Halle Berry on Nahla’s race: “I feel like she’s black, I believe in the one-drop theory”

halleebony

Halle Berry is the March cover lady for Ebony Magazine, in what I’m assuming was a photo shoot and interview done before the current custody battle exploded. That being said, Halle does make reference to a few things that have come up in the back-and-forth in the media, notably that Halle considers her mixed race daughter black. She tells the magazine:

“I feel like she’s black. I’m black and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory. 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.”

[From Ebony via In the Basement]

Eh. I know a lot of you are going to fight about it, and that’s okay, I guess. I’m mixed race – I’m half-white, half-Indian – and I’ve always felt that mixed-race people can self-identify however they want. I identify myself as mixed race, at times feeling more Indian or Asian, and at times feeling more like a Southern white girl. It depends, but no matter what Halle says, Nahla will make the decision for herself as to how she identifies when she gets older. TMZ has another story claiming that Gabriel Aubry would “go nuts” if someone suggested that Nahla was black – according to sources, Gabriel “insists” that Nahla is white. I have to say, I think in this particular insistence, it’s less about race and more about Halle attempting to negate Gabriel’s biological contributions, you know? Gabe is white – when Halle insists that Nahla is black, it’s like Halle is cutting Gabe out.

Here are more excerpts from Radar:

Halle Berry put aside her bitter custody battle with baby daddy, Gabriel Aubry, as she gushed about the wonders of motherhood in the March issue of EBONY Magazine, RadarOnline.com has learned.

“Being a mother is probably the most important thing in my life right now,” Halle, 44, revealed in an interview with EBONY Editor-in-Chief Amy DuBois Barnett, when asked what motivates her to continually challenge herself in every aspect of her life.

“Career is important, but nothing really supersedes my roles as a mother. That’s the most important thing I’m going to do in this life at this point,” said the Monster’s Ball actress.

Halle and Gabriel are currently embroiled in a heated custody battle over their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Nahla. As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported the relationship between the ex-couple has deteriorated so much over the past week that they are no longer even on speaking terms.

“If Gabriel needs to find out anything about Nahla he goes through the nanny now,” a source told RadarOnline.com. “He and Halle are no longer speaking directly to each other.

“There were still talking, albeit limitedly, up until a week or so ago, but now – nothing.”

The source added Gabriel is concerned that Halle will request that all his visits with their daughter be supervised after various reports have claimed that Aubrey used the ‘N’ word in describing Halle. One source close to Aubrey strongly denies that.

The March issue of EBONY Magazine will be released nationwide February 8.

[From Radar]

In the Ebony piece (which I’m now convinced will be one of Ebony’s best-selling issues), Halle also talks about dating – specifically, dating white men: “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.” Wait… what? So dating white dudes has made her even more “clear” about being black? Sure.

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Ebony cover courtesy of I Am Flashdance, additional pics by Fame.

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342 Responses to “Halle Berry on Nahla’s race: “I feel like she’s black, I believe in the one-drop theory””

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  1. Tess says:

    She deserves a special trophy for her spectacular achievements in racial hypocrisy and stupidity.

  2. Spaniard says:

    I’m really surprised that she feels she has to justify herself or apologise for dating guys “outside of her race” this is one of the most idiotic things I’ve heard in my whole life.

  3. Marjalane says:

    Yeah, Halle Berry is black when it’s expedient for her to be black. I found that whole last bit about who she dates has made her race clearer to her, to be somewhat curious. Maybe it’s just me, but I got this image of Halle and her “man” sitting in a restaurant and her man orders the lamb chop and Halles thinks, “Hmmmmm, as a black woman, I will order the chicken and waffles”. It just came off as offensive to me.

  4. Rita says:

    This does it for me with this yahoo. One drop theory my ass. For 500 years, mixed race people of all kinds have been labled and pursecuted over the one drop theory but now Halle drops it like its the ace of spades of race cards.

    Certainly someone will soon say, “Its cool to be mixed race”.

  5. Oi says:

    That’s rich. She’s half white herself. So actually her daughter is mare white than black. There’s a whole lot of wrong going on here, but I just can’t with this idiot right now. But that is one thing we can be sure of: idiocy knows no race.

  6. renai(jrt) says:

    She has been influenced by Obama and all of his apologies that seem to be the thing of the moment for all liberals. and dont forget her best friend Oprah who basically got the guy his job.

  7. e says:

    STFU. She really should just stop giving interviews and releasing statements. When she was silent I had no idea what kind of person whe was and I actually admired her.
    It is ok to talk about race but I feel like her statements were given with the purpose of manipulating the custody issue.

  8. renai(jrt) says:

    Yeah her daughter is more white than black but she wants to look good for Obama and his followers Oprah and Gayle

  9. renai(jrt) says:

    she is pathetic. she wont work again unless its for one of Oprahs movies or on Oprahs network

  10. Hautie says:

    Well my bias opinion is that she had a plan.

    She had a plan to discredit Aubry. To stop him from being able to have any say about the daughter.

    The article was done at least month to 2 months ago.

    She starts the attacks about his lack of character based on a couple of dates with Kardashian. Here within the last month. Knowing this article is coming out.

    Then throws out her big statement that Aubry called her a *N*.

    Yea, she had a plan. And it looks like it did not turn out as she hoped.

    Too many media people know she is a cracked pot. They know about her crazy behavior in private.

    Plus her constant need to attack the reputation of any man she ever dated.

    It is time to sit down. And settle it with the lawyers behind close doors. And quit all the public weeping like she has been done wrong.

  11. Bite me says:

    U r not dating outside of ur race when u r 50 percent white, is this chick ok

  12. Roma says:

    I agree; she’s trying to cut out Gabe’s contribution to Nahla.

    Of course she’s also essentially denying her caucasian mother in that statement. Is she still alive?

  13. The Truth Fairy says:

    Dear Halle,

    #1 The “One Drop Theory” was created by racist bigots to justify the segregation and poor treatment of a larger population of people. So you claim your daughter is black, but you base this claim on a White Supremist viewpoint. Where is the logic Halle?

    #2 You are 1/2 black and 1/2 white and Gabriel is 100% white – which makes Nahla 3/4 white and 1/4 black and so she is mixed race.

    #3 If you embrace being black, why did you have SO MUCH plastic surgery to erase your African features?

    #4 Why are you trying to put labels on your little girl and box her into one race over another? Is this healthy for her self-identity?

    #5 When you are mixed race, saying you are one race and not the other completely rejects the other heritage and denies the child a chance to identify with BOTH cultures.

    #6 Stop trying to bait Gabriel in the press you loser. You have a history of bad-mouthing all of your ex’s to gain sympathy and it’s pathetic.

    #7 You love to talk about how your parents’ marriage ruined your childhood. Are you trying to do the same to your daughter?!

    #8 One cannot stoop any lower than to falsely play the race card in a custody battle (and in the press). Do you have no shame??

    GET A LIFE HALLE !!

    Love, Me

  14. embertine says:

    I guess it’s easy for me, as a white person, to say that defining yourself by the ‘one drop’ rule is bad, because I’ve never had to label myself in terms of my race.

    The reason it makes me uncomfortable is that it was a racist policy used against mixed-race people to justify slavery and apartheid. The idea that a proud mixed-race woman in the 21st century would embrace that shit makes me very sad.

  15. renai(jrt) says:

    What does she have against white people

  16. karen mitchell says:

    she should stop speaking now…it just shows how more and more confused she is. when i first saw Gabriel, i thought she is going to have that man’s baby. halle has refined her appearance to negate her black roots and she made sure her child would not have them either. she took one look at gabriel’s ski slope nose, blue eyes and long wavy blonde hair and knew it would cancel out her bulbous nose and lovely kinky hair.

  17. georgiagrl says:

    Wow!
    Keep the idiotic posts to yourself Renai.
    She is entitled to her opinion on her and her daughter’s race and unless you’ve walked in her shoes, don’t tell her how to think about HER race. If Halle sees herself as a black woman, the daughter of a black man, so be it. Why attack her, Obama, Oprah or anyone for their views??
    And we wonder why kids are bullied so now at school. Because their parents are bullies online and at their jobs.
    Peace

  18. GradStudentEatingHotPockets says:

    Ugh make her STOP TALKING. She is doing no one- not her daughter, he ex, her career- any favors.

    And wasn’t that “one drop” thing part of a musical too? Where they said these two people coldn’t get married because one was white and one was black and then the guy (or maybe the girl, i forget) like takes a lick of his blood or something and claims she can now marry? I can’t think of the musical or play it was in (stupid thesis is clouding my mind, had to take a break with celebitchy ha)

  19. Reality says:

    I agree with ‘e’ (comment 7), I had no idea what a psycho she was until she started opening her dumb mouth and spewing garbage. Her statements are so inconsistant and egocentric.

    Just deal with your insecurities and personal issues in private woman, at least for the sake of your child.

  20. Kitsie says:

    I used to really admire Halle for her tenacity in her acting career, her Oscar win, her rising above a couple of bad marriages, but I’m thinking lately that she may be somewhat unhinged. Her marriages were to black men who were physically violent and unfaithful. Her relationship to Gabriel seemed very peaceful but her inner crazy seems to have come out big time and she’s using the race card to blow child custody issues out of proportion. I’m in HR and I’ve had experience with a couple of under-performing employees who tried to use the race card to defend poor performance. Halle and Gabriel should both think of the child’s well-being first and foremost and put their petty vindictiveness aside. And no, Halle, your child is NOT black, she is mixed race whether you like it or not, as are you, and as such she should be allowed to identify with both races.

  21. Marjalane says:

    I doubt if she actually has “anything against” white people- I think she’s just incredibly manipulative and she was saying what she thought the readers of Ebony would want her to say. Labeling people as “one drop” or mixed or whatever is incredibly backwards and she needs to be called out on it by others, (talking to you Oprah) who CLAIM to be above that sort of thing.

  22. Crash2GO2 says:

    And so now the genius is trying to make Aubry look bad by insisting he wants Nahla seen as White, when she admits here she sees her as Black. Poor child, is all I have to say. I hope she has inherited some IQ points from someone other than her mother.

  23. GeekChic says:

    So then technically we are all black since we all came out of Africa as the first humans evolved and therefore all have more than “one drop” of African blood in us. Not to mention the fact that we are all 98+% genetically identical. Sigh. We are all members of one race–the human one–and I don’t know why we have to separate ourselves or justify ourselves based upon how we look.

  24. GradStudentEatingHotPockets says:

    Oh, I don’t get why people would use the one drop theory in this day and age. I’m native american and white…but because I’ve always considered myself “american” haha, just kidding.

    I get that you need to self-identify…I really understand that. And I can’t fault someone for choosing to identify with whatever race they feel a stronger connection to….with that said though, I don’t ever just say I am “caucasian” or I am only “native american.” There are certain aspects of both that I identify with. I personally would feel like if I only said I was ONE thing and I only considered myself ONE thing…it would almost be like I was ashamed or embarrassed by the other part of me. Ya know?

  25. renai(jrt) says:

    not all black people were slaves or related to slaves. All ethnic groups have been discriminated against in the USA. ITALIANS, IRISH AND THE LIST GOES ON TO GROUPS THAT HAVE BEEN alienated IN THE USA.

  26. renai(jrt) says:

    Halle shouldnt have been given the license to have children…God wont be pleased with her and eventually all the bad she puts out will come back to her.

  27. nycmom10024 says:

    As a mixed race person, I totally co-sign Halle’s comments on race in America. Including you have a fuller feeling or understanding of your “otherness” than when you date a white person. Oddly that is comforting.

    Nahla will like most mixed race people in this country wil probably change her self indentification a few times throught her life. That is just the reality.

    The ethnicity/race that my siblings and I identify with are not always the ones society would guess we are.

    I have a few friends who have nearly the same racial/ethnic mix as Nahla, they look white. However they always will tell friends they are Black. RAce in the USA is an interesting costruct.

  28. Gee says:

    I don’t understand why someone can’t actually identify as mixed race in today’s day and age. People (at least in NY and LA, but really in more and more places) are accepting of diversity. The young female demographic (18 – 25) of women actually identify more with someone of ambiguous race than the christy brinkleys of the world.

    I know there is more than race relations than that, but I just think it’s a shame that this baby is being told she’s something she’s not. People must love themselves and celebrate their origins and ethnicities.

  29. the original bellaluna says:

    Yeah, Halle…you need to shut it.

    As the mother of 2 absolutely devastatingly gorgeous mixed-race children (now 20 & 17), I refused to “check a box” to identify them. When I enrolled my children in school, I refused to “check a box” for their ethnicity.
    – The school said “You have to choose.” I said “NO, I don’t.”
    – The school said “We cannot process their registration without you checking a box.”
    – I said “If I refuse to put a label on my children, why would I allow you to do so? When they are ready/able, my children will make their own choice. I’m not defining them to please you.”
    – The school told me they wouldn’t register my children without some sort of ethnicity box “checked.”
    – I checked “Other” and wrote down every single blood-line I knew of in my entire family (try fitting THAT in your little 10-allotted-space “ethnicity” section!). Don’t “F” with me, schools!

    My children are intelligent, beautiful people; not some box on a form. How they choose to identify themselves is exactly that: THEIR CHOICE. Anything less breeds resentment. My son has chosen to identify with the Indian in him (there’s a lot in him); my daughter has chosen the African-American. Because they CAN, and were allowed to do so.

  30. Shay says:

    Americans are ‘race’ obsessed. Practically everyone commenting in this thread uses the word ‘race’ like it’s a valid terminology, when it harks back to a darker historic era. And this despite all the breakthroughs in genetics and knowledge of the human genome. There is no ‘black’ or ‘white’ gene for god’s sake. And what does ‘mixed race’ mean.
    In the field I’m in, whenever I read a research paper originating from the US, the category that is always mention/common is ‘race’. Why can’t American scientists/psychologists/biologists/anthropologists use ethnicity instead of ‘race’?
    Is it so goddamn difficult to be progressive?
    Jesus, only KKK people talk like that. What’s next? Using the word ‘coloured’?
    It really irks me that the only country in the world that uses the word race is the United State of America. In college textbooks, for example, race is used only in American textbooks. All other nations do not use the term ‘race’ and I think that says a lot about attitudes toward culture and ethnicity. The sheer need to categorise a particular group of people based on their skin colour as ‘black’ is so incorrect. In America, where skin colour varies. A person doesn’t even to hail from Africa. They can be Jamaican, Carribean, they can be Brazilian, and they are all lumbered in one ‘racial’ category, which is stupid if you ask me.
    I don’t understand why the word ‘race’ is still used in the 21st century. I think the term/word has racialist connotations.

  31. serena says:

    I don’t think someone would accuse her of abandoning black race. Why would they? We are in 2011, there is globalisation and all, we’re people living in different country not only “races”.

  32. Carrie B. says:

    It’s not to say that Halle Berry doesn’t have her issues, especially with men. But as for the race issues, as bizarre and idiotic as they may sound to many of you, I have a good clue where they originate. The black community can be quite vicious when they think a member has ‘abandoned’ them merely because they date outside of their race.
    Sure, she’s mixed but in most parts of America, she is seen as black first and foremost. To see a woman that merely looks like her, many people (obviously not all) will first see her as black before they question is she’s mixed race. That’s something that is prescribed before she ever opens her mouth to shout out what she believes she is. For actors who aren’t so visually assuming like Maya Rudolph and Rashida Jones, it would be interesting to hear their opinions on how they view themselves racially.
    I would say that she says she’s believes in the one-drop rule b/c America historically has made many people state that they were one race or another. Census polls only changed recently–the end of the 20th century.

    Things are changing slowly so while Halle has not felt she had the ability (privilege?) to claim she’s equally white as she is black, perhaps her daughter won’t feel so stifled.

