The Finale
Here are the final guesses on Katie Burrell’s ethnic background as of Sunday, June 13th, 2010:
- White/Black 31.3%
- Hispanic/Black 11.1%
- Arabic/Black 10.1%
- Asian/Black 8.1%
- None of the Above 18.2%
- I Don’t Know 21.2%
- Katie and her father!
- Katie Burrell in Her Own Words -
I’m half Arab and half Black. I live in the desert southwest so it’s predominately Latino/Hispanic. When people find out I’m not Mexican but Black and Arab, they treat me differently instantly because they said I lied’ to them. Honestly, it’s whatever.
When you’re not accepted by the Black community because your hair isn’t apparently ‘nappy’ enough (my own grandmother says I got Puerto Rican hair) and the Arab community says you’re not full Arab, it’s like you’re in between. It’s hard to mix my life and friends because they are so different.
When I’m with my family I feel normal. I feel more at home with Black folks rather than White or Arab, just because I do. People say I act like I’m Black then when I tell them I am, um…they’re shocked to say the least.
I’d say it’s about finding your own identity. We cannot define ourselves by the stereotypes in our culture, that gets us nowhere. No one can act or talk Black or White or Green or Yellow, it’s just how we perceive it. Like half of my family thinks I’m being White because I have an education and an honest job. All that means is that they have set the bar low for themselves and they think success means they’ll lose who they are. It’s actually the opposite, success defines the path in which you’ll go and so does failure.
There you have it! Katie’s ethnic background is Black and Arabic. I would have never guessed correctly myself if I didn’t already know the answer. It just goes to show you that you definitely should not judge a book by its cover.
Black people are not literally black. I know a Black woman with blue eyes, I recently saw an image of a Haitian child with blonde hair, and actor Harold Perrineau (who is married to a White woman) has two daughters and the youngest looks more like him and the oldest looks a lot like the mom. I can also recall a time when many people had no idea that Mariah Carey was Black or that Halle Berry has a White mother!
It’s a crap shoot people, and that’s the beauty of it. You never know what you’re gonna get, but you can rest assured that whatever you get it will be part of the human race.
- Dangerous Lee and her daughter, Senia.
Update – December 15, 2011
On this day, Paris Jackson appeared on the Ellen show as a guest to promote a book and film project that she will be appearing in titled, “Lundon’s Bridge: and The Three Keys”. She as well as her brothers are in the spotlight more than ever and tongues are also wagging more than ever about whether or not they are Michael Jackson’s biological children.
Look at these two images:
Still don’t think Michael fathered Paris and her siblings? That’s your problem, but here’s something else; Paris is an avid tweeter on Twitter and when someone tried to call her out as being White she promptly came back stating that she’s “mixed”. So, there ya have it folks, Paris and I’m sure Prince as well as Blanket are very aware of what they are and who their biological father is.
[...] Click here for the finale of The Half Series. [...]
Interesting series. I love that you’ve been addressing this issue. I’m bi-racial (a “black Indian”) and I’ve had my own experiences, similar to Katie. I’ll never forget the time years ago when I made friends with someone who must of thought I was Hispanic or Middle Eastern, and when she found out I was black, she stopped talking to me. Also had a girl in college I asked out on a date (she was white) and actually asked me if I had any white in me because her father wouldn’t approve of her going out with me if I wasn’t at least some part white.
Thanks for reading and enjoying. It’s a damn shame how some people delete others from our lives simply based on color or ethnicity. They’re missing out.
I, myself, think all this fuss about race is just bunch of unnecessary nonse. Why worry so much about what the outside looks like? I know I’m of an age (67) and a race(white), that frequently has problems with someones skin color, and I can’t quite understand it. If my parents were still alive, they wouldn’t either. I have always had friends (and yes, relatives), of every color. At the present time one of my sons is married to a woman from Guyana, they have 3 beautiful kids. Do I love them any less? My husband of 30 years was 3/4 black ,1/4 Cherokee, but I always delighted in telling people that his blood type and mine AND my father’s (who was of Scotch and English descent) were all the same. And our daughter, with a white-black-Cherokee heritage, looks Hispanic. So, again, why all the fuss? God made us all– that’s all that should count.
Thank you very much for this article! ( all 3 parts). I am a woman with a Jewish father and a half-Japanese, half-Black mother. My whole life I have been dealing with others telling me what I am, and trying to figure that out for myself. Growing up people would always think that my mom wasn’t my mom, and be surprised that I am a different color than her. It’s refreshing to read your article because I feel like you understand the complexity of being mixed, but also the ridiculousness of people’s expectations. I look white, and therefore could “pass” as white, and have in the past, but I am becoming more and more happy and proud about my multi-cultural background.
Thanks so much for reading and enjoying this series. I am happy to hear that you are becoming happy with yourself, and you should be!
This is the first time I’ve ever visited your blog, but girl…you are amazing!
