HALLE: “I FEEL LIKE NAHLA IS BLACK”
Halle Berry has admitted that she considers her daughter to be black. Berry says in the latest issue of Ebony magazine, “I feel like she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory.”
But Halle adds that Nahla, who has white heritage on both of her parents’ side, will have to choose how she identifies herself when she gets a little older.
“What I think is that that’s something she’s going to have to decide. I’m not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that’s what she’s going to have to decide – how she identifies herself in the world. And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That’s how I identified myself. But I feel like she’s black.”
Halle also speaks of interracial relationships in the issue and says, “Well,first thing I want to say is that I’m very connected to my community and I want black people to know that I haven’t abandoned them because I’ve had a child with a man outside of my race and I’m dating someone now outside of my race who is Spanish and French. I have never been more clear about who I am as a black woman. The people I have dated sort of hold up a mirror to me and help me realize more of who I really am.”
Halle is currently embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her ex, Gabriel Aubry.
Halle covers Ebony
161 Comments to “HALLE: “I FEEL LIKE NAHLA IS BLACK””
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No they haven’t. You still got through.
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And so did you, so troll harder.
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Right, khai/sillyMe. We both are still accepted and printed, so it’s a moot point, troll.
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Halle Berry is so annoying ” I’m very connected with my community” what community the rich one?? I never hear about Halle doing a got damn thing for the Black community. I’m so tired of this one drop makes you black bs because it dont. Bottom line Halle is black and white call it what it is, her daughter is black and white and that’s what it is. I don’t know why Halle tries to make herself seem like shes so damn black like shes got something to prove You mixed girl and nobody cares and that’s just what it is.
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April you are sooo right!
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of course, Halle is black and will give her child a good self image concerning her race and culture.
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Halle motivates me to work out. Race does not exist – its an insane abstraction created by human beings with cruel intentions many years ago. We are different phenotypically of course, but race itself and its product – racism is a mental virus (insanity) coursing through humanity.
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I agree with you 100%. The only reason the “one drop-rule” was created, was to prevent the children of slaves from inheriting property from their fathers. That is it. Nothing else.
And Halle is so desperate for Black approval she would say anything, no matter how ridiculous. I don’t think she was ever really attracted to BM, because every man she dated/married previously was obviously mixed too. She wanted a White man from the jump, but didn’t want to piss BM off. Now that she’s grown up, she’s tired of pretending and just tells people what she thinks they want to hear, but does as she pleases. I think she would set a better example for BW if she just told the truth.
I know she once said she was physically attacked by BGs at school because she’s mixed, and decided that if she were Black-er, so to speak, she would be accepted. Maybe that’s why she feels the need to kiss up to Black people and is now using her daughter to do it. Very sad.
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Halle Berry need to go sit down. She shouldn’t decide what her daughter consider herself and I think the only reason why she bring up the ‘one black theory’ is bc she trying to turn Nahla aganist Gabriel. Allow Nahla to acknowlege her French-Canadian and English side. I think people should be proud of all of what there made of. I hope Gabriel get primary custody, if Halle is trying to turn their daughter aganist him.
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Why cant she keep race out of it? It just didnt work thats all its nothiing to do with race. Halle is not black she is of mixed race and i am soo tired of her always trying to proove she’s black…her poor white mother that raised her must feel so insignificant because she keeps trying to identify with her balck side and totalloy ignoring the other…sad!
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Exactly! And to top it off, her father gave the family nothing but abuse. She’s admitted that he’s never done a damn thing for her. The reason she’s so screwed up about men and romantic relationships is him. But she needs all of Black-America to accept her and her personal choices? SMH.
Her mother was there to love and support her in ALL ways when no Black person, even the one who helped create her, was! She needs therapy! And she needs to stop discounting her mother. Halle is very lucky! I know a LOT of mixed women with crazy, racist mothers who treated them like something they scraped off their shoes.
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Although Nahla is mixed with black, Her white heritage is more dominant.