  33. amoteafloat says:

    You know, it’s VERY troublesome how so many of you are so incredibly offended by Halle’s statement. I don’t think she was out shopping for sperm in some bigass genetic grocery store full of Potential Babydaddies when she hooked up with Gabriel. They are both ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE who were together for YEARS and who happened to produce a (gorgeous) child together. She didn’t totally dismiss Nahla’s Caucasian blood — she just acknowledged that it will be up to Nahla to learn about her heritage and make her own decisions regarding it. And the assertion that Halle “acts black when she needs to” is just nonchalant prejudice at its best, really.

    I think she was just insinuating that her own biracial identity is important to her, and she hopes it means as much to Nahla. God forbid! Chances are good that people are going to see that head of fluffy hair and olive skin and come to their own conclusions about her race before Nahla can even explain her ethnicity, though. So whatever.

    I just love it when white people make claims pertaining to ~Reverse Racism~ and whatnot. Give. Me. A. Break.

  34. Eve says:

    @ The Truth Fairy (# 13):

    #1 The “One Drop Theory” was created by racist bigots to justify slavery of a larger population of people. So you claim your daughter is black, but you base this claim on a White Supremist viewpoint. Where is the logic Halle?

    And embertine (# 14):

    The reason it makes me uncomfortable is that it was a racist policy used against mixed-race people to justify slavery and apartheid. The idea that a proud mixed-race woman in the 21st century would embrace that shit makes me very sad.

    My exact thoughts.

  35. The Truth Fairy says:

    PS Halle – French is not a race !!!!

  36. devilgirl says:

    Lord, this woman is insufferable.

    I also love the title of an article in that issue ” Is marriage for white people”.

  37. embertine says:

    Just a point, I totally agree with those who say that society labels mixed-race people as black so that’s how they grow up defining themselves a lot of the time. I just don’t think it’s a good thing is all.

  38. Reality says:

    Crash, what a good observation. I don’t understand how calling their mixed race child white is racist, but calling her black is ok. Why not call her what she is, mixed race, and then let her make her own mind up when she is older.

  39. Rosanna says:

    Mixed race kids don’t get to choose one race over the other. They are BOTH.

    Personally, I find them (us, I am one of them) to be unusual and beautiful.

  40. mln76 says:

    Well legally speaking and socially speaking she is right. The majority of people in the U.S. at least treat people who are ‘mixed’ black/white as black. Take a look at how our president is called a racist by some conservatives eventhough he was raised by a white family. And I believe if you have one black parent you are still legally considered to be black on your birth certificate. (Please one of our brilliant law scholars out there correct me if I am wrong.)
    Now does Halle have the right to decide this for Nahla absolutely not. And does that negate Gabriel’s place as Nahla’s father no way.

    EDIT: Let me say in a perfect world people wouldn’t have to put labels on themselves but society puts the label on others and people have to cope with them.

  41. renai(jrt) says:

    When I read the quote that was written its hard to believe that any mother would say that. She might has well be saying “I believe that she is purple” because everyone that reads that know that there must be something wrong for a mother to label this way.

  42. nycmom10024 says:

    @Renai if based on my beliefs are a mixed race person who identify’s as Black make me a liberal, have to tell say I find that interesting since most people IRL would lable me moderate to conservative. Race is based on personal experience due to my actual ethnic and racial backround. My political beliefs are based on my interpretation of my experiences and core beliefs.

  43. renai(jrt) says:

    for the record I didnt call obama racist, I said he apologies for America in places that he shouldn’t and speaks for Americans in places that he shouldn’t. He has his own ideas and similar to Halle, many others dont see things the way he does. He could be orange and I still wouldnt agree with his leadership qualities. I dont agree with Halle’s mothering skills but she has her own bed to lay in. Just an opinion that is mine alone.

  44. ElleD says:

    I think it’s amazing that people are so up in arms about how she identifies herself and her child. I’m pretty certain that, before this incident, most of you saw her as a black woman. I’m pretty certain you never refered to her as mixed or biracial. Some biracial people refer to themselves as either one race or another. I’ve even known some biracial people to refer to themselves as one race only when it seems convenient. I dont believe that is the case here. In an article I read a while back, Halle said that society sees her as a black woman. So I wonder are white people on this site upset because she didnt claim their race? Or are they looking for another reason to discuss their views? Then someone above threw in Oprah and Obama… seriously? So, she had to claim to be black so she could be “in” with Oprah? WTF?

  45. guesty says:

    There is a time when it’s a good thing to just stfu. Imo…she really needs to just shutty about how wonderful she is & what a piece of caca Gabriel is. note to Halle: you’re not perfect. really.

  46. Rita says:

    @mln76

    I assume that a race designation is required for a birth certificate but isn’t it the parent’s choice? Surely such an antiquated policy is no longer mandated much less legal. Just asking.

  47. James says:

    @Kitsie – So Let me understand this… You believe the verbal abuse Halle accused her Black lovers of but you don’t believe the verbal abuse she accused Gabriel of? With the exception of Eric Benet,(who admitted cheating on her) you dont know what happened in her past relationships. Why do you automatically believe Aubry? Do I detect some racial bias from you?

  48. Canuck says:

    Am I wrong to have the feeling that being so focused on the race of your child is another form of racism? Personally, I don’t define my children by their skin colour, hair colour, nationality (they have more than one) etc. To me they are people, special to me, but people like everyone else.

  49. Westcoaster says:

    Mel Gibson,Kate and Jon Gosselin,Octomom,Halle Berry etc, you have to wonder how the children of these celebrities will turn out in 20 years. The adults should be forced to read and see all the articles about Lindsay Lohan. Maybe that will shock them into changing their ways

  50. Sunnyjyl says:

    @Shay, you make and interesting point which is new to me. I did not know that about American textbook vs. others. I am never comfortable checking the race box and don’t really get why it’s there. We also identify kids, by race, in our public schools. I don’t know what race they are. They’re kids.

  51. the original bellaluna says:

    GAH! Read my previous comment, PLEASE!

    @ Rosanna – If you’ve never had to choose, not for any educational or other situation, I envy you. In CA, us parents are MADE TO CHOOSE. It is NOT OK.

    @ Shay – THANK YOU! I humbly bow to your awesomeness. (And there is not a shade of sarcasm in that statement.)

  52. faye says:

    why do black people insist on keeping a theory alive that was started by racist whites during the jim crow years? I dont get it.

  53. Lila says:

    This is like a social experiment. These comments are so, so out there. Some random comment about Obama, some non sense about the ODR (which most Black people subscribe to, btw). It’s like watching the black/white culture clash in action. With just a dash of the Tragic Mulatto theory and probably very few, if any, of the opinions that would be expressed in the black community.

  54. merry says:

    I don’t understand the way she talks about race. She wants “black people to know that I haven’t abandoned them” because she had a mixed race child and is dating a Spanish guy? She sounds superficial and vain. I dislike her.

    @faye, completely OT: I love that avatar pic, it’s Katee Sackhoff, right? Love her! =)

  55. L says:

    This isn’t a discussion about Obama, but he’s the freakin president. He’s always speaking for americans-as that’s his job. You might not like what he says, but common-it’s his job.

    I totally saw her doing the ‘she’s black’ thing as a way to negate GB’s background. She’s just coming off as awful, someone needs to talk to her PR team.

  56. James says:

    It’s funny how so many whites will correct anyone that calls the President black. They say, “No, he’s mixed race”. I’m sure if their lilly white daughters brought home any of these black (mixed race) boys, those same white people would be the first to ask, “why is my daughter dating a N—er”. Suddenly the mixed race stuff goes out the window.

  57. Bebe says:

    @rosanna

    Mixed kids are NOT unsual. You do realize that no one in America and in most countries in the Western Hemisphere are made up of ONE ethnicity. Mixed people need to get over it because Halle, and Barack Obama do not consider themselves to be mixed. If no one ever saw their mothers, no one would ever know they had a white mama, because they look like regular black people. People need to chill out and let people CLASSIFY themselves!!

  58. Alex says:

    My daughter is half white and half black and I don’t consider her black or white. She is just my beautiful baby with both her mama and papa in her. But I know that some people will look upon her as a black child and it is up to me to set them straight. Nobody is going to put a label on my child period.

  59. Kasey says:

    I totally see where she is coming from with the fact that the US has this 1- drop ruled that os still being clung to and YES it identifies any one with a visible drop of black as black. There is mo other way to explain this other than the history/racism. It makes sense to me that she sees herself and Nahla as black and wants Nahla to identify that way based on her knowledge and experience.
    That being said, Nahla is only 1/4 black (although she still looks it) and I understand how a white NON-AMERICAN father could argue at least that she’s mixed, if not more white than black. Times are different than when Halle grew up and I’d like to believe that Nahla’s experience is different.

    I wonder if she thought her child would end up looking white enough to pass (like Rashida) and since she didn’t she’s just embracing and accepting that in the US that she experienced Nahla will be viewed as black. That being said, and at the chagrin of sounding like I’m defending Crazy Berry, I think she is just trying to protect and shelter her daughter from racial reality in the US. Grrrrrr! I’m so mad at her right now for the fact that I possibly “get” where her Berry CrAzy self is coming from? What does that say about ME?!!!!!!

  60. Arianna says:

    @ Canuck

    me too

    why is race even a god damn issue for this? Why she has to say any of this, justify any of this is beyond me.
    I certainly know my family would care less if i decided to “date outside my community” fuck

  61. lucy2 says:

    Halle has a lot of issues that she should have tried to work on years ago. I feel bad for their daughter. Given all the public nastiness and the tense situation she’s growing up in, her ethnicity will probably be the least of her concerns.

  62. jackie says:

    Halle Berry = 2011’s Mel Gibson.

    Her career did need some attention, but not in the nose dive direction.

  63. someone says:

    I used to be a halle fan, shes a beautiful woman..but after all the lies she has told, 6 months ago Gabriel was a wonderful dad and they had a great relationship, now that he has drawn a line in the sand and won’t bend to her every wish, hes an abuser. She has serious mental issues IMO..maybe Nahla should be with her “white” father full time..That little girl is a beautiful child, and Halle acts like she made her all by herself.

  64. GeekChic says:

    @Canuck and Shay, I cosign everything you said exactly.

  65. snappyfish says:

    What I find offensive is this….Halle was raised by her mother, who is white. She had little to no contact with her father (black). She is a mixed race person. To be so I’m Black, black black is just a bit hypocritical.

    The child’s racial makeup isn’t what is at issue here, but the fact her mother is a nut job. I used to defend her when Justice was caught with hookers. Then Benet was a “sex addict” and now after 5 years with a man she has said was a “great father” now he is a racist and a danger?

    This is a woman with many many issues. Clearly she has the victim mentality which is never a good thing. I feel badly for her daughter.

  66. QUEST says:

    I am mixed (with a portuguese-caribbean heritage) and I am extremely proud of it – some think I am white and some think I am latino (go figure) most are unsure.

    The great thing is I don’t have to justify my choices, nor my ethnic identity to anyone. Accept me for who I am or not, I really don’t give a f*ck…

    Halle should shut up, it is like she is playing the race card all over again (in a technical way). There should be no need to justify her choices unless there is something more to it (like cutting Gabe out of the equation).

  67. mimi says:

    I need to for Halle to SIT DOWN & SHUT UP! I’m tired of hearing anything she’s got to say as of late…

  68. Isabel says:

    @bebe Rosanna was speaking as a mixed race person…those are her thoughts on her own experience with it. “Unusual” was not meant to be an insult in this case. Relax.

    This entire article makes me gag. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Halle. I agree with Kaiser wholeheartedly…I don’t think that her comments are so much about pride in her heritage as they are about cutting Gabriel off at the knees.

    The truth is that our nation’s insistence on categorizing people racially has both good and bad connotations. Mixed race people often do not identify one way or the other completely, and that’s entirely understandable…you shouldn’t have to pick one identity over the other, instead of having your own unique identity. The other end of the spectrum is that educational and business opportunities are often afforded to those who will identify as a “minority”…scholarships for people of a certain race, tax benefits for minority business owners and their customers…it’s a tangled web. We have to look at the entire picture. It’s not a perfect system; it has its pros and cons.

    Ultimately, the important thing to note is that one’s identity should not necessarily be wrapped up in the color of their skin…though sometimes it is. And if someone finds comfort in that, then that’s what works for them. The problem arises when you have a mother like Halle using her race as a weapon against the father. Nahla needs to find her identity on her own.

  69. RHONYC says:

    Blah, blah, blah, BLAAAAAAAAHHHH! STFU & STFD, Halle BORING!

    enough already. 🙁

  70. Geekylove says:

    To be honest, this article just points to me how smart of HB is for accusing aubery(?spelling?) of racism. Look at the comments: whenever someone says something slightly or might-be politicaly incorrect, even if it’s clearly not meant that way, people jump and forget about the point of this.
    The point is: all colors are beautiful;people are beautiful by what they have done in life for this world as a whole. Nothing good has come over putting one color in front of the other, and i shudder when i see anyone doing it again, no matter which one. Every person in this world is special, and hey, we have 98% of same genes. Is it just a feeling or are really people in USA so obsessed with this? I thought that was clear to the world from at least 60ies on. ( except for S. Africa)

  71. nycmom10024 says:

    @faye and others who asked why keep the idea of “one Drop Rule” alive, the answer is multi-layered.

    I am in my 40’s and the child of two people who were each the offspring of parents who were also of mixed race/ethnicity. While my parents are each ethnically ambiguous, usually thought to be either or Italian or Spanish. My mom is black, my dad is not, he identifies with the two countries his parents come from. No matter what people think once they meet my family, society has always seen me as a black woman, another sibling as ethnically ambiugous and a third sibling as hispanic.

    Most black people in this country are racially mixed. Yet we would be the only’s talking about our mixed race, most will see black people.

  72. Roma says:

    @Kasey: Gabriel is from Montreal, which has a huge population of Haitian born people. There is also a very large division between the English speaking and Quebecois people.

    Though he is not from the US I believe he still would be very knowledgeable about ethnicity and self identity.

  73. TXCinderella says:

    Word to Halle…3/4 white and 1/4 black does not equal black. Your daughter is mostly white, so deal with it.

  74. Salina says:

    I’m legally classified as white despite having the same natural complexion as halle berry as I’m Moroccan/Irish and everyone thinks I’m Mexican. Like I have to prove i speak English at the grocery store sometimes. Its so annoying.I think putting people in a category is obnoxious bc it just creates problems and divisions where none existed. I hope Halle loses this PR war.

  75. Annicka says:

    Racist bitch.

  76. the original bellaluna says:

    @ James – No. Just. NO. That word is offensive; when my mixed-ethnicity children use that word, it is met with disapproval. I do not tolerate that kind of “speak” in our home, and my children know that. The whole “it’s okay because I’m mixed and I’m allowed” attitude is out the window in our home. I don’t care who you are or who you’re related to – some stuff is just not okay.

    @ Alex – Word. That’s what I said.

  77. Pix says:

    This is an Ebony Magazine interview and she’s playing to a particular audience – black people. If she were not in the middle of a press war with her white ex most people would never hear about this interview. Part of me thinks she gave this honest interview at a time when she wasn’t tabloid fodder.

    Still, when she says she hasn’t abandoned her race b/c of who she had a child with that is a statement targeted at black men.

    Being bi-racial I know that people treat you according to how you look – no matter how you self identify. Halle grew up black. She accepted her best actress Oscar as the first black woman. When she is up for a role in a movie it is as a black woman. We are not a color blind society. She more than anyone on this board understands HER experience with racial identity and I applaud her for being honest and not speaking in politically correct rhetoric.

  78. Eve says:

    What’s next? Using the word ‘coloured’?

    @ Shay:

    I may be wrong, but I think I’ve seen Halle Berry addressing herself as “a woman of colour” more than once.

  79. Moreaces says:

    The people I have dated sort of hold up a mirror to me and help me realize more of who I really am.” Wait… what? So dating white dudes has made her even more “clear” about being black? Sure.

