Your opinion wanted - warning controversial

[diamondlady]

Would you consider the people below as Black people???


The appearance of most Aborigines can be quite varied. They mostly have dark brown hair that can be straight, wavy, or curly. Young children may have blonde hair, but the blonde fades away as they get older. Their skin can be tan to dark brown and almost black. Their skin, especially in the facial area and the ankles and below, is toughened by years of wear and the heat and wind.

From the late 1800’s until the mid 1960’s, the Aborigines were treated very unfairly. White men who working at the cattle stations would see the poor Aboriginal women and rape them. This would result in there being a half-Aboriginal child. These children were taken away from their mothers and taken to a missionary camp run by missionaries who were mostly good men. There, they were taught how to read and write English, how to add and subtract, how to grow crops, how to thresh the rice at harvest time, how to bake bread, and how to milk the goats. The girls were taught how to cook and sew cotton dresses. They taught the boys how to make bricks in the kiln, how to plane wood, and how to make things as a carpenter. The missionaries thought that since the Aborigines were not "like themselves", they would forget about their children. The mothers did not forget their sons and daughters, but since the missionary camp was far away from any Aboriginal villages, they could not walk there, meaning they never saw their child again

 

[trini_rican]

Yes Aborigines are black. My aunt married one. He considers himself to be native/black.

 

[HoneyDew]

Assuming that you are speaking of Australian Aborigines, yes they have African history. I think it was tested with DNA or something like that. I read it some where or saw it on TV or something.

 

[HoneyDew]

Here are some articles.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1286

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1914503.htm

 

[KweenBeeDiva]

Yes they are black. I look at the skin color, and I don't think that ancestory factors in. How many times does one ask a French or German person if their white or not?

 

[Lilith's Lioness]

Would you consider the people below as Black people???


The appearance of most Aborigines can be quite varied. They mostly have dark brown hair that can be straight, wavy, or curly. Young children may have blonde hair, but the blonde fades away as they get older. Their skin can be tan to dark brown and almost black. Their skin, especially in the facial area and the ankles and below, is toughened by years of wear and the heat and wind.

From the late 1800’s until the mid 1960’s, the Aborigines were treated very unfairly. White men who working at the cattle stations would see the poor Aboriginal women and rape them. This would result in there being a half-Aboriginal child. These children were taken away from their mothers and taken to a missionary camp run by missionaries who were mostly good men. There, they were taught how to read and write English, how to add and subtract, how to grow crops, how to thresh the rice at harvest time, how to bake bread, and how to milk the goats. The girls were taught how to cook and sew cotton dresses. They taught the boys how to make bricks in the kiln, how to plane wood, and how to make things as a carpenter. The missionaries thought that since the Aborigines were not "like themselves", they would forget about their children. The mothers did not forget their sons and daughters, but since the missionary camp was far away from any Aboriginal villages, they could not walk there, meaning they never saw their child again

Yes I do consider aboriginal people black. I remember the first time I learned anything about aboriginal culture I was in high school and read an article in Essence about a woman who'd been stolen from her family as a little girl in the late 60s and was desperately trying to find them and know who she was. I remember being so angry and thinking 'it's not just the US, not just the Caribbean, not just Africa, they sold us and worked us and raped us all over the world' It's about diaspora I think and though we may all look different from one another we share ancestry and a profound experience of oppression. For more on generations of stolen black children Rent the film Rabbit Proof Fence or check this site for books and articles: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/library/subject_guides__bibliographies/rabbit-proof_fence

 

[HoneyDew]

Yes they are black. I look at the skin color, and I don't think that ancestory factors in. How many times does one ask a French or German person if their white or not?

Yeah, but there are people from India that have darker skin than me. I also have family members with skin that is very light, but the are very much black. Also, there are French people and German people that are very much black, too. It really is more than skin color.

 

[PanamasOwn]

Yeah, but there are people from India that have darker skin than me. I also have family members with skin that is very light, but the are very much black. Also, there are French people and German people that are very much black, too. It really is more than skin color.

I have to agree.... My father is chocolate dark, but considers himself Latino (from Panama) with Black descent my mother (on the other hand) is SUPER light, but is latina. So ethnicity and race play a HUGE part in what people define themselves as... I consider myself of black descent, but I am latina first.

