Comments on: KARYN PARSONS:IT’S HARD BEING BIRACIAL IN AMERICA/RAISING BIRACIAL KIDS

By: S.B.

S.B. — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:44:15 +0000

This is by far the dumbest thing ever. Children at such a young age do not fully grasp the complexity and concept of race. This has been shown in numerous studies and it has also been shown that the more you influence children to cross identify their personality with their race the more race conscious they are when they get older. This is why Bi-Racial people often fill ostracized from society. Karyn is doing a disservice to the mental health of her children by shoving down their throats what she calls “heritage” and not only that, but “black heritage”. I didn’t see any mention of her letting them watch videos of “white heritage”. Does she assume that because she has children that look white they will automatically claim that identity? If anything, feeding them Black History Month will only accomplish the fact that they’ll most likely choose to refer to themselves as one race: black. Children are not aware of racial differences at that age, they recognize colors and they normally associate them with a metonymy such as chocolate or vanilla, not black or white. If she wants to teach them about their diverse background she’s doing a horrible job at it. It just sounds as if Karyn has a hard time feeling accepted herself when “acceptance” should not be at the top of her priorities. Obviously her parents brought up race way to often their household when she was a child. Instilling race relations in her children before their brains have even developed fully enough to comprehend such a topic will only do more damage than good. When they’re old enough (around 9-12) she should really focus on teaching them about both sides of their ethnic backgrounds and not about the color of their skin.
Race is only a social concept, ethnicity is a heritage and that they are one of two racial backgrounds, not one or the other. She should also teach them that race does not define who they are, but the content of their character does to insure that these two children are not consumed with “racial identity”

I recommend “I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla” written by a Psychologist by the name of Margaret Wright. She goes into further detail about this.

By: Negotiate It

Negotiate It — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:01:29 +0000

You sound stupid with that not a lot of white people owned slaves crap. Thats just as stupid as saying black people wanted to be brought here. Read a book honey. A real book without the pictures in it.

By: Negotiate It

Negotiate It — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:58:13 +0000

Did you really just say mulatto? Let me give you a history on that my uneducated dear. It comes from the spanish term Mulato and Mulo meaning a Mule. A mule is something from a male donkey and a female horse that is usually sterile. Biracial people are not sterile and that term was used to define us as less than human after having our black mothers raped by white men. So think about those racist terms before you start throwing them out like that. Mulatto is so not necessary anymore. The kid is biracial with light skin. Get the heck over it. The girl and boy both have strong “african” features so she can never deny their race even if she wanted to. Get over this race thing people it’s really not that important. Everyone is just showing how ignorant they are even with all the knowledge and research out there people still choose to say such stupid things and make everything a big deal. GET OVER IT LITTLE CHILDREN! Its like being on a darn playground with kids picking on others due to insecurites. You’re darker you’re too light….shut up and play nice you babies! It is both amazing and catastrophic that people still see these things as a big deal. Let us be ourselves and stop asking “what are you?”. We’re people not mules! You should be sterilized so you can’t produce more stupid into the world.

By: Michaela

Michaela — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:45:50 +0000

I can’t believe you used the term Negroid! Racist pig I dont care what race you are. Karyn really needs to get over it. Im biracial and its not that big of a deal if you dont make it one. Sure I have had problems with black people but have also had problems with white people. True its harder for us to identify ourselves but we just need to say hey I’m a person thats all that you need to know. People are going to judge you either way. Be black and white and proud. Get the hell over it.

By: know it all

know it all — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:26:16 +0000

Her daughter is a mulatto. Karyn is in denial about her daughter; she thinks her white skin is due to white in her heritage. No way! It’s quite obvious from the picture. The eyes and the hair color are dead giveaways. Karyn should take her daughter to be tested. Mulattoes need medical care because their eyes and skin are sensitive to sunlight. I surprised the folks didn’t pick up on this instead of sniping at each other.

By: JennaDaniele

JennaDaniele — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:24:38 +0000

LoL Lakewview Terrace, are you serious? Watch Guess Who, Something New, Crash, the Bodyguard, Save the Last Dance, Avatar even…come on people, lets advance please.

By: tinkerbell511

tinkerbell511 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

I cannot agree with all you are saying. I am a black women, and I both parents are black also. Of ourse there is a little mixing going through my family line. My father’s mom was American Indian, from the North Carolinas, here is where she met my African American grandfather. My mothers father and mother both were black, but my grandfather was a stern dark skinned 6feet plus male, and my grandmother was very lite skinned with red hair, green eyes, and freckles. The combination in our family made lite skinned, long straight hair, shor curly hair, thick long and short hair. Some eyes are green, some are light brown and hazel and one of my brothers eyes are blue. I myself, am a light brown even though most of my friends say you are light skinned girl, my eyes are a light brown, and my hair although now relaxed was a cross between thick and long at one time with some fine areas. My mom is light brown and has brown eyes, my father also a litle darker brown with very pretty light brown eyes. I would guess I would have to identify with my fathers American Indian side more than my mothers side of light skinned, red hair and green eyes. I would say this because seeing pictures only of my fathers mother she was short just like myself, and she had dark full hair, and brown eyes. The only dfference the complexion. I was just giving a little background, and trying to make a point als. Even though om not sure what race mixed with my mothers family, I’m sure it is some kind of white background. So people although they do not aknowlegde it or look like it may clearlyu be mixed in some kind of way. I have many different races in my family genes, but I might like look like i do, and neither did some of my friends. My sister also look like me and appeared to be black, but because she had longer hair she got her hair pulled. Her friend a white girl got her hair pulled everyday too, and they became best friends until this day. So just makin a point just because you got your hair pulled isn’t because your hair was very nice. Some kids are just mean. And people of all races and colors get their hair pulled. Good luck on your road to discovering life, and dont be so quick to judge another race, as we are all somehow one race.

By: dee

dee — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:08:39 +0000

it depends where you come from. I’m black and my best friend is white, we have no issues, our family have no issues.

By: John

John — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:40:55 +0000

You racist thing. The kids are blonde and blue eyed. They cant be black. What tribe in West Africa looks like them. Come on. They will never fit into the black community because they are not black. Neither is mom. Get over it. You people are desperate to swallow alive anyone who has any black in them. Get a life.

By: Serenity

Serenity — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:21:13 +0000

Well I personally think that I can’t really idenitfy with either race black or white . Most people question what i am because i have big blue eyes with black hair and light carmel skin. Whenever i come in contact with white people im the exotic looking mixed girl with blue eyes and considered white because i don’t look black. With black people im the mixed girl not black girl with pretty eyes.
I always tell people im mixed white and black but some don’t believe me mostly 70% of the black people i come in contact with. I think it’s crazy and then people look at my brother and call him truly black because he is tanner than me even though his eyes are grey. So what if i want to be mixed do i really have to pick i have the best of both genes.