    Ok Halle, What a slap in the face to her Mom.

  80. Crash2GO2 says:

    “We are all members of one race–the human one”

    EXACTLY!! GeekChic, I love you.

  81. DGO says:

    I feel sorry for Nahla. Imagine having hit-and-run Nut Job for a mother. I’m beginning to think that NONE of the men in her past abused her, or at the least, that we can’t trust her version of events.

  82. Moreaces says:

    @The Truth Fairy, Point On.

  83. Lisa says:

    All this tells me about Halle is her self-hate towards her WHITE half. I’m sorry, but I agree w/ you Kaiser. It’s like she doesn’t even consider Gabe by selling Nahla is black. I’m sorry, but if anything she is 1/4 black and 3/4 white. She’s more white than black, but a mixed child nonetheless. She should teach her to embrace both races.

  84. liz says:

    everything she has said above makes her look completely idiotic. i judge Gabriel for ever dating this woman, and now makes me think less of him. hopefully this beautiful child finds a way to be able to think for herself.

  85. GradStudentEatingHotPockets says:

    @Shay at least in psychological studies we HAVE to ask people to check their “ethnicity” but I have had people get upset because they confuse the term “ethnicity” with “race.”

    But yeah, race is not a scientific term. It really isn’t…ethnicity (where you are from, where your ancestors are from, etc) is scientific. Race is not scientific (hello, I look white but I am also native american…haha).

    Believe me- we had one whole lecture in our methods class devoted to why using “race” is wrong and unscientific in a paper. 🙂

  86. Marianne says:

    @ Spaniard: I’m surprised too. Like Black people are only supposed to be with other black people? Dating outside your race means you’ve abandoned your community? What a bunch of bs.

  87. ghostwriter says:

    @13 The Truth Fairy – well said! My thoughts exactly. (Golf clap)

    @#30 Shay – “Americans are ‘race’ obsessed.”

    Really? You paint with a very broad brush, my dear. Yes, the term “race” may not always be used in a technically, scientifically correct way you would like to see as an obvious member of the intelligencia. But it seems here, and by here, I mean on this site, people are trying to have an honest, open dialogue. And, dialogue is good. And, having a dialogue does not make the participants racist when they use the word “race,” non? Perhaps, the word has “racialist connotations” in your mind, but that does not mean it does in others’ – or should we all just be silent as though dialogue could not possibly lead to greater understanding. Or, we could substitute the word “race” for another word. I don’t know, you pick one you like, one that would make you feel warm and fuzzy all over, a word that you could use while talking about a difficult, sensitive, emotional subject that brings out the best and worst in people if they are not too afraid to talk about it for fear they will be labelled racists.

    ——–
    I, like others, hate the government forms that try to force us to mark a “race” box. I always mark other or none at all. My great grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee, and, sadly, that part of my cultural heritage was lost to me. I hope Halle is not so f’d up as to keep her beautiful daughter from knowing all of who she is.

  88. brin says:

    I feel sorry for her daughter and her mother.

  89. Wif says:

    Hopefully by the time Nahla is ready to identify herself one way or the other, she won’t feel the cultural pressure to do so, and can just be herself.

  90. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @min76 ” Let me say in a perfect world people wouldn’t have to put labels on themselves but society puts the label on others and people have to cope with them.”

    Cosign! I’m Latina and white. At college I was assigned the “minority advisor,” who took one look at me and told me I was in the wrong office. She just looked at me and thought white. So, It doesn’t really matter how I self identify, society often decides for me. It’s very sad and frustrating, particularly for my mom (who was often asked if I was adopted, as a child). Now that I’m an adult, people ask if she’s my mother-in-law. People just can’t fathom that a woman so dark had such a light-skinned child. As much as society would like to write off my mother’s genetic contribution, (just as Halle is attempting to do with Gabe) I refuse to do so; because I feel that, in doing so, I’m also writing off my mother.

  91. nycmom10024 says:

    Just curious how many of you are American?
    1) A person of color is a commonly used term in this country to describe non whites. Most often in an educational setting. A person of color refers to South Asian, non-white hispanics, Asians, mixed race persons and Blacks.

    2) Halle has always said and I remember her mom nodding her head during the Barbara Walters interview, that her mom always told her child that although they had a white mom, the world would see them as black. Halle is not denyinng her mom, she is restating what she was taught by her mom.

    3) To the white moms of mixed race child that have posted, it speaks to your mother love for your children, that you see them as special. But unless there is a seismic change regarding race in this country, others will still see black children. Even if some segments see “mixed-race” persons, they themselves my “feel” black or other.

    Let’s use a less polarizing person Heidi Klum, when you see her children by her husband Seal, do they look any different to you than light skinned Black Americans? Were those children to spend the weekend with a similar looking black family, no one would think “Ahh I bet those kids are German and African.” Just a thought …

  92. latam says:

    speaking as someone who is of mixed race I find her comment wholly offensive.

    Just forget that your mother is white why dont you? Nahlas father is white and to ignore his part in her creation is just so rude. I used to think she was alright but recently i think shes a total idiot.

  93. cos says:

    James, your statements are sad and racist. I believe HB is being manipulative but also has some unresolved issues regarding her own heritage that she is now hurting her daughter. The one drop rule is racist. I believe white people just want to know why some mixed race famous people don’t want to embrace every part of their family heritage. Seems to be used mostly for manipulative p.r. and political purposes.

  94. Tess says:

    @ Shay

    In America, you see, we have a major industry, based on racial divisions, which is promulgated by politicians and professional racebaiters.

  95. Jezi says:

    Wow, just wow. Forgive me if I repeat anything anyone has said already. There are so many comments I have not read through all of them. Being a mixed race myself I can totally understand how confusing it is at times. I am 1/2 Puerto Rican and 1/2 White. I have struggled for years because I look more Caucasian and have had to defend myself all throughout my years by reinforcing people that I am not just white, I’m Latin as well. Highschool was the toughest. I do identify more with my Puerto Rican heritage, only because my mom, who is white, related more towards Puerto Ricans than to whites. My mom can cook a slamming pernil…lol. Anyway, I still don’t ignore the fact that I am white and I would never go by the drop theory. It’s stupid, and Halle sounds completely ignorant. Why is race even a dang issue? Nahla should be considered bi-racial, because she is and leave it at that. She sounds ridiculous and I’m beginning to dislike her more and more.

  96. texasmom says:

    Huh. I am a white mom of two biracial kids (black and white). Coincidentally, we just had a conversation a few days ago about this. My girls are 8 and 10 now and I asked them whether they consider themselves black or white or both or something else altogether. Their view, basically, was well, we know we are biracial but when everyone tells you you are black, you end up thinking you are black.

    Back when I was “only white”, I had a lot of the same ideas I see on this thread — boiled down to something like: why do black people make a big deal out of race? I have had a different world of experience now, and when you are not white in America, race is something that is crammed down your throat at every turn. Black folks aren’t sitting around inventing groups to join, we’re sort of all grouped together by forces beyond our control.

    For example: when I first enrolled my kids in a public school, four years ago, for race I carefully wrote out that they were black and white. The (white) administrator gave me a real fish eye and said, “you can write whatever you want, but she’s black.” WTF??? During the school year last year, policies changed to keep in line with the new Census format, and now we are allowed to identify by checking more than one category.

    The USA is NOT the only country that identifies by race — think of South Africa, or Australia, or Brazil. All these countries have long, ugly histories of economic and social exploitation based on race. It was beneficial to the exploiters to keep as many people in the exploited category as possible. That is where a lot of the “one drop” stuff comes from. Many southern states had legal definitions of every possible racial combination. Mulatto, quadroon, octoroon.

    It’s all a lot of ugly and ancient history, but that “old” history extends right up to the present day, and black folks aren’t the ones perpetuating it. Yes, slavery in the USA was over 150 years ago. But people were denied their voting rights or the right to marry across race well into my own lifetime, and my kids weren’t allowed to identify themselves accurately until about 10 months ago. IN THIS CENTURY!

    So my advice (not that anyone asked for it) is that 1) your kids will think what they will about themselves no matter what you say, so Halle can just give up on that right now, and 2) other people will think about things differently than you do, no matter how sure you are that you are right! We all have different experiences and different interpretations.

  97. James says:

    @Comment#76 – As a Black man, I don’t agree with, nor do I use the N-word ususally. It just amazes me how so many whites say they don’t see color, until of couse a black person tries to marry one of their children. And it doesnt matter if that black person is a Doctor, Lawyer, or President of the U.S. So many whites (not all)will still just see them as the just another N-word.

  98. Sara says:

    I studied race and ethnic relations and this is one subject that needs to be put with religion and politics in the catagory of stuff not to talk about.

    There isn’t any way to voice an opinion on this issue without offending someone. I mean, really, no matter how carefully people try to navagate this issue it always brings up strong emotions in people.

    Also the so called “one drop rule” is the name of institutionalized racism in the US where by the race of a child was determined by having on black parent, grandparent or great grandparent. It’s not ignorant that Halle knows about this, it means she might have a read a book about it.

  99. mln76 says:

    @ MorticiansDoItDeader

    Thanks for getting what I was trying to say. There is alot of idealism in these comments however many mixed race people will tell you they are treated as whatever they are perceived as looking like. For instance a mixed race person who looks black will expierience racism just as any other person who looks black regardless of who is parents are and who raised them. (Along with any discrimination from those who are black but disapprove of interracial relationships.)

    @texasmom thank you for sharing your story!!!

  100. TJ says:

    I’m gonna stick to my theory that Halle is a total nutjob. She’s way crazier than we think she is. (Why would you stay with a man who was racist, abusive or otherwise unkind?)
    Moving on, she could always do what I do; leave the ‘race’ box unchecked. When people ask what I am, I always answer, ‘me’.

  101. Bebe says:

    #95 Puerto Rican is not a race. That is like saying being American is a race. Puerto Rico is multi ethnic country like Mexico, America, Brazil, Colombia, European countries, and the list goes on.

  102. texasmom says:

    @sara — got it in one! Too bad you weren’t the first poster and the world would have saved all the man-hours spent on our heart-felt posts!

  103. jaye E says:

    @Faye…don’t make blanket statements like that. I am african american, and I don’t subscribe to the one drop theory AT ALL! It is part of an outdated racist ideology and some people, both “white” and “black” still carry that baggage. Not ALL, but SOME.

    This whole argument is tiresome. I know people who are multi-ethnic who identify more with one culture than the other for a VARIETY of reasons. That’s not a crime. Multi-ethnic people certainly don’t HAVE to make that declaration, but they often do and I’m sure they have their reasons. Who am I or ANYONE ELSE to dispute their choice. And for the record, it was Halle Berry’s own mother who told her, to paraphrase: “Society is going to look at you and see a black woman, so that is what you are”. That may be why she feels the need to identify Nahla the way she does. But, as she says in the article, Nahla will either chose to self-identify or chose NOT to, for herself.

    And people questioning her parenting really need to stop it. Is she making wise choices in regard to this custody issue? Probably not. But none of us are with her and Nahla on a daily basis in order to make an assumption about her ability to parent.

  104. nycmom10024 says:

    Pls READ Texasmom note! A dispassionate but realistic POV!

  105. Bebe says:

    I always find it odd that many mixed people want to force other mix people to say, “I am mixed.” Fredrick Douglas is believed to have a white father(slave owner), but white people back in the day never got pissy back then.

  106. Lukie says:

    I was going to post a comment about Halle Berry, but as the sister of nycmom10024, I’ll just back up her statements.

    I am the Latina looking sister, though West coast people have often asked me if I have family from Samoa & Tonga. Australians and Kiwis have said I look like a mixed race woman from their country. Egyptians & Ethiopians claim me and mixed Native Americans do the same. West Indian people on finding out I have Jamaican ancestry quickly slap the “brownin'” or”coolie” label on me (both would be correct, even though one of them is a derogatory term). Oh and when my hair is pulled back, old Indian women smile at me EXTRA hard (they too have gotten it right).

    I know it is changing now, but at age 38, I don’t come from a generation of people that embraced a mixed race way of thinking. I have always acknowledged my multiracial-ness, BUT I have also always racially identified as Black. For me, one has nothing to do with the other. People of the African Diaspora are often mixed race, so I don’t see the big deal.

    I will always consider myself a proud Black woman first and a woman of mixed ancestry second. You don’t have to get it, you just have to respect how I choose to view myself.

    Side note: my sister’s daughter has this amazing wild, wavy, curly, straight, thick head of hair. B/c of nycmom10024’s complexion, no one assumed my niece was part white. They DID assume my sister was Latina, which she found quite hilarious.

  107. annaloo says:

    Race is complicated. It just is… as good as our intentions are, we can’t ignore that there have been generations of ingrained attitudes that were created for all people of all colors. Halle is also a black woman in Hollywood. I don’t think ANYONE posting on this board could possibly know what walking in her shoes could feel like.

    Look, I think the battle has gotten beyond ugly, and that she and Gabriel should keep it out of the public for Nahla’s sake…but I also think that NO ONE posting on this thread knows her experience and no one has an answer.

    Nahla WILL find her own American identity, but calling her mother a racist b*tch doesn’t help, nor will not advance ANYTHING regarding race issues.

  108. jaye E says:

    @Eve, “coloured” and “woman of color” carry two different connotations.

  109. irishserra says:

    Wha? The fact is, she’s a human – albeit a moronic one. She is a human being. This black, white, mixed-shit is ridiculous.

    I have two children who are a mix of races, in that they have white, Spanish and black and who knows what else in them. We just don’t dwell on a label, because it’s ridiculous. When someone is stupid enough to ask my children to label themselves, they just give the person a look and say, “Human race, what about you?” Damn, I love my kids.

  110. the original bellaluna says:

    Yes, mixed-ethnicity children are often perceived as whatever they are assumed to look like. But it is up to these children’s parents to instil in them a firm enough strength that they will stand up to what others say.

    @texasmom – Were you able to read my earlier comment?

  111. Nancy says:

    She sounds REAL stupid and kind of racist towards white people no doubt because she’s feuding with the father of her child who happens to be white. If she was so worried about people mistaking her daughter for being white then maybe she should’ve had a child with a black man, regardless I think she’s got some serious issues and she’s probably borderline crazy.

  112. Eve says:

    Let’s use a less polarizing person Heidi Klum, when you see her children by her husband Seal, do they look any different to you than light skinned Black Americans? Were those children to spend the weekend with a similar looking black family, no one would think “Ahh I bet those kids are German and African.”

    @ nycmom10024:

    I’d think they looked of mixed ethnicity (if I didn’t know who their parents were). So I think you’re generalizing here.

    And to answer your question (# 91), I’m Brazilian (considered caucasian here but would be definitely called a Latina there in the US).

  113. Motor35 says:

    i *heart* geekchic! you are full of awesome!

  114. Franny says:

    I’m not going to but much merit on a magazine that has a “is marriage for white people”. How is that not racist?if there was a magazine for only white people, they could never print something like that

  115. Eve says:

    @Eve, “coloured” and “woman of color” carry two different connotations.

    @ jaye E:

    Would you mind explaining to me the difference? (honest question — I’m Brazilian, English is not my first language).

  116. Waldemar says:

    All that race talk. It sounds like you are talking about dogs or horses. Not people. Even counting in 1/4, 1/8 and 1/16 bloodratio. The last time this happened was in Nazi Germany, you do realise that, don’t you.

    To talk about people in that way, to me, is just plain wrong. We are all one.

  117. Whatever!! says:

    This women irritates me to no end. She never used to, then she started pulling this crap with her child’s father. Now this “one drop theory” WTF. Shut your mouth girl your starting to show your IQ.