I am Black, White, and Native American, though I often get mistaken for Hispanic/Latino. I, too, have what Katie grandmother called “Puerto Rican hair”. My sister does not. I took after mom and she took after dad. Couple that with the fact that I am married to and have a child with a White man, and you have the perfect recipe for instant stares.
My daughter is gorgeous: her eyes are jade, her hair corkscrews of cinnamon, her skin a perfect cafe’ au lait. This was not always the case. When she was an infant, we would get stares everywhere we went. I chalked it up to the fact that I live in a smallish city in the Midwest, but I was forever changed by the words of well and otherwise intentioned passersby who commented on how much she looked like her daddy just because she was fair complected, had straight blonde hair, and light eyes. She doesn’t. She looks just like me. Not until her ringlets began to take shape did anyone even consider she might be “mixed”; they all thought I was taking care of his kid. Oh sweet irony!
Thank you for your humor, wit, and intellect. I am now going to subscribe!
Hey Kyla! Thanks so much for subscribing and you’re a doll for saying I am amazing, so are you. I enjoyed reading your experience and hearing about your daughter. Have a great holiday
[...] The Half Series: When Black People Look White #3 June 2010 8 comments [...]
This was a really fascinating read, thank you.
Thanks for reading
Nice story/perspective/ experience. i voted she was Arabic /black bc i have dated Arabic and am a pretty good seer of this. My kids are black with many mixed ethnicity is but we all look black. except when my oldest was a baby most thought she was the granddaughter of our phillipina nanny or I was her nanny! sad to think that I would get scoffs and glares because most people ( black) thought that I had a baby by a white man—and so what if i did-which i didn’t but you get me…. hah!
best to you!
I really love your blog! I’ve had to deal with this issue all of my life..I am from New Orleans and mixed black, white, french creole. Most people think I’m white, and I know that I do look white. I grew up in a black neighborhood in New Orleans, attended black schools in the 50s’ and 60s’ and always considered myself black as that is what my experience was. My first husband was black and we had a son who looks more black than anything else. He’s now 31 years old and thank God, he’s colorblind.
Fast forward to my second marriage to a white man. I am often put-off by the racist comments some white folks make around me when they don’t know my heritage. A lot of whites, unfortunately, think all blacks are ghetto and thuggish and that really upsets me. I think this is because some whites only have awareness of the black culture through watching Jerry Springer, Maury, seeing black gang-bangers on the news, etc. — all of which exploit the black stereotype.
Thanks for the forum to express this!
Thanks for reading and enjoying this series. I appreciate your comments and sharing your experiences!
Thanks for the insight. I teach in the city of St. Louis, and I have kids of every imaginable ethnic and race group. I am all European. My mother is a refugee from WWII Austria, and my dad’s side is Irish and English.I learned from your insight and experience. I have a student who by all appearances is white, but is not. I was just worried about him, and you guys gave me an understanding of what his life is like. It sounds like he will be just fine. He’s got an amazing pesonality, very funny, and kind. He is pretty smart too! I’m still trying to learn other cultures. Thank God for the internet!
Thanks for reading and I’m glad this was of some help to you.
Loved the article, I found some comfort in it and am excited to show it to my daughter. She is white and four months ago gave birth to a beautiful daughter. The baby’s father is black and medium skinned. The child is very fair skinned with golden brown hair and slate gray/blue eyes. My daughter is going through alot currently as her boyfriend’s friends and relatives don’t believe he is the biological father because the child ” looks too white” She has been asking the baby’s pediatrician during every visit when the baby will get her “color”. I love that the article stresses the insignificance of color. Her girl needs to be loved and accepted for who she is and not whether she is black enough looking for the concerned relatives.
I’m so sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this with the father of her child’s family. Thats’ sick! Thanks for reading and sharing this article.
Just found this site. Love this series.
There is one race – human. Everything else is just some man-made idiocy.
I’ve always said God must either laugh or weep over our sectarian differences. I believe he feels the same way about our “racial” prejudices.
Thanks so much and I agree
My children are gonna be biracial… I’m pretty sure of that. I do think times are changing in the Netherlands, there are so many mixed children already and in a few years time when I hope to have children that won’t be any different.
I understand that as a parent you don’t always have the influence on the life of your children you want or the way they feel. But feelings of not belonging to a certain group can take place regardless of your etnicity or the colour of your skin. It’s part of the general human condition. Culturally I differ from other “white” Dutch people which brings with a sense of not belonging, but I’ll see if it’s different for biracial children in the future if the future holds for me to be a father.
Thanks for reading and stopping by the website to share your thoughts.
Amazing blog. Race is something that shouldn’t matter but unfortunately mankind has made it so it does :/ . Hopefully in the far future we’ll evolve to the point where its no longer relevant.
I doubt that there will ever truly be a time when color is not an issue, but I hope we can evolve as well. Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.