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Agreed. Nahla could pass for white. She does not look typically black, at all. Those who say she does have a very different perspective of black. Anyway, what is Black? What is White? We are all ONE – HUMAN. We are all the same, we are all equal no matter what color the package is. Nahla does have more european in her than african, that is totally obvious. People, WAKE UP —Racism is an evil creation devised to divide and cause hate among the human race. Why should Halle divide her family like this over race???? How pointless. DON’T fall victim to this insidious thought process!
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So sick of Halle and how she is playing out everything in the media. I’ve never seen her in the black community doing any kind of community service, NEVER. She needs to put her money where her mouth is or keep it shut.
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NAHLA DOESN’T LOOK WHITE. SHE LOOKS MIXED. MOST PEOPLE WOULD PROBABLY THINK THAT SHE IS PUERTO RICAN OR HISPANIC IF THEY SAW HER AND DIDN’T KNOW WHO SHE WAS. NAHLA SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BI-RACIAL. SHE DOESN’T LOOK WHITE AND WILL NEVER BE CONSIDERED TO BE WHITE. END OF STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET’S JUST HOPE THAT SHE GROWS UP TO BE A HEALTHY PERSON BVOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.
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NAHLA DOESN’T LOOK WHITE. IF MOST PEOPLE SAW HER AND THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHO SHE WAS THEY WOULD PROBABLY THINK THAT SHE WAS A LATINA. YES SHE HAS A MOTHER WHO IS PART WHITE AND A WHITE FATHER BUT SHE WILL NEVER BE CONSIDERED TO BE WHITE. TO MOST SHE WILL JUST BE A MULTIRACIAL PERSON. END OF STORY!!!!!!!!!
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I feel bad for Nahla. Every girl needs their father in their life and Halle is basically trying to make sure that Nahla doesnt have that. They need to agree on joint custody so that beautiful little girl can see/be with both parents. Halle needs to wake up. Shes HALF black and HALF white. If it wasnt for her mother, who I assume is to be white, then she wouldnt be here.
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OMG HALLE>>>REALLY u r getting weirder by the day
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U know I’ve been behind Halle from day one but damn r u serious Halle is really losing her damn mind. The first comment says it all she is nutty as a damn fruit cake something is wrong
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I think it is easier for some mixed people to drop one and identify themselves and one whole race…..and usually they go with the race closer to the color they physically are….you all may have a problem with what Halle says….but that usually is the case…..it’s easier to feel a part of one race than both…..but saying so….she still knows she mixed!My mother is mixed and looks mixed….my father black….im brown-skinned….but my son came out looking white because his father was mixed as well….I consider hin black….but people always question his race and asks if he has a white father because of my complexion….in my family many races exist because of all the indivuals chose different ways to idenitfy themselves…it sucks…but whatever makes it easier to cope in society for that person is what should be done.
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She looks like a black child to me I think her white heritage is less dominant.
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Halle has always identified herself as black….and she has lots of orginazations for kids,diabetes, and the community….research before you dumb a**es run your mouth…..what do you do for your community?….btw:I do tons for mine!
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These comments are less about Halle than the people making them. People simply project their own fears, attitudes and mind sets on to Ms. Berry. Halle has succeeded in one of the most racist institutions in the US. Why are you questioning how she feels? Have you walked in her shoes? Talking about race has always made people uncomfortable and folks need to look in the mirror instead of attacking Halle for making them squirm
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Nahla is as much black as Malia and Sasha Obama are white.
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I thought this article was a ‘parody’ when I first read it… I can’t believe it’s real
First of all, I never got the sense that Halle had much “Black pride”
She comes off as ‘I call myself Black because that’s what I look like, that’s what people see me as and my mom made me do it” type of person and not like prideful because she is apart of the wonderful, strong, influential tribe that is African Americans. *This is not to be mistaken with harsh judgment, it is a simple observation* I am sadden that she felt like she had to make the statement…
“I want black people to know that I haven’t abandoned them because I’ve had a child with a man outside of my race and I’m dating someone now outside of my race who is Spanish and French.”