  118. Jezi says:

    @bebe oh excuse me, I’m Latina and white, better? You get my point though right? I have always had to explain myself. I once worked for a company and my boss, who was an HR Director was working with me on the EEOC project. We had to basically force people to choose the categories that were offered, since technically there was no “other” choice to check off. So when she came to me, since I identified with being hispanic more, I checked hispanic. She then told me I should’ve checked off white, because I look white and I had a white last name. My mother gave me her maiden name since my father didn’t want to give me his last name. Did I really have to go into details about that to her though. Forget about all the hispanics with light eyes and light hair, forget the fact that people’s last names change when they are married. This is just an example of the kind of crap bi-racial people have to go through. I don’t think Halle is wrong if she identifies with being black, however, she shouldn’t influence her daughter. She will make her own mind up.

  119. texasmom says:

    @bellaluna — I did read it, and totally relate. We didn’t have a box to check, just a little blank to fill in, and the administrator (bless her tiny, shriveled-up heart) was telling me in her own way which box was going to get checked off when it got entered into the computer. At some point I can’t control what people do and I need to use my energy somewhere where it can do some good.

    I’ll tell you what, though, that was the day I stopped identifying myself as white! The creepy thing about all this racial categorization is (well, in my opinion) that it’s all about preserving some mystical, imaginary white purity, and I just don’t have a lot of time or patience for that!

  120. mln76 says:

    @Eve ‘coloured’ was a term used to describe African-American or black people it’s the ‘C’ in NAACP. It fell out of use because of it’s connections with segregation and Jim Crow laws in the south where there were colored only bathrooms/water fountains etc.

    ‘A Person of Color’ is used to describe anyone who isn’t soley white. And is basically put out there to recognize that people come from different backgrounds.

  121. Rex says:

    Halle is looking uglier and uglier

  122. TG says:

    The musical about having one drop of “black” blood is called “Showboat” and is very touching.

  123. Eve says:

    @ mln76:

    Thank you very much for the explanation (I was already hitting google for it).

  124. Celia says:

    I think it’s really selfish of her to try to cut her daughter’s father out of the child’s life. If she wanted a child just for herself she could have just taken the sperm of a donor…
    And it’s not called race but ethnicity…. I live in Germany, using the term race would make me feel quite uncomfortable.

  125. nycmom10024 says:

    @Eve for record my Dad is of South American and South Asian heritage, and like you he identifies as both. However that is just not the reality in this country. He looks what he is so many have assumed Italian, Jewish or Hispanic.

    RE Person of color-
    A person of color is a commonly used term in this country (the USA) to describe non whites. Most often in an educational setting. A person of color refers to South Asian, non-white hispanics, Asians, mixed race persons and Blacks.

  126. Bopa says:

    I have to look at this in the context of being mixed black and white in the US when you don’t look mixed at all. I think that’s where Halle is coming from for herself personally. As far as her daughter who does look mixed my only issue is the fact that she felt it needed to be said. Nahla doesn’t know what black or white is. (my 5 year old neice related black and white to colors in a crayon box peach and brown)This should be a non-issue at this point in Nahlas life.

  127. mymy says:

    She sure didn’t have a problem stating Oliver was Spanish and French.
    She had to get that spanish part in. She is so gearing up for a fight in court over the fact that Gabriel being non black does nor understand the intricacies of raising a strong black woman. Only a black can do this. It is simple and sick.So odd she believes in the one drop racist rule. It is so in now to deny your white ancestry6 if black.Nahla is french also Halle just like you new lover and she is whatever else your white side is. You never mention what that is. Rich family history’s are not wiped out because your child happens to be 1/4 African American.My guess is Gabriel has something on her that could cause her to lose custody. But she is hoping in this PC world of ours no judge will take a black child and give it to a awful white father. I am sure she has baited Gabriel with this shit. And he has gotten very angry. He is proud of his french and she dismisses it.She is a racist. Halle honey you are not dating outside your race when you date white men. Remember that white lady who raised you and gave birth to you?Show some respect. I hope she loses her ability to even get hired for jobs from this. And I hope a court appointed psychologist schools her in the devastation she is causing her daughter by denying her right to 3/4 of herself.

  128. TXCinderella says:

    As long as there is Ebony, BET, NAACP, Miss Black America, Affirmative Action, entities that purposely separate the races, we will not be one. Not my personal feelings, but just an observation.

  129. Tori says:

    All of you who are bashing Halle for being honest are completely ignorant. The world judges people not only by their skin color, but also by the skin color of their ancestors. Period. Nahla can grow up and call herself white, but she isn’t and she won’t be treated like she is.

    Seriously…when you don’t have a clue. Just don’t respond.

    This board is obviously racially biased toward a white Gabriel and completely unrealistic about the world that mixed race children are being raised in.

  130. Relli says:

    @TG I LOVE SHOWBOAT! Can’t stop loving that man of mine was like my favorite song for years.

  131. nycmom10024 says:

    Many keep refering to the One Drop rule as something that is from the 18th century America. Please re-read your history books, the ODR laws were put into effect in the 20th century USA not during slavery times but during Jim Crow times.

  132. flourpot says:

    There are no black, white, brown, yellow or red skin colors. Everyone is mixed. Everyone. Not one person in this whole fucking world is straight up one color. She’s mixed. And so are you and so am I.

  133. Eve says:

    @Eve for record my Dad is of South American and South Asian heritage, and like you he identifies as both. However that is just not the reality in this country. He looks what he is so many have assumed Italian, Jewish or Hispanic

    @ nycmom10024:

    I see. And what you say makes me think (even more) that Halle Berry has addressed the subject poorly. It may not have been her intention (though I believe it has) but it feels like she’s trying to negate his (Aubry’s) contribution to her daughter’s heritage.

  134. Francesca says:

    Really hard to believe that in 2011 we’re still talking about races! We all live in the same world! Honestly, no need to define a race, people shouldn’t care and shouldn’t apologise for who they are.

  135. leuce7 says:

    I had a friend in college who was mixed (black dad, white mom) but looked “white.” She went to a meeting of the Black Students Association and was asked what she was doing there. It was really hurtful to her, but on both sides of the aisle, people are treated based on the way they look, which is wrong, unfair, and unfortunate, but sadly, still a reality.

    @Shay, I didn’t know that. I am curious as to what *is* used. Even if race is a social construct, its impact is undeniable and I would think important from any sort of academic approach, so how do they get around that?

    I hate the race box too. Ethnicity’s a cinch, my ancestry is Mexican. But that means that “racially” I’m a mix of white and indigenous, and from what we can glean from my family history, we know there is Spanish, indigenous Mexican, Black and Italian (I know, they’re not all “races”. But what race does that add up to anyway?). In my lifetime, I have been labeled Mexican, Italian, Greek, Arabic and mixed Arabic, and Jewish. My brother got all of those and Persian, too. My husband’s family has been in the states for lots of generations on both sides, and for what they know, have French, Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and French-Canadian mixed in there. He is usually identified as white or hispanic. His sister gets a lot of Mexican and Indian labeling (no Indian in the family as far as they know). I wouldn’t put down any money on what our kids are going to even look like, let alone what race they’re supposed to be. But I don’t doubt the question of racial identity will shape or impact their life experiences. So yes, we’re all human, but we also all come from somewhere, and most likely will be judged at some point by how we look, so I wholeheartedly agreed with the original bellaluna–we just teach our kids to be strong in whoever they are, whatever they choose that to be.

    As to Halle, she seems to be having issues, and I think of what’s been going on the past couple of months, this is probably the mildest thing she’s said. I’m actually somewhat surprised there’s such an impassioned outpouring based on this particular statement.

  136. EzE says:

    Please remember “person of color” is good, “colored person” is bad, good luck explaining that.
    It’s good that Halle self identifies as black because if she reversed the races here, well we all know the rank hypocrisy in this country. Boo Halle.

  137. OXA says:

    I thought we lived in a modern society which didn’t need to attach labels. The little girl is beautiful and should be proud of where she comes from. I see because there is a custody battle going on she is playing the race card with her daughter. I am sure when she was trying to have a baby with a blonde white man she knew she was never really planning on having a black child.

  138. Nancy says:

    I’m sorry but this Dumb Bitch is already messing up her child purposely trying to separate her from her white background and only concentrating on her black half why because she’s got light tan skin. She really needs to wake up and stop living in racist crazy land.

  139. Jaquebelle says:

    If you are inclined to hate Halle Berry, you will automatically be offended by anything she says or does. If you are a conservative, you will manage to spin her actions and words into yet another reason to dislike Obama lol.

    I am the mother of a biracial son and have encountered more than my fair share of multiracial friends and family members. I speak from these experiences:

    For starters, the concept of race is not solely unique to Americans. Please. I have traveled internationally and far enough to know this. Ask any person of colour residing in Europe, and I know quite a few, if race is not a factor. This does not necessarily have to be a negative connotation, or positive. It is what it is.

    Those white/black multiracial individuals who identify as black, tend to have healthier self-concepts. Is this notion 100% etched in stone. Obviously not, but based on my experiences and observations, I would lean in this direction. My nieces and nephew are Asian/Caucasian, yet strongly identify as Asian and not coincidentally, they look far more Asian than Caucasian.

    Conversely, I know quite a few multiracial individuals w/ white heritages who identify as more Caucasian. Although they clearly exhibit more ethnic features and skin tones. Quite frankly, most of these individuals are pretty confused and quite unhappy.

    How you chose to identify yourself as is strictly a personal matter. I will ultimately respect your right to call yourself what you deem fit, but man does not live alone on an island and although we have certainly made tremendous strides in race relations and acceptance of interracial relationships, the reality is that most people tend to identify you based on the outward features which correspond to a particular race or ethnicity. Perhaps my son Langston’s response to the inevitable, what-are-you-question is the best response: When asked this, my son responds by saying “I am sexy” lol. One love.

  140. EdithP says:

    So Jezi, your boss was basically telling you you could “pass”? Nice. I work at a college and we can’t MAKE people choose an ethnicity, I thought it was Federal law. I’m sorry you all have had to go thru that.

    And Halle, if you want to give up on a race, you can give up on us white people. (JOKE) As Sheldon on Big Bang Theory has said “bitches be crazy”.

  141. Canuck says:

    I’m being facetious here because I do get that skin colour is an ingrained issue in the US but this whole interview is almost the perfect argument for this child to be raised in Canada.

  142. Shannon says:

    The one-drop rule was used for decades to deny anyone with non-white ancestry rights, citizenship, and freedoms that whites have always had in this country. Why Halle Berry would want to promote such a racist and ignorant idea is mind boggling to me.

  143. Jezi says:

    @EdithP Yep basically. I was so angry about the entire thing, I was ready to report her. I also didn’t agree with it but a few years back the entire thing was done electronically and it didn’t recognize the “other” category. I’m sure we’ve come further than that in the past 10 years, but at the time, it was extremely hurtful.

  144. mln76 says:

    People who are talking idealistically about not attaching labels need to re-read the comments. Also those who are offended by the word race need to realize that at least in the US it is a legal term, and their idealism is a form of denial. Sure in a perfect world we wouldn’t have to define ourselves by our skin color but the ‘content of our character’ however that isn’t the reality of what many still expierience in the U.S. (and I suspect abroad also). To say that the people talking about their expeirences have the problem is unfair. The problem is with a system (educational, legal and otherwise) that defines people by race and a society that refuses to acknowledge that reality. And yes it’s gotten so much better and I hope it will continue to get better.
    By the way as far as the custody battle I am getting more and more convinced Halle is in the wrong. I don’t think that has a baring on my opinion on this issue though.

    EDIT: By the way my dad is African but had lived in the US for several decades back before there was a box for ‘African American’ he would always check ‘Other’ because he refused to disavow his African roots.

  145. lrm says:

    she is digging her hole deeper-what a jerk, is what i thought when i read that quote.
    honestly-and the quote ‘being a mother is PROBABLY the most important thing in my life’…
    probably, she says? assuming the direct quote is accurate?
    she is so full of sh*t. just in general. i am sure she adores her child and is a good mom-but the rest? what a jerk off-i’m not even reading the hundred comments on here about race,m ixed race, society,etc it’s all been said. She obv. was pandering to her audience in ebony magazine-as in her ‘fan base’ or one of her fan bases…i think she appeals to a broad base….but it’s like she is selling herself thru her image, and using her kid as a prop. HOw disingenous.

    No different than nicole kidman, the brange, etc. they DO use their kids as accessories for their image-sooo tired of it.

    And yea, Gabriel aubrey prob was pissed that halle was negating his contribution. nahla is black AND white. Fact. ain’t nothin’ you can do ’bout that, Halle. pfft. i’m done with this chick. lame-o.

  146. EdithP says:

    When the report came out that Gabriel was mad when articles reported Nahla as black, I bet this is the specific article he was mad about.

  147. eternalcanadian says:

    Wow, the more I hear from Halle, the more I feel sorry for Nahla.

  148. lrm says:

    btw, it IS called race in the US-as others have said….ethnicity is your ancestral background….ie, i am ‘white or caucasian’ but of scottish, french and irish ancestry….
    i’m sure germany is a whole different bag in terms of what is comfortable or not for terms,e tc. every region of the world has their own issues with race/skin color and bagged related to it.

  149. Cheyenne says:

    Texasmom: when you are not white in America, race is something that is crammed down your throat at every turn.
    ==========================================

    Spot on. This is one of the most intelligent and perceptive statements I have ever read on this or any other thread.
    __________________________________________

    TXCinderella: As long as there is Ebony, BET, NAACP, Miss Black America, Affirmative Action, entities that purposely separate the races, we will not be one. Not my personal feelings, but just an observation.
    ==========================================

    Gee, you think it’s only black people who are separating the races? Check out the KKK and the White Citizens Councils sometime.

  150. Lola7 says:

    If anyone is a “racist” that would be Halle herself. Honey, in case you didn’t notice, you are ONLY HALF black yourself.

    If her x was a racist, why would he even be with her int he first place. Her accusations make no sense what so ever. She is clearly just slinging mud.

    Btw, your kid is multi racial – not black.

  151. Mark says:

    So if being black is so important to her, why doesnt she date black guys? She is hurting her daughter with all this racism which seems to be HER issue, not Aubreys. Ill never watch her best film Catwoman again,,,,Ufff

  152. Tiffany says:

    People. Let’s discuss the important quote. Did she just confirm she is hitting Oliver Martinez. Oh, wait.’Dating’. So….is Gabriel to be a priest for the sake of their daughter.

  153. Devon says:

    That is such bullshit! Her daughter is way more white than she is black. How does Halle’s mother feel about that? From what Halle is saying her mother is moot and her father, who abandoned her, was responsible for her who she is. She’s getting her panties in a wad about Gabe saying she’s not black and Halle herself is calling her not white? I really don’t get this broad.

    I have 3 cousins who are half white and half First Nation and the 2 older ones embraced both of their cultures and didn’t define themselves as one or the other. The 3rd one is too young, he’s only 5, but I hope the same for him. They may have gravtitated to one a little more but they never would say “I’m First Nation and I don’t feel white.”. In my opinion, the stuff like what Halle is saying needs to end. No wonder there is still a racial divide.

  154. Justaposter says:

    Honest question gang, please do not take this to be snarky or rude, but why is it that only Black People are allowed to play the ‘you are either this, or that’ game?

    If I wanted to lable myself, I could say I am of ‘mixed race’.. but personally I prefer to view myself as “American” with a very interesting pedigree.

    On my maternal side, it is very European that traveled to the Americas and some American Indian (Blackfoot and Cherokee)

    On my paternal side, Spaniard, some stayed and some who traveled to the Americas, and some Incan, and that branch traveld up through Mexico and settled in Southern California and becoming California Mission Indian.

    Hell I had all family on all sides fighting at the Alamo and lineage that owned a lot of California.

    If *I* wanted to play the race card, it becomes quite interesting.. while living in California, I was considered hispanic, same for when I lived in Arizona.. but when I moved to Texas, I wasn’t ‘hispanic’ enough to be condsidered hispanic.

