Analysis of the myth behind blacks passing for whites, from a biracial perspective

Many people when analyzing historical events, sometimes make the mistake of seeing it from a perspective associated with the expectations of the present, where behavior, values, knowledge, morality, personal experience and human aspirations are considered different from the past. Some academics, are creating the narrative of a slave past applying the modern concept as a way to justify ideas that do not correspond with the reality of that particular moment.

Ask a simple question!! can a black really pass as white? Can a biracial or mulatto pass as white? Can a Quadroon or optorron pass as a white person? What might be the reasons why some people with black or biracial ancestors (grandparents or great-grandparents?) preferred to identify as white? In this video we will analyze the reasons behind the myth of a black person passing as white.

How to debunk the myth of blacks passing as white? Knowing the historical facts from an objective perspective, using the census data of the time is the only way to understand this false narrative when some academics allege that some black people pass as white, an idea which is associated with the application of a racial classification based in  the One drop rule, on event in which this racial classification was not the norm. 

Some scholars use this narrative to promote the one drop rule as a way to shame those biracial who preferred to identify with the white side of their  racial heritage by making them feel like they hate the black side. This behavior of making biracial feel bad when they chose an identity other than black as emotional blackmail and the narrative myth of black passing as white falls within this behavior.

When talking about blacks who passed as white during the era of racial segregation and reconstruction in the Unites States, it falls into that category of applying ideas of the present to events of the past. A black never passed as white during racial segregation unless we apply the one drop  rule retroactively, which creates this false  narrative that a black passed as white, during slavery, racial segregation but also during the post-emancipation period. In reality no black person passed as white, unless we remove from American history the mulatto, quadron and optorron identity.

To understand the mystique associated with blacks passing as whites, we must know a little about the origin of these racial classifications. The very first census sorted the population into three racialized citizenship categories: “Free white males [and] females”; “All other free persons”; and “Slaves.” In 1820, “All other free persons” was later altered to “Free colored males and females.” However, the biggest change was the division between “black” and “mulatto” a few decades later.

This is particularly evident when looking at censuses taken between 1850 and 1930, a period of rapid change that saw the end of slavery and the beginning of Jim Crow. "The category  'mulatto' was added in 1850 at the request of a 'racial scientist,' Josiah Nott," says Melissa Nobles, professor of political science at MIT and author of Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics. 

This is where the revision of historical facts to fill a narrative when the nature of these facts changes falls within what some define as historically fabricated falsehood  which distorts historical events to conform the narrative of a particular group which benefits with the promotion of these black-centric narratives.

In 1890 two new categories appeared: "quadroon" and "octoroon", indicating a quarter and an eighth of African descent, respectively. According to the white supremacist concept of the “one drop rule”, a person of African descent could not access the same social, legal and economic privileges reserved for whites. 

In 1930, white statisticians recognized that deciding  whether someone is "black," "mulatto," "quadroon," or "octoroon" on a census form is subjective, and replaced all of these categories with "black" (that census also included " Other." "Indian," "Mexican," and five categories for people from South or East Asia). 

When you analyze historical data on different racial groups, this is where the mystique of black passing as  white collapses. This census data reinforces the argument that black passing as white is just a fictionalized narrative of black centrist ideas. 

If this narrative speaks of mulattoes, quadroon and octoroon  passing as white, it is something that can be credible, but not when  a black passes as white, This  type of story which often dramatizes the life of those people with a black  ancestor whose desire to be white is questioned, negatively portrayed, without  analyzing the family, social, economic and emotional reasons for this choice. 

 For these academics, making those who choose to identify or live as white, despite having some black ancestor, feel guilty or shameful is an emotional tool used to force mixed-race  and biracial people to identify as black right now by those who promote this false narratives..

Many historians who support the use of the one drop rule when making any analysis, when they speak of blacks passing as white, look at the historical facts from a subjective perspective, not from an objective perspective, concluding with these stories which perpetuates the narrative that everyone who has a drop of black blood is black with the reason behind that false conclusion. This is where analyzing historical facts with a modern perspective almost always ends up with a conclusion based on an incorrect assumption.

This is where, the label of black  It is used for a person with African heritage in which the of one drop rule is used as a political  tolls, to guarantee the strengthening of that black ideal, But at the same time deny rights and access to wealth to people of mixed race by whites with ideas of race supremacy.  that they try to sell when it comes to the narrative of blacks passing as white. 