…like that seriously hurts my heart and actually makes me feel bad for her for thinking she had to say that. Like Halle, we are not living in the fricken 50s! You can date “outside your race” and still be considered a “black woman”. God I feel bad for her!
But I can’t help but think that she’s the type of person tells people what she thinks they want to hear
You all know that I am not fond of Halle but I’m going to stop calling her crazy. I feel like she has to work on herself because she doesn’t know who she is or what she wants and now she brought a child into this mess.
Secondly, Nahla in no way shape or form is White. Never in the history of Amerika has an African descended brown-skin, curly-brown haired, wide-nose human EVER been called White. You guys are really reaching with that one. However, I don’t feel the need to call her Black either. Honestly, it’s not that hard this day and age to call her what she is… multiracial or “biracial”. What ever Nahla chooses to call herself will NOT be perfect because none of these terms are perfect.
Percentages don’t matter. None of this 75% 1-part this and that sh*t matters when it comes to what you look like. Nahla is CLEARLY a European and African admixture… she doesn’t look any less African than Leona Lewis and neither of them can “pass for White” so we can just cut that crap now
At the end of the day, Halle may be… uhhh…. not completely…umm… DAMN… ain’t no other word but CRAZY. Sorry!
Chick might be crazy but it’s not because of her ‘perception’ on race.
Sadly, she’s right. Nahla is technically “Black” by American standards and that won’t change officially until we learn about people of Nahla’s and Halle’s percentages year-round and not just on the designated “Black History Month”.
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I don’t see anything wrong with what she said. And Im sure she only brought it up because its been asked so much.
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She is Black. No one will ever ever call her white. period.
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She is as black as Tiger Woods’ two children. Period.
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There are white people who have as little as 1/18th Native American blood and yet they have the nerve to call themselves Native American. They are not they are white! What we call “HANG AROUND THE FORT INDIANS”. The vast majority of Native Americans have white ancestry but we do not call ourselves white we call ourselves Native.
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MIXED IS A TERM FOR MONGREL/ MUTT DOGS NOT FOR HUMAN BEINGS SO I DON’T BLAME HALLE ONE BIT.
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Halle’s kid Nahla is 3/4 black, and because of her money class , family heritage,and her physical phenotype she is mixed, Just like most of us Dominicans,Cubans and Puerto Ricans and she will never be treated as black. The one drop rule is archaic and illogical as it is stupid. Only in the United states would these archaic and irrelevant terms like the one drop rule be used for political gain, to get “black women” behind her during her custody battle and people not pick up on it and confuse it with solidarity, I guess she is going to do black cinema now. She is absurd and playing the race card,Americans wake up , but I see she wanted no Latino or Black man to father her child despite being with many men before 40! GTHOH! She even told the father who I dont think said the n word ,thanks for the sperm donation, meaning I just wanted a donor not a father. She was not raised with both parents and now doesnt want a Father who WANTS to be in this child’s life!??? She is an idiot! Telling that child it is simply black is not productive and downright dishonest, she will notice when she leaves the United States.
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Nahla isn’t 3/4 black, she’s 1/4 actually.
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“” I’m dating someone now outside of my race who is Spanish and French.” Yeah bet she wont have a child with him! So much pride she does monsters ball LMAO hahaha
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This child is 1/4 black and will never be considered black due to her parents,class, phenotype, and she is like most Latinos in this country in our countries that child would be considered White, even in Jamaica or African countries that child would be considred white, only in America they apply archaic rules like the “one drop rule”, its ridiculous.
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This child is black and looks black and will always be seen as black. Suri and Shiloh are white not Nahla. She does not look like most Latinos in American because most Latinos in this country look Indian or White, like white Cubans. The white in caribbean countries is only white on those islands but once you leave and go to Europe or America you will discover that your white is not acceptable as white to real white people who do not have an African background. Pretty black child and pretty black mother.