 

[favorc]

dey black to me.

 

[DayStar]

dey black to me.

i agree....

 

[keluric]

Considering the fact that race is a social construction, "black" is a completely arbitrary label. They are people who migrated from Africa and are of African descent (just like everybody else). They look Africanoid to me and DNA analysis seems to suggest the same.

 

[trini_rican]

Here's a picture of who the Aborigines are - I too am Latina and Trini but there's no denying that am black as well. Take a look for yourself and decide. There is dark in all nationalities.

http://www.pbase.com/sheila/aboriginality_of_sydney_australia

http://www.imagesud.com/2australia.htm

 

[aloof one]

Not this mess again. :::annoyed anthropologist:::

Black, white, yellow, brown--- that is your color.
Aboriginee, Dutch, African, Panamanian--- that is your ethnicity.
There is no such thing as race.

Don't get it twisted. What you look like doesn't determine where you come from, and where you come from doesn't determine what you'll look like. You can't tell someone whose family has been in South Africa or Nigeria for hundreds of years that they aren't African just because their skin is white, and you can't tell someone whose family has been in Cuba for hundreds of years that they are'nt Cuban just because they are black.

Aboriginees are not African at all in terms of ethnicity (so what if they had an ancestor that came from Africa in 100,000 BP? Everyone had a common ancestor from Africa, so you can't keep using that. If that were the case then Native Americans have to refer to themselves as Asian). They're just like Native Americans here: sure they came from somewhere else, but they have changed so much over time that they cannot and will not be called "Asian" or "African."

However, they are black. Just like we are black, just like there are black hispanics, black europeans... etc.

 

[aloof one]

Keep in mind that they could ask the same question about us.

Approximately 84% (this may have changed but close enough) of African Americans have caucasian in their blood for obvious reasons. At LEAST 20% of Caucasians Americans have African in their blood (and scientists say that this number could be much greater). The Aboriginees remained unmixed with europeans for a LONG time (I think until a while after slavery even started on this side of the world), so they could probably be less european than we are.

 

[HoneyDew]

Not this mess again. :::annoyed anthropologist:::

Is it really something to be annoyed over? I don't think so. Nor do I find it to be controversial. I am sure others have asked or wondered the same thing.

I do think this should be in Off Topic, though.

 

[MariposaSexyGirl]

yeah they are of African ancestry. The native people of India are even darker with african features and long straight hair. They are darker than most blacks and get treated like crap because of it. They are called the untouchables.Sad to do the people who are originally from there like that.I had a web page for it but I can't find it.

 

[dlewis]

black to me

 

[tenjoy]

Not this mess again. :::annoyed anthropologist:::

Black, white, yellow, brown--- that is your color.
Aboriginee, Dutch, African, Panamanian--- that is your ethnicity.
There is no such thing as race.

Don't get it twisted. What you look like doesn't determine where you come from, and where you come from doesn't determine what you'll look like. You can't tell someone whose family has been in South Africa or Nigeria for hundreds of years that they aren't African just because their skin is white, and you can't tell someone whose family has been in Cuba for hundreds of years that they are'nt Cuban just because they are black.

Aboriginees are not African at all in terms of ethnicity (so what if they had an ancestor that came from Africa in 100,000 BP? Everyone had a common ancestor from Africa, so you can't keep using that. If that were the case then Native Americans have to refer to themselves as Asian). They're just like Native Americans here: sure they came from somewhere else, but they have changed so much over time that they cannot and will not be called "Asian" or "African."

However, they are black. Just like we are black, just like there are black hispanics, black europeans... etc.

ITA Worded Perfectly.........this is what it is.

I am black american and do not consider myself african-american. I am not from from Africa.

 

[aloof one]

Is it really something to be annoyed over? I don't think so. Nor do I find it to be controversial. I am sure others have asked or wondered the same thing.

I do think this should be in Off Topic, though.

