in southern and central Africa for 14 years and experienced and observed all sorts of racial experiences both good and bad from people of all shades. The main thing was that you worked together and you got along together, no matter what the politicians had to say. All normal humans are like that - you cannot waste energy being 'at war' with one group all the time. It is just silly. But it was very clear that black Africans did not get on with people from the Indian sub-continent (who were the crucial local business infrastructure) and both those groups did not get on with the Coloureds as people of mixed race were called. I found that all groups trusted me and expected me to be fair and honest simply because I was white. However, the biggest social segregation was between the various African tribes themselves where a mixed marriage was almost unheard of and old scores ran hundreds of years deep, long before the white, yellow or brown man set foot on the continent. The root cause of a lot of trouble there and no 'quick-fix' that I can see. My helmet is secured! 'Fire in the hole!!' haha

I think that it is true that people who have both African (or any other typically dark-skinned)heritage and European heritage might tend to have a lighter shade of skin than those whose heritage is entirely dark-skinned. But the shade of skin color actually may have more to do with what geographical area a person's ancestors came from. Skin pigmentation is an adaptation to sun exposure. Populations living in areas with a lot of sun and heat (like Africa, for example) tend to have dark skin because dark skin protects the body against too much UV exposure. However, in regions with less sunlight, people tend to be lighter-skinned so that they can absorb enough sunlight for their bodies to make vitamin D. So the skin color that a person inherits may be as much a result of where their ancestors lived a long time ago as what color skin their parents have.

Hey cats! I don't exactly know if there is a question here somewhere or not? I am not one to answer this anyway! I am as white as can be, until I get some more sun anyway! Don't start throwing stuff at me either! I am extremely pale too! Now, my boyfriend, however is as dark as night! And I so love him! We have no color issues! We don't care who stares at us, who talks about us or whatever! We are a mixed race couple and anyone that doesn't like it can kiss our azzes! We don't need anyones approval, not even family! That is that! As long as we are happy together that is all that matters!

I have nothing against the black or the whites, everyone can be a friend regardless of the color. Maybe this is a joke in our country as we are brown complexion. According to hearsays or anecdotes when God created the people, He made half cooked with the whites while overcooked with the blacks and fairly cooked with the people with brown complexion. Am sorry just to have a little sense of humor, hope this is not offending to God and to other people. All I want is to join the discussion with a little joke.

LOL... your helmet. Ok first off I wasn't offended by the question and I think it is an interesting question at that. I am mixed myself, my mom was white and my dad is half black. So I guess that makes me 3/4 white and 1/4 black? Not really sure, I just say half and half to avoid major confusion. I have heard from black people that they "fade im the sun". At first I thought it was a joke but others have said the same thing. I don't know how true it is but maybe this has something to do with some. I never grew up knowing my dad until I turned 17 so I really don't know much about my background (only 28 now). I dont want to sound like a jerk or anything but I think what you say in a way makes sense. I have always wondered myself why there are different shades of black among pure black people. I know my reasoning is because there clearly is white in me. Hopefully I didn't say something wrong in my post, if I am offending anyone you may as well say I insulted myself too!

I don't know for sure the answer to your question. But I can say that no one should be offended by anything you said. I do know that people of all races do have different shades of skin color. I have Indian blood too and I am a pale face. I think for most of us, if we go way back, we have mixed blood. Who can really go way back beyond just a few generations, that would be hard to do.

It is not necessarily because of intermarriage, but is because of the different amounts of melanin in their skin, just as some caucasian people have pink cheeks and freckles and others have olive skin and others can tan, but some cannot. Yes, intermarriage can result in a variety of skin tones, but even intermarriage among tribes and people groups can do the same. I thought Lincoln had no slaves. It was Thomas Jefferson that many people have made such a big deal about sleeping with his slave women. I could be wrong and will research it later.

