HBHM: On Half-Blackness and Halle Berry

Half-Black History Month Continues...

I was over the (half) moon to see a well-rounded feature in the Times recently about the decision by many young bi- and multi-racial Americans to define themselves as such.

Many young adults of mixed backgrounds are rejecting the color lines that have defined Americans for generations in favor of a much more fluid sense of identity... “It depends on the day, and it depends on the options.” They are also using the strength in their growing numbers to affirm roots that were once portrayed as tragic or pitiable. “I think it’s really important to acknowledge who you are and everything that makes you that. If someone tries to call me black I say, ‘yes — and white.’ People have the right not to acknowledge everything, but don’t do it because society tells you that you can’t.”

I feel incredibly strongly about this -- unlike Halle Berry (I know, you thought we were exactly the same, but it's really just exterior), I do not buy into the one-drop rule that one black ancestor means I must define myself and my experience as African-American.  That's about as genuine as Michelle Obama identifying as white since she has white ancestors; her life experience has probably been lived as a black woman regardless of her genetic history.

One of my clients right now is a transman who has written a rock memoir (yes, that's my term, go marketing!) about his life and transition from female to male.  It's been a huge eye-opener for me.  I can't imagine being born into the wrong body, an identity that I couldn't embrace... and yet, I identify heavily with his story, as throughout my life I have been, and always will be, confronted by people and situations that want to tell me how I "should" identify, which box I should check.  Identity, ideally, should be something that is self-determined, and the rest of the world should accept it and carry on.  It feels insincere for me to say I'm black because that ignores a huge part of what has shaped me, but on the other side of the oreo, saying I'm white certainly doesn't tell the whole story either. So it is fine with me if Halle identifies as black, but I hope as time goes on, she lets her (quarter-black) daughter define herself.