    Now throw in 3 kids, and a husband who consideres himself “Texan” makes things rather interesting. Like Original Bellaluna, I am not to hip on ‘labeling’ my kids. So I switch it up, choosing anglo one year, other another year, and then I picked Americain Indian. And after sending the paperwork back to the school, I got a phone call ASAP regarding this. I was asked if I was aware I chose American Indian (yes) and asked if I wanted to keep it that way, again yes. I actually had to defend my choice, and state that I do have documentation of being California Mission Indian, complete with a number and everything! (okay I have to admit I truly enjoyed being a total PITA on that, but it was true)

    I to live by example, and tell my children that we are American, and part of the Human Race, that just happen to have one hell of an interesting family lineage and history.

    I don’t know gang, maybe living in California as a child and going to school with kids with lineage from all over the World and being a first generation of Sesame Street viewer, has served me well.

    Thanks for letting me rant/express myself.. apparently this is a bit more of a sore spot than I have given credit to.

  155. Bubba says:

    Wow, Halle’s really determined that her child will be fatherless the way she was…

  156. Blaster says:

    “What I find offensive is this….Halle was raised by her mother, who is white. She had little to no contact with her father (black). She is a mixed race person. To be so I’m Black, black black is just a bit hypocritical.”

    No. It’s not. Regardless of who you are raised by a parent of a different race, how SOCIETY treats you has a very large chunk to do with how you see yourself. And unless, you are a minority, it’s something that you’re never going to understand. And it has a lot to do with how well you can pass off being one race or the other if you ARE biracial. I grew up in Nigeria where everyone looked like me. I never saw any white people so as far as I was concerned, I was just me. I came to America at eight and suddenly, I realised things were never going to be the same. Kids called me racist things, parents wouldn’t want their kids to be friends with after the first time I came over and when I got into UCLA and Vanderbilt, white kids in my school said it was because of Affirmative Action. When I went to a store with my mom or dad, there would oftentimes be someone watching us. One instance ended with the cops being called, my little 6 year old sister being questioned and EVEN THOUGH we had a receipt showing that yes, we did purchase everything we had in our bags, it still took TWO hours to “resolve.” I have long ago, stopped thinking that I’m just “me.” I’m “Black” and that has more to do with how I was treated. So Halle, being a woman of colour AND in Hollywood has had HER share of things like that. REGARDLESS of if she grew up with a white woman or not.

    And for all these people “not understanding” why she has to clarify to dating outside her race: Sorry to break it to you but in the black community, dating outside your race can and still is an issue. Jill Scott wrote a wonderful article about it Essence Magazine (a magazine geared towards Black Women). It’s a magazine catered to BLACK PEOPLE so it’s NORMAL for her address the issues that ARE still a big deal in our community. And as someone dating a white guy, a often-times get comments from Black men about the fact that I’m dating a white guy. “Are we not good enough” “You wish you were white, huh?”

    So please. Do not tell me that Halle talking about how her dating a non-black guy still doesn’t mean she’s abandoned her community is her being “racist” and “prejudiced.” And Kaiser, do not write off the fact that a black girl dating a white guy won’t make her realise how race plays a difference in their lives separately. Whether it’s wearing a weave cap to sleep or interpreting one situation two different ways “Nooo, my mom isn’t racist, she’s just not used to Black people…”—quote from one of my (White) ex-boyfriends.

    I chose to not comment on posts with this subject because overwhlemingly, the people who comment are NOT black and don’t know inherently what it’s like.

    And the @TXCinderella, things like Miss Black America, Ebony and NAACP Awards became a reality when you would have to murder the person in charge and take over a magazine, tv station or award show before they even made Black people a part of it. Keep in mind when Hattie McDaniel won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars, she wasn’t even allowed to come into the actual hall and speak on stage. And even now, you still have a discrepancy in Black people getting face-time when it comes to honouring their work. So that is what those things are for. And shame on you for making it about “separating races.” The same thing goes for Latina Magazine.

  157. Jeannified says:

    Ok, so wait…your mom is white, your father was black, but you wouldn’t even speak to him…EVER…but you claim to be “just” black. Hmmm…how about you just own all parts of yourself.

  158. Oenix says:

    Dear Shay,

    No insult meant but you are truly naive if you beleive that only Americans are race obsessed.

    America is certainly not “…the only country in the world that uses the word race….”

    Of course you are writing from the perspective of your personal experience which tells me that you are caucasian or physically most resemble someone of causasian ancestry. Those who aren’t (caucasian or mostly caucasian looking) are reminded of it in ever so subtle nuances that it is impossible to ignore our “otherness”, or “exoticism” if you will, so to speak.

    Again Shay, I didn’t mean to single you out for a response but your comments resonated a bit louder to me and I felt compelled to say something. But no offense is meant.
    Oenix

  159. ~M says:

    I’ll never watch anything that this woman is in it. EVER!

  160. Kasey says:

    Oh and why did they use THIS horrid pic? Is it just me or does she look crazy and/or diabolical?

  161. MissyA says:

    Regardless of her race or ethnic identity, this woman is a selfish, manipulative witch who will ultimately harm and demean her daughter if left in her care. This is not going to end well for poor little Nahla.

  162. Lukie says:

    Before this blue eyed model, Halle Berry was dating a Black actor (can’t remember his name) that is not much darker than her daughter and also happens to have blue eyes, so I don’t think she had an obsession w/having a white man’s baby. I think her clock was ticking and she just wanted anybody’s baby. He just happened to be the person she was with (lucky him *eye-roll*).

    Also, just wanted to put this out there: technically, Latino is not a race. It is an ethnicity and a culture. You can be a Black Latino, a White Latino, an Indio Latino or combinations of both. In the US, if you weren’t a Black Latino, until these new census categories, you were classified as White (surprise!) I do applaud you embracing your non-european culture when you could do otherwise, so believe me, I am not trying to negate you whatsoever.

    To the poster that said Ethnicity is scientific but race is not: you got that backwards. Ethnicity does not always coincide with race. I can be African, doesn’t mean I am Black (see South Africa and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt).

    A trillion years ago, people that were scientifically considered Caucasoid (sp?) were considered the most diverse in regards to complexion. Now, Caucasian only seems to mean white people of European descent. Mongoloid, Australoid, and Negroid/Africanoid(sp?) were the ones w/that were the least diverse. It only changed when racists decided to bend sh*t to suit their own agendas.

    Finally, some of you people on this board are scaring the hell out of me. If Halle Berry was a nobody, walking around w/her golden complexioned kid, would you even bother to care what she called her? Would you still try to claim her as 3/4th of you? Personal experince cause me doubt any of you would. And how do you know Gabriel is only white? B/c he’s blonde and blue eyed? He’s Canadian. Back me up Canadian peeps, but aren’t quite a few white Canadians part Indigenous? How do we know he doesn’t have a great, great grandparent(s) that’s six nations? Maybe that’s why Nahla looks as she does.

    You people and your percentages. Saying her mother is negating her Whiteness.

    Why don’t y’all stop trying to negate the child’s blackness?

  163. mymy says:

    And one more fact about sweet lovable Halle. She has two sisters. Imagine that. The little borderline couldn’t even get along with them.
    Classic

    Family

    FATHER: Jerome Berry. Former hospital attendant. Black; abandoned family c. 1970; briefly returned in 1976; suffering with Parkinson’s disease; died on January 24, 2003 in Cleveland, Ohio at the age of 68.

    MOTHER: Judith Berry. Retired psychiatric nurse. White; from Liverpool, England; raised Berry and her sister.

    SISTER: Heidi Berry. Older; married with three children; Halle Berry is estranged from her; the actress told Movieline in December 2001/January 2002: “We fought a lot. We don’t know but part of me feels that we never recovered from the adolescent years. We fought for real. Sometimes drawing blood. I moved away from home at such a young age that the relationship never quite repaired itself.”.

    HALF-SISTER: Renee Berry. Younger.

  164. sunseeker says:

    TIFFANY

    I thinks she was already involved with Oliver Martinez before she left Gabriel,as soon as they started the film
    they where seen holding hands and Gabriel was watching their daughter. Nice set up.

  165. Zelda says:

    I’m excited for the world in 2100, when pretty much everyone will be “mixed” to the point that society finally abandon the idiocy of “race”, a construct with zero basis in science. Only then can we finally focus on what is truly important: Boning each other without prejudice.

  166. sluggo says:

    GeekChic (#23) wrote: “So then technically we are all black since we all came out of Africa as the first humans evolved and therefore all have more than “one drop” of African blood in us.”

    VERY true! But it could be very more than “one drop.” I am a genealogist who looks totally like Whitey McWhitepants, and I went into the family history already knowing I was mixed-race (White and Native American). I soon found out that my great-great-grandfather was black. And my discovery was not an unusual occurrence. In so many cases, we just don’t know our own family histories — go back far enough, your “racial characteristics” are ALL the races, and sometimes not that far back.

    So #23’s additional comment of “We are all members of one race–the human one” is SPOT ON. I really do not think there is any such thing as 100% pure “race” EXCEPT “human.”

    Halle is playing the oldest card(s) in the book: not the race card, but the pissed-off ex-lover card, and the hit-below-the-belt card. Her comments are calculated to get a specific response from the public (“Poor me — Nahla and I are treated this way”), but I wonder if she expected the response that she’s getting (“Poor Nahla — her mother is NUTS”).

  167. texasmom says:

    @justaposter — I don’t think black people get to say who is or isn’t black, I think everybody gets to decide who or what they are, whatever else everyone else says.

    Sometimes it seems like blacks/non-whites are defensive or a little bristly about racial identification, in my opinion, because they get tired of someone ELSE telling them how to see themselves (like some posters here are saying, and I generalize here, “oh, clearly Halle’s daughter is mostly white and looks fair so she MUST be WHITE, QED,” or “why can’t black people get beyond race?”). It is very nice to think “we’re all in the HUMAN race” — and we are! yay! — but day to day life adds a little more annoyance and tedium to the picture.

    The racial experience that I am personally most affected by is when a white person denies my actual experiences to my face. They don’t agree with the idea of my experiences, so they deny them. But to deny my experiences to my face is very insulting, and it doesn’t reveal very clear thinking on the topic. In essence, “your data doesn’t match my theory, therefore your data is wrong.”

    To be white in america is to be protected from racism even as it whirls around your head. Whites aren’t confronted with questions about “what are you, anyway” or not having the right box to check. When a non-white person tells you experiences about racism, they don’t make sense BECAUSE RACISM DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. But you can’t dismiss other people’s dismaying experiences just because they are dismaying.

    Bonus story that doesn’t make sense at all but is still true. I had a Black friend at work who worked as a lifeguard as a teenager. Then he joined the army and his bootcamp sergeant, a white man who was pretty racist, went on and on and on about how black people simply cannot swim. Don’t ask me how this urban myth started, but I have heard it before and since. But here’s the kicker: my friend couldn’t pass the army swim test until his third try. Having this guy who was totally in charge of him all day and night every day and night telling him he couldn’t swim completely undermined his faith in himself and he, strange but true, forgot he could swim. Race in America is like a weird gravity experiment, a black hole where up is down and green is red and nothing follows the usual physical laws. It sucks but there it is. I personally try to avoid thinking about it whenever possible, but it still comes up all the time.

    And… a BIG THANK YOU to EVERYONE for the civility of this discussion. This is by far the most humane and sincere conversation about race that I have seen in a long time.

  168. Ms_Fu says:

    Okay, this black woman is officially a Halle Berry ‘hater.’

    I know that this is a sensitive issue, but I don’t think people should get too riled up. Halle is practically digging her own grave. I mean, she is down to one movie a year. I think that in five years, everyone will forget who she is and wonder who is the crazy lady that keeps trying to sneak into red carpet photos with Kim Kardashian (hah!).

  169. Oenix says:

    Kisses to you Pix – You nailed it!!!!

  170. Henriette says:

    Ugh. The more Halle opens her mouth, the more I dislike her.

  171. mln76 says:

    @sluggo scientifically you are absolutely correct (speaking as someone whose Dutch ancestry comes from her African side of the family) However you are completely disregarding the realities of legal definitions that have historically been placed upon people. Separate from whatever Halle’s f-ed up motivations in disregarding her baby’s father are.
    @Justaposter I don’t think only Black people are “allowed” to play that game however without offending anyone it’s usually(not always) easier to identify black people because the color of their skin is more obvious so people assume many mixed race people are treated and seen as Black and they expierence the same racism that Black people expierence (along w/ racism from Black people who label them white also). If people are respectful of others and take that 30 seconds to ask about people’s backgrounds then this discussion would be null and void.

  172. Yes says:

    OMG I looooooove her even more. Take that racist America. If you dont like her comment go to your for fathers for inventing that bull sh@t to begin with. You Go Halle fight that white man for your child. No matter what the rest of the jealous cows have to say about you and your beautiful black child 🙂

  173. hmm(the original) says:

    I wonder if Halle realizes how stupid she sounds as she legitimizes a racist theory in order to prove her blackness to the readers of Ebony.

  174. Sara says:

    As a 38 year old, bi-racial woman, I am APPALLED at Halle Berry’s statements. I was raised by a white mother and a black father. My parents thought it was important that we feel equally comfortable with both sides of our background. There were never any conversations about having to identify one way or the other. I grew up surrounded by my Mom’s white relatives but I was perfectly comfortable going to my Dad’s family reunions to hang out with my black cousins. The fact that Halle refers to a ‘rule’ that was used during slavery days to keep people of color out of white society just proves how bat shit crazy she is. I feel sorry for Nahla…it seems clear to me that Halle is not comfortable with her own identity and feels the need to PROVE her blackness to that community. If anyone questions your identity that person is NOT WORTH worrying about Halle! To be honest, I live in NYC and EVERYONE here thinks I’m Puerto Rican. Does that mean I have to identify as such since NO ONE guesses that I’m half white/black? Makes no sense does it?

  175. Jezi says:

    @Yes so basically take a child away from it’s father for what reason? Because she has issues with race? Makes no sense.

  176. Camille says:

    Stupid, stupid crazy bitch. Ugh 🙄

  177. Sakyiwaa says:

    WTF is this ‘one-drop theory’?
    plus, all i’m gonna say is; dayum, that black dress of hers at the GG looks more like an undergarment.
    ever really saw it that up close.

  178. renai(jrt) says:

    What is it with the talk about how hard and bad blacks get treated. Mostly liberal whites do this along with some blacks but all it does is create a pity party that doesnt help the cause of anyone that considers themselves black. Im sure most people ingeneral just would like to rise above this and not play into the game. This is why I dont like how Obama himself will apologizes at every given chance for America history and the evils that it has done. If you want to move on from history then you need to stop living in the past. Our current administration and its trends are going to make it hard for the next black person that wants to lead our country and do a good job at it….He and his party plays into and uses those that are weak( white or black) and punishes those that are strong. To me it seems Halle is trying to emulate his mania with all her recent talks.

  179. Zelda says:

    @Luke

    Yes–If Gabriel Aubry is French-Cdn, there is a beyond-excellent chance that he is metis; that is of some North American indigenous heritage.

  180. smarter then most says:

    most of you ppl that have commented on this are idiots forreal….doesnt matter if halle is part white and part black either way you look at it she is still black and so is her child im a mixed race child my father is black n my mother is white my skin is colored black becuz i take after my father in every aspect but i kno im a mixed race child like so what if halle says her daughter is black when u look at halle you see a black woman not a white one but she knows shes mixed so yall idiot ppl saying that her daughter is 3/4’s white are stupid like it aint ya child what yall worried about wen yall in that situation yall can talk all yall want but yall really think they care wut yall idiots have to say there both mixed end of story

  181. renai(jrt) says:

    maybe that front cover is her black version of the Rielle Hunter that so many seem to be following. not good with Rielle and all those that are following

  182. Hmmm says:

    I guess Gabriel didn’t love her for her mind. She is appallingly ignorant.