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Halle said she doesn’t believe in labels but that is exactly what she is doing. Halle and her daughter are black and white. It was Halles white mother that raised her to be what she is today not her black father. He did nothing so for her to label as just black makes me think she is being ignorant to her own race and to her daughter. She doesn’t seem to be an educated women she seems to be a bitter women and I feel sorry for her. Hopefully she will teach he daughter to be proud of being white also instead of being ashamed of it.
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Listen, first of all, Halle and any other biracial individual can decide what race they want to identify with. If that is the case of being mixed, hell almost everyone is. That is not the issue at hand, the issue is girlfriend don’t want to be with a guy too long. Now, some say she is controlling, others say she may not sincerely like fellas. I say her career is probably what she is committed to, and almost everything else tends to get in the way eventually.
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That child looks like any other Dominicano msotly mullato a mix of Taino,African and Spanish, “tu no puede bloque el sol con un dedo”, that child is triqueno ya tu sabes. Most LAtinos are Meztizo not Indian nor Castilleno and thats a fact and they are labeled as such by their respective governments and the CIA. Halle Berry’s child is not Black, LOL what a joke let her go to Haiti,Africa,Dominican Republic, Panama, Brazil,Jamaica or any other country with a healthy perspective of race which identify with phenotype and not archaic definitions of race…You can read this in the works of Henry Luis Gates,Dr. Torres-Salliant,Dr. Candelario or Frank Moya Pons. This is why she got a nose job and didnt have a baby with her other “boyfriends and husbands”, she wanted a mullato child and label it black for political purposes to strike a cord with African Americans during her custody case and for her career. If this child goes to any Latin ,African ,European or Arab country etc, most if not all will not label this child as black just like my entire family only in the United States, and thats a fact. If you dont know this you have not traveled to the DR and do not travel the world. This racial paradigm is archaic and is not healthy nor honest.
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@Theresa ,Most Cubanos are also Mulattos only 35% are Castilian, in fact on the island of Cuba mullatos as well as blacks combined are 75% of the population. The largest groups in this country are Mexican Dominican and Puerto Rican the latter being mulatto ethnic groups. you can read this in Latinos reshaping America for realistic statistics. Also most whites on our island are authentic whites and could pass for Greeks,Portuguese,Arabs or Southern Italians (whom only now classify as white but did not in History) but the USA classifies certain ethnicities a certain race, due to their archaic one drop rule) There are many whites in the Dominican Republic and Halle as well as her child would be trigueno, would anyone mistaken her for a typical Haitian phenotype? Even in Jamaica whose mullato elite have dominated politics are called white and her child as well as Halle are about the same phenotype, lets be realistic than perpetuating this ridiculous facade. Jsut to note some Mexicans from Veracruz and people like Kalimba are also listed as black and way blacker than Halle and her child.
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This lady got it right:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1355394/Halle-Berry-feel-proud-daughter-Nahla-mixed-race.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
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White people will never understand a Black person’s POV in this and a Black person won’t understand a White person’s POV so why bother. Nahla is black, but she’s also white and WHATEVER else she chooses to classify her self as but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of you (including me) here. My question is how do you base someone’s WHOLE life (Halle’s) based on a 2 page article you may read every blue moon on her.
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Pam. Do you know that for a fact???? White men take care of their kids more so then black men???! Your very naive and care less for your kind to think that. Please try convincing my white baby daddy to send a box of diaper to my kid or even a dollar to buy her some wipes. Talk about self hatred, you are an absolute [word omitted] to say that comment.
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[...] about race”. Check out Jamie’s opinion piece in regards to Halle Berry’s recent comment about her daughter Nahla being black. Halle Berry may have chosen the wrong words but she makes the [...]
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What’s with some of these angry responses? Doesn’t a mother have any right to express her perspective on her own child’s cultural upbringing? From what I’ve been observing, the person who’s the primary caregiver of Nahla is a woman of color–HALLE! I didn’t expect to read comments like this on a blog devoted to people of color and their children.