I think the different shades of skin color has everything to do with ancestry, but what do I know?? I'm responding to your feelings about posting this with minimal offensiveness. Don't worry so much. People are easily offended because they CAN be, NOT because they actually ARE. No BS. People with insecurities are also easily offended. Even without the beginning explanation on how you are not trying to offend anyone, I didn't feel like you were going for an offensive discussion. It seemed to me that you were just expressing your curiosity on a subject you encountered. When people tell a joke or make a comment, it's because they can. I've told several offensive jokes, especially jokes that deal with the stupidity of PEOPLE. People in general are fun to make fun of. If I'm making a joke about a race, no one should be offended. If I'm making a joke about a specific PERSON, then only that person should be offended. I don't get offended when people tell jokes about white people, or Germans, or women, which I am all 3. People get easily offended because they need something to complain about. I am certainly NOT prejudice. I have friends and family of a lot of different backgrounds, and I make fun of them all equally. I mean no hurt feelings, and I don't ever tell seriously offensive jokes, I don't ever try to outright demean someone, but give it a rest. Jokes I tell are meant to be just that, jokes. I tell plenty of jokes and make plenty of comments (in jest) about my own race, religion, or whatever, so I think I'm even with anyone I MAY have offended. Blonde jokes are my favorite, and blondes come in many nationalities. Now maybe I should get my helmet on???!!!

You know honey that sounds as though it is really quite logical! Having said that white people come in all different shades and I think that is the same with coloured people so would perhaps come into it too! To be perfectly honest though I am not sure and only going by what sounds right to me! I think I will have to go read some other responses and educate me too! xxx

Can I first clarify that Abraham Lincoln never owned slaves. His wife Mary Todd came from a slave-owning family in Kentucky. However, most of our founding fathers did. I would venture to say that many of the dark skinned people who descended from former slaves, were likely to have some white genetics mixed in. Slave owners being with their female slaves was a common thing back then. Many babies were born from those unfortunate encounters. Africans may appear to have different skin tones also. The problem there is, how many white colonists from Europe came to Africa and had babies with the natives over the past 500 years. England, Denmark, France,and Spain were big on colonizing everything in our recent history. Unless there was DNA testing to see where ancestry came from, we will never know for certain of heritage. As it stands now in the USA and in many countries around the world, mating between people of different skin tones, eye colors, hair colors, and nationalities cause such an array of different genetic features, that it is hard to call anyone any one heritage. I myself am quite a European mutt, mixed with a little bit of Native American. My kids are even worse, because my husband comes from several different nationalities too. My kids are like a little bit of everything. Our breeding habits are no longer segmented to one race or another. People are blending their genetic make ups and creating all new generations of diverse people. Without having a limited supply of possible breeders, we can expand our genetic diversity so much, that we will ultimately undergo an evolutionary change in humanity. We will become stronger, more adaptable, and better. So you do have it mostly right. Skin color is pretty much the same as eye color in the genetic lottery. Sometimes the DNA says lighter, other times it combines to make someone darker. You could have two people who appear to be white, but are each 1/8 dark skin, they could ultimately have a pitch black child, though it is less likely, it could happen. They could also have a blond haired, blue eyed child too, it just depends on which strands of chromosomes match up.

Yes that is true,some were down the line their race has been mixed. My niece is half white and black. Her mother was white with very light skin but my niece a dark brown, and I think that her children could ether be lighter or darker than her when she has one,depending on which race she will have a baby by with. I hope this makes since, I'm trying to explain but I don't know how good of a job that I'm doing.

I've never even thought of the skin color and what genes and everything else. I go back and fourth with the inter-racial relationships thing. Anymore it just depends on where you live as to what you'll accept. I live in the mountains of PA where you could literally count the number of "non whites" on your hands... and everyone gets all rawled up when they see a black or asian or hispanic and of course no one has anything nice to say... and I often think "why the hell did they move here of all places... don't they know what they're doing to themselves?" But I'm also originally fromt he city where you see it all the time. I say in the end... who cares what I think or my twisted hillbilly neighbor thinks down the road... do what makes you happy. Be with who makes you smile and with someone who loves you for you... not for your money or skin tone or anything else.

I think that people who are ignorant place to much thought on race. I dont see how they can consider oyu being racists with the questions you are asking it's not like you are disrespecting thers people. I for one could be considered a woman of colors lol. All of my childern are mixed. I have two boys who are mixed black and white and my youngest kids another boy and two girls are mexican and white. Lol as for the skin tone on others it just depends on their hertiatage and where they are from. All of my kids are darker skin toned than me since i am white and my nationality is all the lite skin tone etinics. The only one of my kids light skinned is my youngest boy he is 5 and has my skin tone. People need to learn to love other people regardless of thei skin tone and want to get to know them to find out what kind of person experience they had had the we can learn from.