    @The Truth Fairy,

    Awesome! You’ve said it all!

  183. Lukie says:

    Texasmom and Jaquebelle:

    Bravo! Bravo! Thank you for getting it.

    Not just the 2 of you of course, but you both summed it up so perfectly, I just had to point it out.

    Eve: if you were American and not Brazilian, you probably would have a different answer. Brazil is probably one of the most mixed race countries on the planet, so I see why you see it differently.

    For the poster talking about Black Magazines, I would like it very much if you would start counting how many Black/Brown people you see in regular fashion or celebrity magazines. Or how many topics that actually address the issues of people of color.

    Compare that total to how many White fashion models & celebrities you see in magazines or how many articles that don’t really involve people of color.

    Once you do that, you will understand why such magazines still exist.

  184. pat says:

    I think it’s interesting that the institution that placed such a high importance on negating the entire black race is now offended at what is clearly one of the byproducts.

    Even people who looked white and had a black uncle or great grandfather were considered sub-human and fit to be a slave and/or mistreated.

    So now that it is ingrained in the black community, and we raise even our biracial kids to accept that this is how you will be seen even in the 21st century, is a bad thing? Prepping your children for the reality that you may experience bigotry as an adult?

    It is so easy as the dominant race to not look into your own part in this whole social construct and blame us. And it is very sad because that is why the institution or racism has been ingrained for so long into America’s culture.

  185. Grace says:

    I can’t even get past this part of the article “being a mother is probably the most important thing in my life right now” to even think about the rest of the article.

    Probably? It’s probably the most important thing? Really? It should be the most important thing period. There should be no probably about it.

  186. Jayna says:

    Self-serving. Trying to discredit ex during custody battle, so runs to a black magazine and panders to its readers about her blackness. You shouldn’t have had a baby with a white guy if you wanted your child called black. Because he’s the father and has a say, also. Your child is three-fourths white/one-fourth black. She’s fair-skinned and is biracial. It’s no up to you to decide she’s black. She can label herself when she gets older as black or biracial.

  187. anoneemouse says:

    Her comments sound so racist.

  188. Ms_Fu says:

    @ Smarter than most

    If you’re so much smarter than the rest of us, why can’t you write coherently?

  189. hottathanholywatta says:

    shes becoming uglier, stupider and more ignorant as she opens her mouth. She should go back to the only two things shes good at acting and being beautiful

  190. Cheyenne says:

    @”smarter then most”: You may be smarter than most varieties of fungi but your intelligence hasn’t developed much farther than that. BTW, it’s smarter THAN most, not smarter then most.

  191. irishserra says:

    @Ms Fu: Absolutely Agree!!I was thinking the very same thing.

  192. irishserra says:

    @Flourpot: For a sec, I was looking for a “like” button on your comment. Derp! You are right, though. So let’s just check “Human Race” and leave it at that.

  193. vibius says:

    I dont think her racial nonsense is anything more than part of a setup (not “being set up, but putting the pieces in place”) to justify the pity party when she has to take her ex-husband on. Its like shes trying to put all the pieces in place to add to the n-word usage. Supposed usage – now I am not so sure it was said. This whole thing just reeks of a PR scheme.

  194. renai(jrt) says:

    She should just say that her black ancestors gave her the youthful looking skin that she has and leave it at that…

  195. Jezi says:

    @Ms_Fu you read my mind.

    @Smarter than most when you start insulting and name calling it really takes away from your argument.

    This isn’t about race for Halle, this is about control and whatever she could find to defame her ex and her daughter’s father. If she was so concerned about race, she would’ve not had a child with a white man. It’s a shame that she goes this far and it really isn’t helping her case.

  196. Cheyenne says:

    @renai: Why do you keep injecting President Obama into this thread? What in the world does he have to do with any of this?

    The more you post on here, the sillier you sound. Go cut out paper dolls or something and leave this thread to the grownups. Any kind of intelligent input is clearly beyond your capacity.

  197. Franny says:

    @ Lukie – most magazines tend to emphasize body and how things fit body types, and not skin color. I understand why ebony exists, but its also being racist with titles such as “marriage is only for white people”

    also, you really don’t think people would throw a fit if there was a magazine called “white skin” and there was a title on it that said something like “not getting married- only for black people?

  198. The Truth Fairy says:

    @Blaster

    “I chose to not comment on posts with this subject because over-whlemingly, the people who comment are NOT black and don’t know inherently what it’s like.”

    What?!?! And how do you now the race of all of the posters? Do you have some special trick?

    Tell me what race I am – let’s see how accurate you are !!!!

  199. Bopa says:

    @txcinderella

    Yea because groups like NAACP and Ebony that seek to uplift black people and fill a gap are the sole problem for our race issues in the US……….

  200. MissyJ says:

    Whatever race HB decides to identify with is her choice. Whatever race her child decides to identify with will be her choice, though, I doubt she will be so closed minded. What it really comes down to is that HB thought she was getting a sperm donor and ended up getting a father for her child. She is just trying to make it seem like she should have full custody of her because of the “one drop” theory. Her skin color is convenient for her right now. She wanted her baby. He happened to be the one she was with when she was ready to have a child. And now she wants him out of the picture.

  201. STEL says:

    @Ms_Fu and Jezi

    It not Smarter **than** most @#180 it is Smarter **then** most. And ITA this is not a race issue. Literally no one can be a colour – black or white – we are all human beings.

  202. Franny says:

    also…this is the most comments I’ve ever seen. much more than the JA/AJ threads get!

  203. Roma says:

    Okay come on. Calling yourself `smarter then most` is one of the most hilarious, unintentional things I`ve seen on this thread.

    Thanks for bringing the humour.

  204. harfang says:

    Everyone who is miffed in ANY way about Halle’s “one-drop theory” comment NEEDS to read Blaster’s comment. I went to a predominantly Black high school, and seeing the specific ways in which society dehumanized many of my classmates seems to have given me a slight leg up over other honkies trying to grasp racism. (Believe me, I mean it when I say “slight,” I know there is no real emathy possible.) Take what Blaster says to heart, and you’ll see why arguing with Halle’s terminology in regard to herself (notice she sensibly points out that her daughter will figure out what it means to her in time) is a mild but still true form of dehumanization in and of itself.

  205. Jezi says:

    @STEL whoops, my bad!!! LOL, damn English language.

  206. Feebee says:

    Doesn’t matter what race she is, she’s becoming equal opportunity offensive.

  207. Kim says:

    Why does Nahla have to decide which color she wants to be?! That’s a very racist comment in and of itself!

  208. Zelda says:

    @Roma
    I know right? “Smarter then most” and her giant sentence totally made my day. You can’t write this stiff.

  209. marge says:

    There have been several scientific publications explaining that separate races within the human race do not exist, but are merely environmental adaptations.

    I myself do not believe in races, but since I’m latinamerican and all my great grandparents come from different parts of Europe, and before that who knows where, I can’t really identify myself as anything else but chilean. And that’s more of a quality -a condition really, hahaha- than a race.

    Hope we get over races soon… it’s gotten us knowhere really.

  210. Cheyenne says:

    I’m too lazy to go back upthread and check who it was who said the “one-drop rule” was a relic of slavery days. It wasn’t. The one-drop rule was instituted during Reconstruction when whites were panic-stricken at the idea of freed blacks being on any kind of equality with whites and were determined to keep black people “in their place”. So any amount of black blood, no matter how minuscule, made you all black. If Halle Berry really believes this, she’s even dumber than I thought.

  211. MJ says:

    Why is she even talking about this?

  212. Kim says:

    Halle has just as many drops of Caucasian as she does African American. Why cant she embrace both? Why does she have to label herself one way or the other? Isnt that just promoting prejudice saying her daughter will have to decide what color she wants to live as?

    Kind of a slap in face to Halles own mother who is Caucasian. and a passive agressive slap in Gabriels face which Im sure Halle was well aware of when she said it.

    Halle needs to lay low for awhile and stop going to the press with bad interviews that make her look like a racist and bagging on the father of her daughter whom she purposely chose to have a child with. She is making herself look really bad lately.

  213. Lola says:

    wow people are really pissed huh? look if you biracial and you tell someone im black, then there’s no funny looks, maybe they can even tell you have some european/asian in your background but they will keep it moving but imagine being biracial and saying your white, they will look at you funny. Thats when you have to explain my mom/dad is white/black, etc. Thats how its always going to be. the one drop theory isnt ignorant its real life. its more accepted to say your black if you have a tint of brown than claiming your white, that would seem disrespectful to most. its complicated if your not biracial than you cant imagine it. cant we just be mixed why do people insist on identifying with one side. ugh.i like Halle its her life and she’s just preparing her daughter for these moments in life when people will ask her if she’s black or white we cant judge her decision on something that is complicated.

  214. cos says:

    TXCinderella: As long as there is Ebony, BET, NAACP, Miss Black America, Affirmative Action, entities that purposely separate the races, we will not be one. Not my personal feelings, but just an observation.
    ==========================================

    Cheyenne: Gee, you think it’s only black people who are separating the races? Check out the KKK and the White Citizens Councils sometime.

    This statement is implying that most whites are in favor of and follow these institutions, which is ludicrous. These organizations are almost extinct and certainly not followed by anything close to majority of white folk. A infinitesimal minority if that. Most people abhor these organizations. There is no white main stream entity that excludes any race like the ones TXCinderella talks about and she’s right. It would never be allowed. “Ivory magazine, Miss White America, WET” Can you imagine if anyone tried?

  215. mymy says:

    Hey just wanted to say if someone want to mention Obama in this thread it is really not up to another poster to say it has nothing to do with this. If the original poster feels that it does they are entitled to their opinion.Sometimes we see things differently. I myself understand were the poster is coming from.
    I will add that the polarization of the races is similar and it is odd that it is brought on by two people that are mixed. Very odd.

  216. Ms_Fu says:

    @STEL
    I didn’t even notice that!

    @Cheyenne
    STEL is pointing out ‘Smarter then most”s error that we missed; she/he isn’t suggesting that ‘then’ is grammatically correct.

  217. Rita says:

    @Blaster

    I took harfang’s direction and read your comment a couple times. I’m as white as white gets and merely want to conceed to you your point that I really cannot empathise with your perspective. My perspective is basically “WTF cares about race as long as he/she is a good person”, but there’s obviously more to it than that.

    I think there is a basic “natural prejudice” in all mankind that goes back to the tribal days when someone said, “Okay, this is a mess. Whites over there, blacks over there, and you gay people…well we’ll figure out something later if you procreate”.

    We must intellectuallize and empathize our way through our “natural prejudices” that have been so aggrevated by the ignorance of our environment. I will try harder.

  218. Janice says:

    Having read most of the comments, I have come to the conclusion that my experience growing in America is totally different then many of you. My parents grew up in during Jim Crow Laws (White Only Signs).
    My brother’s High School Graduating Class was the first generation that was totally interrogated (white/black)from K-12. He graduated in 1983.
    Like most AAs my family history is very diverse. My mother’s (father) was half black and white. My mother’s (mother) was Black, Native American,White.
    My father’s (mother) was Black and his father was half White and Black.
    The result, my father was a light skin grayed eyed Black man. And my mother was light brown Black woman. And they had children who skin tones range from Very light skin to Medium-Brown skin. People always ask my sister if she is Latina or something?. People have called my brother Red Bone (Light skinned Black person). I am the
    Medium-Brown sibling. When I introduce people to my sister most white people are surprised. I’ve had a few ask me if we had the same parents. (Yes we do).
    No… AA is going to explain their family history. We just say I am African American/ Black. Most people don’t care. If you look AA that is how you are treated.

    May sister has experienced / witnessed more negative racial comments because white people don’t know if she is AA. She has worked in environments where she had to tell co-workers that she is AA so they would not send her the racist emails or tell her the racially offensive jokes that was going around the office.
    My experience has been different because I look AA. People are less likely to bring up offensive subjects around me. My sister is more suspicious of white people then I am.

    Halle’s daughter is growing up in a different world then she did. Nala is one who is going choose how she identifies herself as she grows (no one else). It is most likely going to be based on how people treat her as a person. The racial descriptions I grow up with are slowly fading. I believe Halle is not trying to dissociate Nala from her white heritage. I think she just wants to make sure that her daughter understands that their is nothing wrong with being called AA. There are still people in this world who are racially insensitive and negative towards anything AA.
    Example… One of my white friends sister has biracial children. When her first nephew was born she had a argument with the nurse in the hospital. Because the official medical record listed her nephew as AA. The nurse explained that they do certain test for rare diseases based on genetics. When she brought him by for a visit, she went on on about how he didn’t look black and how good his hair was (Not nappy like a black person’s). Another time she keep saying how her sister kids look Latino and not black. And the last one was how she didn’t like how her sister kids sound/talked black and how she was trying to correct their speech. This women is my friend and I know she doesn’t mean to hurt my feelings by making anything AA sound inferior. I have tried to explain to her every time she says something like this that it is not OK. She is a good person and friend. She isn’t a racist. She just about the most positive person in her nieces and nephews lives. But I fear those kids are going to grow up thinking anything AA is negative and must be changed, fixed, corrected, or suppressed. Their father is no longer in the picture to tell them that their is nothing wrong with being half AA. And their mother doesn’t spend any time with her kids. I hope these kids come to the understanding that they are individuals who should embrace being a good people. And should be treated with respect no matter who their parents are.
    I believe Halle is going about this the wrong way. If she wanted to be a single mother she have gone to a sperm Bank. Her baby daddy is always going to be in her child’s life. It doesn’t matter what Aubry said/says or doesn’t say that is negative. The point is… it is Halle’s job as a mother is to make sure she provides a positive AA influence in Nala’s life.

  219. feather blue says:

    bitch, please… her identity issues stem from her being named after a department store.

  220. Mouse says:

    This lady has some very serious screws loose and obviously has some deep rooted racial identity and relationship issues. Not to mention that hit & run. She’s the one who doesn’t seem like a stable parent. Poor Nahla.

  221. Lukie says:

    @Franny: um, they don’t need a magazine called “white skin” because they already have Vogue, Bazaar, W, etc. (I won’t throw Elle in there, b/c they do try).

    There is a reason that Vogue Italia had an all Black issue. B/c none of the Vogues use but a handful of black models and at that, it’s the same Black models.

    You don’t have to believe me. There are a crap load of articles devoted to that topic already, many written by White people. It’s a fact that fashion magazines rarely use Black and other models of color and it is a fact that they are rarely used in fashion shows. It is a fact that it’s harder for people of color to get roles in hollywood and it is a fact that people of color have some separate issue that speak to them that do not speak to Whites.

    When magazines, runways, and hollywood change that, then we won’t nee to have our own. Till then, it is what it is.

    PS: I can’t comment about the article on the cover of Ebony, b/c I have not read it (I prefer Essence, so it’s likely I never will), but I get your point. It is a polarizing headline.

  222. Si says:

    em….didnt she make a comment about jewish people on a talk show like jay leno and they had to cut/edit it out as it was offensive?i thought i read that somewhere.just saying….

  223. Cheyenne says:

    @Ms_Fu: I know she wasn’t. My comment was directed at “smarter then most” (I’m still laughing reading that). The poor thing probably doesn’t understand why everybody’s laughing.

    @cos: TxCinderella is saying that the purpose of Ebony, BET, NAACP etc. is to divide the races, when nothing could be further from the truth. The NAACP and Ebony magazine were established to help pull up black people when most whites were intent on grinding them down into the dirt and keeping them there. Similarly, Essence was established as a black women’s magazine when black women were marginalized by almost every white publication. And affirmative action was designed to help level the playing field and give blacks and Latinos a fair shot at college acceptance and decent jobs.