Besides, I’m fairer than Nahla, consider myself African-American, have light-skinned people in my own Black family, and have seen numerous Black folks much lighter than the child. It’s not as if Halle is the racial identity commandant, demanding that her child consider herself Black and nothing else. She’s flexible, and realizes that regardless of her own perspective, it will ultimately be Nahla’s decision.
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You’re absolutely right! I can’t comprehend all of these insults and attacks on Halle about something the Black community has ALWAYS known where she’s stood. We’ve always known she considers herself a Black woman. What did people think–that a proud Black woman is going to divorce her own child from her culture? What would truly be “nutty” is if a Black woman considered her child ‘white’, as Aubry has reportedly demanded Nahla be referred to as.
In another article, he has been described as vindictive, threatening, and referred to by an ex-girlfriend as borderline racist. And Halle is supposedly the villain here? Shoot, walker on water, he ain’t. He’s concerned with something greener, if you ask me! $$$
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How do you “feel” like your kid is a certain race? You inherit your race from your parents and ancestors not from feelings. Halle is going to give her daughter a race complex.
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As a biracial woman who also identifies as a black woman I can understand where Halle is coming from. Growing up my mother, who herself is half black and half white (Spanish), raised us as black and there were never any stages of confusion about who/what we were and how we should present ourselves to the world. I’m glad Halle identifies as a black woman and wants that for Nahla…
Halle thinks that that is how the world will view her anyway and in truth society probably will, because the truth is we judge and place labels by what we see first. I think Halle doesn’t want her daughter to be confused like she was when she was growing up so it seems she want to “guide” her to identify as a black women off the top to stop any confusion later on? Not saying that that is right or wrong but how she chooses to raise Nahla is ultimately her business and she shouldn’t discuss it with the media or try to justify herself.
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AMERICA,
HALLE IS RIGHT! AS MUCH AS WE WOULD NOT LIKE TO BELIEVE IN THE “ONE DROP” RULE, IT’S A REALITY. I AGREE THAT AMERICA SHOULD GET OVER IT, BUT AGAIN IT’S NOT THE REALITY. HALLE IS AN AWESOME LADY AND I WILL CONTINUE TO RESPECT AND SUPPORT HER.
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Why do we refer to people in this day and time as mullato. That is an old slave term. It’s original meaning refered to horses that were cross bred. People are so caught up on being mixed as they like to say. Being “mixed” does not make you better or less than anyone. I feel sorry for people who are classified in the different phenotype classes. It is almost as bad as classifying dogs
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Look, Halle I used to look up to you- but all you are is a black elitest. You had a WHITE man have sex with you and made a baby. You are half white!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So guess what, your baby is 75% white and only 25% BLACK-Get over yourself…If I was your baby daddy, I would be mad too. One drop rule my foot! So how is Gabrielle suppose to respond when you call his baby black- when he’s white????
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Oh yeah let me finish this last point….Halle uses her father for his blackness- but she HATED her father- she didnt even go to the man’s funeral!!!!!!!!! he was apparently abusive to her mother. It was her White mom who loved her and took care of her and her sisters..So, why not identify yourself as both white and black at least for your mom’s sake
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I like Halle berry and do believe in the one drop rule also but i think she should leave it up to Nahla to choose what she want to identify her self when she gets older cause right now she doesn’t know anything about race color or being mix.I have two biracial teen age daughters im black and their dad is mexican both of my girl’s look mexican but they identify their self as black.That was their choice not mines.
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1st off yes, Halle was raised by her white mother, but you have to understand that she was raised in the racist town of Bedford, where she went to racist Bedford High School. She had to share her crown with a white girl, because that High school didnt believe a black women…this is what they called her…not biracial…was capable of winning the tital of Prom Queen. So of course Halle Berry identifies with her black side. When she was growing up thats all that she was told she was. It doesn’t matter that her mom raised her. She was always told and reminded that she wasn’t white and could never be white. Of course she’s going to say she’s black.
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