It is an idea that offends both blacks and whites who listen to this narrative. .Logical thinking tells you  that a black has a 0% chance of passing as a white, a mulatto cannot pass  as a white either, a quadroon has a 25% chance of passing as a white, but an octorron has an 80% chance of passing as a white.

How can a black pass as white? This is only possible by applying the one drop of blood rule to a mixed race individual such as the mulatto, quadroon and octoroon. Being a bit realistic knowing the different racial phenotype product of racial miscegenation, that tells you, that if you are mulattos you could not pass as white, Contrary to a quadroon and octorron. 

This is where applying contemporary ideas to past events is a mistake and applying the one drop of blood rule retroactively when blacks passing as whites is a myth historically created by those blacks who are mentally enslaved by a white-created narrative.

Quadroon: A person who is thought to be of one-quarter African descent and three-quarters European descent. Octoroon: A person who is of one-eighth African descent and seven-eighths European descent. Both the Quadroon and the octorron have a genetic inheritance which has large Possibilities of creating Caucasian phenotypic  characteristics of white people, who can actually pass as white during racial segregation, but also at this time.

Black only passes as white, if that black is seen from a racial perspective of this moment, applying the one drop blood rule retroactively to past events which creates this kind of historically misleading narrative. There are many people who promote the rule of one drop of blood, who look at the identity of the quadroon and octorron not from a historical perspective, but from a political perspective creating a narrative based on subjective conclusions, not on the facts. 

Many black-centric mindsets based on the one drop of blood rule look at the quadroon and octorron as black as a way of promoting that false narrative of some blacks passing as white, When in fact they were people considered as colure, having African descent who for some reason passed as white. The problem with this type of  false narrative is that it creates the feeling that those people who were passing as white were denying their true racial classification, out of shame for their  African heritage. This is where the term black is used as a way to exclude people of mixed race or color from history during racial segregation.

Those same people who promote the narrative of black passing as white, are the same people who say that Barack Obama was the first black president of the United States, even though his mother was white. The existence of people of mixed race doesn't matter when you use the one drop of blood rule to maintain a narrative that defies reality. That's what happens when we talk about blacks passing as white and Barack Obama as the first black president.

Blacks in the United States are so conditioned by the propaganda of white supremacy that right now they are promoting, defending and applying the one drop of blood rule retroactively when they analyze the historical facts about the existence of mulattoes , Quadroon and octorron or person of color with an African ancestor. 

Many analysts of human behavior recognize that the most difficult chains to break are not the ones we see, but the ones in our minds. Many blacks in the United States  have not been able to break mental slavery that controls their minds.

That a member of a racial or ethnic group passes as a member of another grace or ethnic group is not a new social phenomenon. When we talk about passing as a member of a different racial group than the one you belong to. Within the context of the history of the United States passing is something that many document mostly when  we talk about blacks passing as white, but the same effort is never made when a person of mixed race passes as black as the case of mulattoes and biracial.

Why do we never hear stories of mulattoes passing as black or people of mixed race passing as white? Because such a story does not produce the same interest as when a black person passes as white, even though we all know that this is impossible unless we apply the one-drop rule to historical actors accused of passing as white, denying their African heritage. This is where the history associated with passing is used as a mechanism to shame those who dare deny their black heritage and  embrace their white heritage.

The moment you stop applying the one drop of blood rule retroactively to people of mixed race or mulattoes, quadroon or octorron at that moment the myth of blacks  passing as whites disappears. One thing is a black person passing as white and another thing is a biracial or mixed race person passing as white. That a person of  mixed race passes as white is expected, just as a mulatto is expected to pass as black, and this type of passing story does not produce the emotional drama  associated with a black passing as white.

Why is the story of passing relevant in the United States when we talk about black people acting as if they were white? Because there is a part of the black community who do not want to give up that idea of ​​a single drop of blood makes you black or if you have an African ancestor it makes you black. 

Racial classification based on Rule one drop of blood which, despite the fact that biologically speaking it is impossible, is part of the narrative introduced by whites to solidify in the mentality of blacks that they are less than whites, but also guaranteed the purity of the white race .