Oh dont get me wrong, its just that i thought we already had a thread locked on this--- i looked back and realized it was another topic, but it would up talking about this subject as well--- im not mad or anything. i also don't think its controversial, did i imply that?

i also thought it should have been in OT--- but i just read the OP and it says she didn;t get any responses or something like that

 

[aloof one]

yeah they are of African ancestry. The native people of India are even darker with african features and long straight hair. They are darker than most blacks and get treated like crap because of it. They are called the untouchables.Sad to do the people who are originally from there like that.I had a web page for it but I can't find it.

I cried in class when I learned about them. It really hurts my heart to know that they are born into a life of cleaning up feces and urine of other people and sweeping behind their feet just because they are darker or their parents were darker, etc. Caste systems are just awful, and what is sad is that even though India changed their laws, they still practice that crap

 

[HoneyDew]

Oh dont get me wrong, its just that i thought we already had a thread locked on this--- i looked back and realized it was another topic, but it would up talking about this subject as well--- im not mad or anything. i also don't think its controversial, did i imply that?

i also thought it should have been in OT--- but i just read the OP and it says she didn;t get any responses or something like that

Well, I guess these do have the potential to get locked because we take it to unintended levels. Well, sometimes I think some people actually intend for it to get ugly, though. This one does not seem to be going that way - so far.

I mentioned controversial because of the OP's title.

 

[misscrystal]

This is an interesting topic, but wouldn't it have been better suited for the OT board?

 

[Joanna721]

Assuming that you are speaking of Australian Aborigines, yes they have African history. I think it was tested with DNA or something like that. I read it some where or saw it on TV or something.

they had a documentary on PBS a couple months ago and tested aboriginies and some indians and some other people and traced them back to a certain part of africa....very interesting

 

[aloof one]

ITA Worded Perfectly.........this is what it is.

I am black american and do not consider myself african-american. I am not from from Africa.

That is interesting. I think my mom feels the same way. My dad's Nigerian (he came here from being raised there) so I like to call myself African American. But my mom is just black american. She's American, and shes black. She sees no reason to call herself something she can't identify with. Most black americans can't trace themselves to what country in africa their ancestors came from because of slavery. A lot of white americans can't either. I guess thats what makes us American.

 

[MariposaSexyGirl]

I cried in class when I learned about them. It really hurts my heart to know that they are born into a life of cleaning up feces and urine of other people and sweeping behind their feet just because they are darker or their parents were darker, etc. Caste systems are just awful, and what is sad is that even though India changed their laws, they still practice that crap

Yeah The people over there are really big on color. The lighter you are the better over there. Thats why you hardly see any dark indian in Bollywood. They only want them light like that girl Ash Rai.....whatever her name is.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Black, chile!

Everyone's black in my book.

 

[aloof one]

Yeah The people over there are really big on color. The lighter you are the better over there. Thats why you hardly see any dark indian in Bollywood. They only want them light like that girl Ash Rai.....whatever her name is.

That is tragic. She is pretty, for a light skinned person, but by no means the best representation of what India has to offer as far as looks--- there are so many beautiful people there who aren't light. But I have seen some beautiful brown Indians with gorgeous hair. I remember crushing on this Pakistani guy with gorgeous black locks and brown eyes and brown skin. Now that I think of it we were practically the same color, him being a little darker. Man... too bad his whole family was strict on him dating and all..

 

[trini_rican]

yeah they are of African ancestry. The native people of India are even darker with african features and long straight hair. They are darker than most blacks and get treated like crap because of it. They are called the untouchables.Sad to do the people who are originally from there like that.I had a web page for it but I can't find it.

My mother's mother and her family are Trini however ancesterally from India, they are from the south of India - Tamil. Very, very dark. All with very nice hair and narrow/thin noses but nice dark skin. In Trinidad they are not outcasts but I'm told in India it is so. It is encouraged to marry someone "lighter skinned". Sad but true.

 

[diamondlady]

I wrote an apology for this thread - this is was not everything I wanted to put in the thread. I wanted to talk about hair, texture, & color. I could not get all my thoughts together so I decided not to post. I am still not sure how the unfinished thread was posted. I will just have to be more careful. I think from now on I will write my post in WORD and then copy & paste when it is complete so this does not happen again.

 

[Hair Iam]

dey black to me.

I agree