  224. Roxanne75 says:

    Wow what happened to “race doesn’t matter” People sure pick and choose when they want I guess…sick. WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  225. janie says:

    wow, i am shocked she said something like this. What if GA reversed the statement and said,
    “Well, first thing I want to say is that I’m very connected to my community and I want white people to know that I haven’t abandoned them because I’ve had a child with a woman outside of my race”
    i hope they learn to put aside whatever issues they have for the sake of their adorable child.

  226. Cheyenne says:

    @Lukie: Vogue (at least American Vogue) is full of it. A few years ago they ran a very good article about racism on the runway and how the major fashion houses rarely if ever use black models when they are showing off their collections. In the very same issue, every single model on their editorial page was a blonde, blue-eyed, skeletal Eastern European mannequin.

    The black issue of Vogue Italia sold out on the newsstands almost as soon as it came out and they had to print an extra press run, the first time Vogue has ever had to print extra copies. It’s a collector’s item and I could kick myself for losing mine.

  227. Jezi says:

    I have no issues with with anyone wanting to empower a particular race within their children. That’s great that Halle wants Nahla to be aware of her AA side. However, I think this is not about the race issue. I do believe this is about shutting GA from his child’s life. This is giving her the excuse she needs to make that happen.

  228. Cheyenne says:

    Kim: Halle has just as many drops of Caucasian as she does African American. Why cant she embrace both? … Kind of a slap in face to Halles own mother who is Caucasian.
    ==========================================

    Because Halle came up at a time when you couldn’t embrace both. You were either one or the other. White people didn’t want you if you were half-black, and if you identified as bi-racial, black people accused you of trying to “be white” and rejecting your heritage. It was a hell of a situation to have to live with.

    I used to work with a white woman who was married to a black man back in the 1970s and she always referred to her child as “bi-racial”, never as black, although he looked much more like his father than her. I used to ask myself, who is she kidding? Then I came to realize that calling her child bi-racial was her way of saying “This is my child, too, and he belongs to me and my family just as much has he belongs to his father’s family.”

    Times have changed and people are much more accepting of bi-racial identity. So it seems to me that Halle insisting her daughter is black and nothing else is not so much a reflection of her racial attitude as it is a slap at her child’s father and a rejection of his place in her child’s life.
    ______________________________________________________

    Jezi: I think this is not about the race issue. I do believe this is about shutting GA from his child’s life. This is giving her the excuse she needs to make that happen.
    ===================================================

    You took the words right out of my keyboard.

  229. QUEST says:

    Whether Halle likes it or not Nahla is Gabe’s own as well (flesh and blood). She can rant, rave, declare heaven how high about it and even omit his name on a birth certificate, but in the end their can only be one biological father and mother and Nahla will know this as she gets older.

    Halle is just making things harder on everyone with these shenanegans and outbust. In the end she would not benefit over this.

  230. Missfit says:

    Uh oh, she’s starting to say ignorant things like Gisele. My kids look more white than Hispanic…but I won’t deny what they are…I speak to my kids in both languages and when they get older, I want to remind them of their roots. I have ancestors from England…it doesn’t mean we should talk with a British accent and forget whom we are. In the end…most of the human race on this earth is mixed nationalities…we should be proud of all we inherit.

  231. Anonymous says:

    Didnt the nazi’s believe in the one drop theory too? Bitch get over yourself!

  232. Bebe says:

    Many of you are sensative. How is a biracial person only claiming one race denying the race of one of their parents. Aren’t people more then their racial makeup!!!! Halle says she is a black woman, but obviously is close as sh*t to her white mother!! Think about it.

  233. Bebe says:

    Also, many of you obviously including Kaiser did not read Halle’s full quote.

    She said as her mother she is black to me, but I will leave it up to NAHLA to define herself.

  234. irena NL says:

    To point out that reverse racism is alive and well and this is proof along with the proof coming from Oprah’s actions surrounding the election and Obama and Michele’s attending of a very racist church AND Michele’s comments regarding race.

    There @cheyenne….

  235. Franny says:

    I hear what you’re saying Lukie. I understand why there would be a magazine for black women, to have a magazine about beauty and fashion with women of similar skin color.

    but it just really bothers me that it has “is women for white people” on it. like other commenters have said, it only polarizes us. at that point, ebony isn’t a magazine about fashion and beauty anymore – it becomes about white versus black. not fashion, not beauty, not embracing who you are.

  236. Lukie says:

    þ@Zelda: thanks. I couldn’t remember the term, but I remembered that many French Canadians have a little indigenous up in them (see Countess Luann from RHONY).

    @Cheyenne: I’m just bitter I didn’t buy it when it first came out. I saw it in the store one day and the next, it was sold out 🙁

    Also, Pat & Janice, totally agree w/you.

  237. Jezi says:

    @Cheyenne I read what you wrote and was like, there you go, that’s what I meant to say but you put it a lot more eloquently.

    @Bebe have you not been reading her allegations about the father of Nahla lately? She knows damn well what she is saying and how she is putting it out there. She is very calculated and manipulating with her words. To her Nahla is black…why? Don’t you question her motivation for that?

  238. nycmom10024 says:

    @Bebe so glad you posted that, I was curious about the comments as well. They read the headline and maybe read Kaiser’s comments, But don’t appear to have read Halle’s statement.

    Sort of like commenting on a book or movie that you haven’t read or seen.

  239. nikki says:

    Maybe someone has already said this I don’t know I can’t read through all the comments but I think many of the people on here who are not visibly caucasian are right that those of us in the majority don’t really know how it feels to be of a minority when it comes to race. But I think as a caucasian in this day and age you are taught this sort of idea that if you ever acknowledge the differences between people of different races you are being racist or prejudice in some way and just widening the gap. I think to many caucasians there’s sort of this mind set that we know we are all equal so lets just be equal. But I can see how this is very condescending because the truth is, although we are all equal, many people out there are still prejudice against visible minorities and that the world is mainly run by caucasian men, therefore, that’s who it’s geared towards. So we can all pretend like everything is fair but it isn’t. That’s why I think it’s easy for caucasians to look at ebony or bet or any media outlet that specifies a particular race or ethnicity and say “wow you are just widening the gap by separating the races” but really, they are providing a place for people of minority to speak out where there wasn’t much of a space before.
    Aaaanyways, in regards to Halle, it’s not like she just randomly said these things, this is a magazine geared towards a specific minority(see?! I’m caucasian and I’m to scared to specify a race in case I sound disrespectful or racist or something)but I think since we all know the shit her and gabriel are throwing at one another this is just another move on her part.

  240. Cheyenne says:

    @Irena NL: Which actions of Oprah and which comments of Michelle Obama are you referring to?

  241. Meanchick says:

    It’s her right. The one drop theory is also true. Most people on the outside looking in (and judging) act like it doesn’t matter, until it hits closer to home. Ppl. look at me and they see African-American first, which dominates my features. Let it go. Are we gonna hear about the next time she farts too?

  242. James says:

    All of you that are some how blaming this on President Obama are complete idiots. Obvious Fox News Kool-Aid drinkers…Unreal! And the person that said Obama will make it hard for any other Black person to become president is not only an idiot, but also a racist. So let me get this straight, If Obama goes down in history as a bad president, this will somehow impact the ability of any future presidents that happen to be black??? If thats the case, we should never have had any other white presidents after Woodrow Wilson. Some people are complete idiots.

  243. Eve says:

    Why don’t y’all stop trying to negate the child’s blackness?

    @ Lukie (# 162):

    The thing is, we’re not negating that she’s partially black. What must of us claim is that she’s both. That’s all. I just wish neither of her ethnic background was negated (by any of her parents).

    Nahla has to be one of the most beautiful children I’ve seen in my entire life, and that has a lot to do with the fact she’s of mixed ethnicity (by the way, I’m NOT saying she wouldn’t be that beautiful if she was only white or only black, ok? You guys chill before assuming that): the combination between her eyes and her skin tone is amazing. I remember that when I saw her picture for the first time I thought “Damn, that’s one beautiful girl”. I think she’s gorgeous the way she is, and she is both black and white.

  244. im awful says:

    when i look at halle, i see someone with dark skin but i dont see her as ‘black’. her features would lead me to assume shes middle eastern or mixed. so no, not ‘black’ in my opinion.

    as for her kid, i would just think she was latino or mixed. definitely would never associater her with black…

    but thats me and i live in an area thats very multicultural and things arent so strictly black/white.

  245. Kim says:

    The article “Is Marriage for White People? is a critical look at the declining marriage rates in the Black community. Ebony not only celebrates the positives in our community but examines the negative aspects such as domestic violence, AIDS, Black on Black violence etc. On another topic I find it interesting than many Whites have a problem with Black organizations yet have no problem with Scottish Rite dorms and organizations such as Italian American organizations.They have a problem with Puerto Rican day(celebrates puertirican heritage) parades but are fine with St Patricks Day which celebrates Irish heritage. As for Heidi and Seals sons they can call themselves multiracial all they want.But in ten years if they are walking down the street in Beverly Hills., the police will get a call about suspicious young black in the area not biracial males. That’s a fact.

  246. irishserra says:

    @Janie: Very good point. The whole world would be up in arms if GA had said that.

  247. James says:

    In addition, Halle has made these type of pro-black statements way before president Obama was elected. So all of you with Obama-derangement syndrome, can stop making these wild leaps to connect Obama with all things you perceive to be wrong in the universe.

  248. Cheyenne says:

    @Irena NL: Also, which “racist” church is this that Michelle Obama attends? How is the church racist? They don’t let non-blacks in? They make whites sit in the back of the church? WTF are you talking about?

  249. Bopa says:

    What irks me about these debates is that people want to run to ideal society concepts when we don’t live in an ideal society. NAACP and Ebony are there to serve minorities in the US to make sure that we have protection (NAACP) and media representation (Ebony). There are white members of the NAACP and I know white people who read Ebony mag there is nothing to say that either are for blacks or people of color only. My push back to those who have an issue is that although NAACP accepts white members with open arms and Ebony mag doesn’t ask what your race is before you subscribe or pick up their mag how do these institutions harm you or take away any of your rights as a non-black person?

  250. mymy says:

    I better call my parents and tell them forget about the genes they passed down. Halle let us know that it is all null and void. And to think my nieces and nephews had some white in them. Me bad. My parents and me need to get reeducated and understand we are nothing when it comes to genetics because our family member has non white children even though he is white.We will be sure to not pass on any information from the white family as this might be seen as racist.

  251. Porter says:

    So many interesting comments and viewpoints on here, most notably the difference in opinions and experiences from people with mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds. Obviously it’s a complicated issue, and what I might have thought initially will have to be evaluated.

    That said, I don’t think people who are pointing out Nahla’s white ancestry are being white supremacist. In fact, I think some whites are having a knee-jerk reaction to this because Halle’s insistence that her daughter is black suggests that the white community won’t embrace Nahla because of her appearance. And those whites who flatter themselves to be non-racist feel slightly offended, because it seems to stereotype the white community as being genetically predisposed to bigotry.

    I DO NOT want to be one of those people who cries reverse racism since being non-white in America is still so much harder than being white. However, I don’t want to feel like my race is bad or wrong, or that I’m not entitled to pride in my ancestry. It’s a complicated issue for everyone.

    In the end, as many have suggested, we need to erase race issues. We need to stop being a checked box on a form and just be ourselves.

    p.s. I think people who are quick to point out that Obama is only half-black aren’t necessarily questioning his self-identification as a black man, but reminding others that true racial victory will come the day we have a president with an even more diverse background. Same with Halle – I was thrilled to see her win the Oscar, but I wondered if it was really giving hope to dark-skinned girls out there dreaming of equal representation in Hollywood.

  252. k.at says:

    I find it fascinating that this story had to be written at least two weeks ago (right?)and I find it extremely coincidental that she is discussing her daughter’s race in it-she never, that I know of, has brought this up before and she conveniently brings this up two weeks before “sources” come out saying that the white man who “held out a mirror”, was a huge racist. This is clearly a pre-meditated attack against her daughter’s father, which I honestly think is the most despicable thing one can do. Coming from a doomed relationship where my parents HATE each other, what she is doing is unforgivable and it’s a damn good thing she’s rich so she can pay for all the therapy her daughter’s going to need because she is torturing her daughter for her own selfish gain-people like her should never have children because she is just too narcissistic to realize the impact of her actions on this poor innocent human being.

  253. Jaquebelle says:

    Directed at the individual who wrote the following comment:

    *****As long as there is Ebony, BET, NAACP, Miss Black America, Affirmative Action, entities that purposely separate the races, we will not be one. Not my personal feelings, but just an observation.*****

    Many of the facets which you mentioned were historically derived from being blatantly excluded in the mainstream. Miss Black America was established as a result of African American women being excluded from these beauty pageants. One would be hard pressed to conjure an African American Miss America contestant, let alone winner, prior to the the 1980’s. A Miss America Pageant should ideally reflect a hue of beautiful, American women, but even in this day and age the female contestants are overwhelmingly Caucasian women. Asian women??? Latino women??? Now contrast this w/ the bevy of blond, blue-eyed, silicone enhanced white women competing in a variety of beauty pageants.

    Mainstream magazines are still reluctant to place minorities on their covers. They frequently justify this as a financial decision, due to the fact that ethnic covers do not sell as well as Caucasian ones. I am a child of the 1970’s and can testify how truly rare it was to see a person of colour on mainstream magazine covers from my era and beyond.

    In the absence of this, individuals have sought to address the lack of minority representation in the form of creating magazines, beauty pageants, and other forms to help create some sense of pride and awareness among Americans hugely underrepresented in mainstream cultural, educational, and business arenas.

    I am loathe to address the affirmative action issue mentioned, but when the primary author Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, “the we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”, he owned slaves. In an ideal world, slavery would not exist. Affirmative action would not exist. And people would be hired based on their professional merits. At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, this is not an ideal world. One love.

  254. Lukie says:

    @Franny: then I guess you now have a reason to go to Barnes and Noble’s magazine section and see what the article is about. According to Kim, it is an article that is really trying to say something else.

    @Jezi: the article was finished before she started accusing him of being a racist. And no, I don’t find it odd that she considers her child that came from her Black like her. My mom is a pretty racially ambiguous looking Black woman and so was her mom AND her father and guess what? She saw my sisters and I as Black and her parents saw her as Black too. Not Indian and Chilean like her husband. Just Black.

    We chose when we grew up. Only 2 of us consider ourselves Black. The sister in the middle chose American; Mulitracial if you push the issue.

    And no, I don’t have a problem with her choice. Like the other poster, Janice, I would say, the one that doesn’t chose is the most suspicious of White people for probably the same reason as her racially ambiguous sister. The only White people I know of that she hangs out with, are either Gay men that tend to date outside of their race or White people that grew up hanging out in multi-racial circles.

    @Eve: Brazil classifies differently. I have my own opinion about that after speaking with Canadian Black Brazilians, but since I am not from your country and that is a wholeeeee other conversation, I will not comment further.

  255. Catherine says:

    She really bugs me to no end. I have lost all respect for her, not that she really deserves much as she is dumber than a post.

  256. Zelda says:

    @Porter:
    “And those whites who flatter themselves to be non-racist feel slightly offended, because it seems to stereotype the white community a bigots.”

    The first half of your statement only serves to validate the concern many posters have with the second half.

  257. ezra says:

    Halle Berry is an ass and a hypocrite.

  258. Bebe says:

    @james

    Yup, many people forget that Halle has from day one said she was a black woman. Many(few white people) also forget the words that she said about black women in her Oscar speech. Thus, Halle’s “I am black and proud” stance is NOT knew. Many of you say, “what does her white mother think,” but obviosuly missed what Halle’s said her WHITE mother told her when she was a child!! See many white people tend to say, “black people….,” but forget that Halle’s white mother, and many mother’s whose hubands are not white have TOLD their children about who they are whether it be one ethnicity.

