Keepin' It 100:

Spotlight on the One-Drop Rule

Black faces all around me,
From coffee to the color of sand
A rainbow shining through eyes
Blue, green, bright shimmering brown,
Short 'fros, locks, curls, and waves--
Pin my face in this sea of faces,
Do I look the same?
I am them; we are the same...
Past the eye's limited view
Internally and emotionally we are
Connected the same...
A few percents here and there
Unknown variables and equations,
Since when is algebra the definition of me?
Questions of lineage and descent
Overshadowing the here and now
One drop, one box

An argument for the ages
Who is the blackest box?
Simplify your equations,
Ignore or solve for the unknowns--
It's a personal choice.
But a personal choice is a public face
And I wonder if you already assume,
Why do I check this box...
Maybe I fudge the math
Make it add up to 100--
Maybe I don't want to exist outside the box
Or, maybe I do,
But what does that mean to you?

The "One-drop rule" became legal in 1910, with questionable origins rooted in American slavery and proclaimed anyone with African ancestry was to be considered black or African-American (funny, considering science has proven we are all from Africa...).  This "rule" of identification has propagated through time, leaving quite the confusion surrounding the definition of black. Upon meeting someone of black and white ancestry, most likely they will identify as black, possibly biracial but it is very unlikely that they would identify as white (that would be considered passing). Most blacks (Americans in general actually) are probably multi-racial with African, European, and Native-American ancestry. This mixture is the reason the image of black spans a range of features and complexions. Yet there is still an "image" that comes to mind when one identifies as black. If one does not fit that image, the typical question "What are you mixed with?" will be asked. Due to the one-drop rule however, a person could easily have no knowledge of non-black ancestry and be genetically biracial. Step back into the era of slavery. Many slave master had children with their slaves, but these children were still black. If two biracial slaves had children, their children would have been considered black, but they too would have biracial DNA. And if those children married someone of similar origin... Easily these traits could be passed   down several generations without another "white" addition to the family. This leads to numerous people who may not "look black" but are adamant that they are black. It also leads to multi-ethnic people who feel pressured to identify one way or the other. At the end of the day, the one-drop rule makes us all black. Otherwise, the term is quite subjective and dependent on both how the world perceives a person and how how the person perceives themself. 

[1] Who is Black?
[2] How Black Is Black?
[3] One Drop Rule
[4] One Drop Rule Persists
[5] 12 Beautiful Portraits Challenging the One-Drop Rule