    No different than Obama’s Asian sister frequently saying that “I knew he would be the first black president,” or Boris Kodjoe talking about not seeing people that looked like him in Germany or whatever european country he lived in as a child, or Paula Patton, Kimora Lee Simmons all saying that they are black women.

  259. Kim says:

    Franny -Ebony is not and has never been a fashion or beauty magazine. It usually has one or two articles out of 20 related to fashion.It covers business, health, education etc from the Black prespective. There is a crisis in the Black community with the number of unmarried women and the number of children born out of wedlock approaching 70%.Every month they ask a question about an issue and asks two people to write an article explaining their view Yes or No regarding the issue.Would it be better if They asked Why aren’t Black People getting married? Lastly Halle did this interview in December month before GA filed for custody.

  260. Dominique says:

    The truth is, mixed race people are usually and most of the time forced to identify and label themselves with the race they most closely resemble. A half black/half white person usually looks black and thus will be labeled that way by others. We’re race obsessed, but we’re also appearance obsessed and “color struct” as a society. it’s just sad

  261. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @Cheyenne, renal is to conservativism what Courtney is to Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. If you catch my drift.

  262. nnn says:

    # 260

    True.

    MOST people in the US or elsewere will identify a mixed race person (Black & White ancestry) MORE as a LIGHT SKINNED Black person than a DARK SKINNED White one….because theyre are actually fully Black people with the same or even lughter complexion while there are none looking as dark in the caucasian community.

    In other words, Halle can easily be physically assimilated as a light skinned BLACK person (complexion, hair, even body type) than a dark skinned caucasian one.

    That’s probably one of the main reason society, especially in the US put more pressure to the young mixed race kid to identify himself/herself to the poeple they resemble the most.

    I however wish America was less obssessed by backgrounds, complexion,shades, hair type, putting people into boxes and communities and even multiplying boxes WITHIN the communities according different variations of physical differences belonging to the same community.

  263. Kim says:

    I wonder if this is the most comments any 1 post has received.

  264. Porter says:

    Zelda: I think you’re picking apart my poor use of syntax, rather than my sentiments. I said “flatter themselves” because to say “consider themselves” would be a bit presumptuous since even the most well-meaning individual may suffer from subconscious bias and stereotyping they don’t openly recognize. I don’t mean to imply that people are actually being non-racist just to make themselves feel good. Give people some credit – many members of most races are accepting and loving without any thought of recognition.

  265. Isa says:

    I wonder what she would be saying if she had a daughter like mine that is 3/4 white and 1/4 Mexican and looks white.

    @MorticansDoItDeader–Big hugs to your mom! I know how she feels especially when people ask me whose baby? I don’t get as many comments as I used to, but I think now that my daughter is older people just assume I’m her stepmom. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a step mom, I just want credit for birthing her! Haha.

    She can call Nahla black, but the rest of the world will probably ask, “what else?” When I look at Heidi and Seal’s children, they look mixed to me as well.

    I’m half Mexican and half white and everyone asks “What are you?!?!”

    I think the one with the problems with race is Halle and not Gabriel. Apologizing for having a child with someone “outside” her race? Ugh. What if Gabriel had said that?

    Reverse racism? Pfft. Racism is racism.

    The Truth Fairy-I cosign!

  266. bee says:

    I kind of like this controversial race posts… When I was in school in my country I was the only non-white and I was bullied for years. I had a black great-great grandfather and because of some weird genetic leap I’m the darkest one in my family. I was raised in a white family but treated as black or mixed race outside of it, and it sucks that I had no one to relate. It’s great to know there’s people who understand what kind of f-up shit I went through

  267. jc126 says:

    @@ Uh huh. Why would HB even need to say “I’m not abandoning black people” if she dates guys from other ethnicities? It sounds like an apology – what is there to apologize for? No one needs to stick with their own ethnicity, so to speak, plus even if that were true, she’s half English (think her mom’s from England). Has she said she’s not abandoned English guys?
    I too thought the “one drop” comment comes from a racially derogatory notion.
    Clearly, Nahla is black/African, but she is also English, and French, and whatever else her parents are. I don’t see why she has to pick one.

  268. malina says:

    She is very racist indeed. I haven’t heard Kim and Khloe Kardishian or Heidi Klum apologizing for dating man outside their race…
    An I have never apologised myself. The whole problem just doesn’t exist for me.

    And good point, Isa. Can you imagine if Gabriel has said that? Burn him?!
    No custody obviously…

  269. gia says:

    Halle states that she believes in the “one-drop” theory. I shudder to think what would happen to a white person if they stated this on the record for an interview. Double standards.

    The little girl is genetically more white than black, but dare a white person say that about a biracial baby who was more black than white, and there would be he** to pay.

    Wake up,people. Halle is a millionaire who dates white men in general, and a Hispanic man who looks and acts whiter than her (which is, by the way, 50%). She has manipulated her face to look whiter. And, no, she didn’t “have” to do it to succeed. No one forced her to become an actress. This is the country of free choice.

    In all honesty, as a proud 100% black woman who is educated and embracing a multicultural relationship, I’m tired of Halle using black people as her lynch mob. She lives whiter than white, but when the going gets tough is all of a sudden a sista. Not buying it.

  270. Aries_Mira says:

    “The only way to end racism is to stop talking about it.” – Morgan Freeman.

    Freeman once said on an interview with 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace: “I am going to stop calling you a white man and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.”

  271. aiych says:

    White people always feel that they can change whatever rules they put in place once a non-white person benefits or derives some sort of satisfaction from it.

    And NAACP, EBONY, JET, ESSENCE, ETC are a result of white supremacy and the longtime exclusion and degradation of blacks in the media and society. If white society had not been so racist in the first place there would be no need for these black geared entities/organizations/media outlets.

    And do white people not realize that white women greatly benefit from affirmative action as well in both college enrollment and corporate America?

    And thank you #253 for that comment. People need to look at the root reasons for why these things had to be put in place in the first place. If those things were not there I have no doubt that blacks would still lack adequate representation (not that we have it now, but whatever). Or we would still be the mammies, savages, sambos, etc that we were frequently portrayed as.

  272. Saigo says:

    I am mixed and I identify as black although my father (who is in my life) is white. Why? Because black is what I see when I look in the mirror, black is what I look like, that is what society treats me as and that is what I identify with. I am genetically “half-white” and “half-black”, but socially I am black and that is what I identify with. I have been called “nigger” and been subject to “black jokes”, never have I been called “cracker”. Why? Because I am perceived as black by the people around me. When somebody stereotypes me (and voices that opinion) or makes some kind of racialized statement I can tell they think of me as a black person and only a black person, nothing else, although I am technically half caucasian. I have never been demeaned by blacks in this manner because of my white lineage and have not felt isolated in the black community, so who the hell do you think I would feel more comfortable with?

    If white society had embraced “mixed-raced” children from the get-go instead of writing them off as degenerates then maybe more mixed-race people would embrace their whiteness. But nope, even if you were 1/32 black you were considered black, not white. Now the tables are turned and white people want to GET MAD when a mixed person identifies with their blackness only? What audacity.

    Other people may have their own opinions but you never know why somebody identifies with the group that they do. I have been treated as a black person in America and abroad, that is what I identify with regardless of my genes.

  273. Bee says:

    So, now Halle is using the rational of slave owners? What an idiot this woman is. Poor Nahla.

  274. Saigo says:

    that being said, I do not particularly like Halle nor am I going to applaud any black woman who played such ridiculous role as she did in Monster’s Ball.

    But this whole whining about “mixed-people identifying as black” has got to stop. I have other mixed race friends who identify as only one of their races (White-Korean as Korean, White-Black as Black but never white because few if any white/black kids come out looking white enough to identify as only white) and some who identify as multi-racial, stop crying about white people being given the cold shoulder. If someone decides then let them decide.

  275. Saigo says:

    I am mixed and I identify as black although my father (who is in my life) is white. Why? Because black is what I see when I look in the mirror, black is what I look like, that is what society treats me as and that is what I identify with. I am genetically “half-white” and “half-black”, but socially I am black and that is what I identify with. I have been called “nigger” and been subject to “black jokes”, never have I been called “cracker”. Why? Because I am perceived as black by the people around me. When somebody stereotypes me (and voices that opinion) or makes some kind of racialized statement I can tell they think of me as a black person and only a black person, nothing else, although I am technically half caucasian. I have never been demeaned by blacks in this manner because of my white lineage and have not felt isolated in the black community, so who the hell do you think I would feel more comfortable with?

    If white society had embraced “mixed-raced” children from the get-go instead of writing them off as degenerates then maybe more mixed-race people would embrace their whiteness. But nope, even if you were 1/32 black you were considered black, not white. Now the tables are turned and white people want to GET MAD when a mixed person identifies with their blackness only? What audacity.

    Other people may have their own opinions but you never know why somebody identifies with the group that they do. I have been treated as a black person in America and abroad, that is what I identify with regardless of my genes.

  276. LeAnn says:

    LOL, I like how white people get to pick and choose when their one drop rule applies. When a black person chooses then there’s an uproar.

    Black people have always had their race dictated to them and have never had a say. Now we do. Get over it.

  277. gia says:

    @Saigo-if I may ask what part of the country are you from? Maybe that is what gives us all different experiences? My husband’s family is, for the most part, mixed and has not had that experience. They consider themselves “multi-racial”.

  278. gia says:

    @Lee Ann-so two wrongs make a right? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

  279. Franny says:

    I haven’t read Ebony. Above posters made it seem that Ebony was created because magazines like Vogue, Elle and so on didn’t feature black women. That’s why I assumed that it was a magazine about fashion and other topics (like Vogue and Elle and so on do as well). That and that the cover says “Spring Hottest Looks”.

    I have no problem with the magazine. I haven’t read the article about black people and marriage. My only problem with it is that it says “Is marriage only for white people” when it should say “why aren’t black people getting married anymore”. That’s all. With all the acceptance we try to have for each other, it just bothered me that that headline would be on the cover, because it does seem to go back to the race/ethnicity/attacking each other.

    It seems that most people on here are just nitpicking at certain comments, but over all agree ( i know i was nitpicking too about the headline on the cover). We don’t want to check a box about who we are, we want to move past who’s black/white/indian/asian/purple and just live peacefully.

  280. Cheyenne says:

    @Franny: Ebony and other black publications were started because black people in America had been marginalized in the press and in society in general for so long that we needed these publications to take note of our concerns and our achievements. It covers all aspects of society including politics, black history, fashion, arts and culture, etc.

    I expect this article about marriage being “only for white people” is going to generate a stink in their letters-to-the-editors page. But the fact is that the black marriage rate has been nosediving for years. Back in the day when I was coming up, everybody got married, usually young. Now you have 65% of black infants born out of wedlock. I credit this to several factors: an overall greater acceptance of out-of-wedlock pregnancy, many more well-educated black women than black men, and a developing culture of who-needs-a-man-etc.

    Note that the above increasingly applies not only to black people, but to whites as well. The overall number of babies born to single parents has increased enormously, and college-educated white women now outnumber college-educated white men.
    _____________________________________________

    @Morticians: I understand perfectly. She’s got some mad issues.

  281. Teri says:

    First off why do she need to put a label on it and 2 is she wants to do that, isnt Halles parent 1 white and 1 black and her daughters father is white..Think about it

  282. Teri says:

    Plus she sounds like an idiot

  283. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @Isa, thanks! Big hugs to you too! I sincerely hope your daughter never has to experience some of the other, more offensive, things I have; like the racists jokes people tell and the slurs they use when they think they’re in a room full of non-Hispanic people. I follow up said joke/slur with telling them that my mother’s maiden name is Rodriguez. Usually nothing more needs to be said after that. Plus, I’m afraid if I open my mouth to say much more than that, it’ll get ugly!

  284. Alix says:

    Ten or so years ago Halle Berry was known primarily as the actress who got sued after a hit-and-run — ran a red light, smashed into a car and kept on goin’. Sounds like she’s reverting to her former idiocy.

  285. James says:

    @Saigo – Standing ovation goes to you. Great comment! You are correct historically, blacks have been more accepting of mixed blacks, while they were shunned by whites.

  286. Megatrona says:

    When I meet people I do see differences
    Some are funny, some are smart, some are assholes, some are idiots and so on and so on
    And even then what I see is sublective to me

    After reading the 11000000000000 coments about this shit, I think most, not all of course, will agree that Hally is starting to fall into the ” crazy” category

    Poor Nahla 🙁

  287. Shy says:

    I kind of didn’t notice before that she dates white people. Two in a row now. Doesn’t this makes her a racist to her own race? 🙂 That she only wants to sleep with hot white and young dudes.

    And she choose a white guy to be the father of her child. She didn’t want her child to be black so she chooses white guy so that her kid would be more lighted. And then she publicly calls Gabriel a racist. The guy who was dated black woman and agreed to have a child with her. Which automatically means that his kid will be black.

    Just saying…

  288. Tif says:

    All this is is white folks wanting to own another black person. This time it’s Halle, before it was Whitney Houston. They find a “black gal” they like and want them to fall to their side. Same for black men they like. Fact is, although Nahla’s eyes are as blue as the ocean she’d be called the N-word before anything elsa. Same goes for Heidi’s babies. People use the one drop rule out of pride. Taking something that was used to make someone feel inferior and saying no I’m proud of this.

    Yes and black mags, black Miss America, and The NAACP all were rooted to not ignore blacks in mainstream (white society). NAACP fought for equal rights for blacks…so please. Affirmative Action helped white women primarily, so if you’re a white woman you better hush on that aspect.

    Every biracial person I’ve known have identified themselves as black. She may look black and something elsa, but society will focus on the black part. Hopefully it’s better when she gets out there in the world.

  289. Tif says:

    @To the person that dissed Giselle Bundchen. Saying she said stupid stuff. Sun screen is full of chemicals and can cause cancer. Avoid the afternoon sun….use natural sun blocks. Breast feeding is better for your child and women do think getting pregnant gives them an excuse to get fat. What Giselle has said is factual, so go read and educate your mind before attacking a lady that educates herself.

  290. Cheyenne says:

    @James: Well good lord, if blacks weren’t accepting of mixed blacks, we’d have to reject 95% of us. I’m starting to think the only pure blacks in this country are recent African immigrants.

    I wanted to smack the bejesus out of an ignorant white woman who told me I wasn’t black. I asked her why in the world would she say that and she said “You don’t look like black people are supposed to look.” I was like, “WTF are black people supposed to look like, Aunt Jemima?” And after staring at me a few minutes, she says to me — are you ready for this? — “Are there any other black people in your family?” At that point I figured there was no fixing stupid and gave up.

  291. LuckyLilGem says:

    If Halle wants Nahla to self identify, then she shouldn’t identify her daughter as anything other than mixed race.

    Its sad that Halle is making her split with Gabe a racial battle. He certainly didn’t have a problem with her race prior to knocking her up. Does he really have a problem with her now?

  292. irena NL says:

    @cheyenne

    Do a search on their church of choice for over twenty years. It caused such an uproar they removed themselves from the Rev Wright’s church for the time being. Not up to speed, I see.

    Poor Nahla, I must add.

  293. daisy424 says:

    Great write up, interesting comments.

  294. kelly says:

    Actually, according to that frankly bizarre frankenstein type theory, we’re ALL black. Because the first morphologically modern humans were African (though with the latest stuff coming out of northern China, that could be up for debate- maybe we’re all Asian). One drop? Try 99.9947463535 of your blood, dumbarse. Crack a book some time. Your melanin content is something to be neither proud nor ashamed of, because it’s AN ACCIDENT OF BIRTH, duh! Not a frigging badge of honour or some kind of achievement.

    Why the hell is this so important to people, particularly, it seems, Americans? Why are black Americans so determined to categorize themselves in this really weird, dated, and kind of offensive way, perpetuating the racial delineation attempted by the very people who traded their ancestors? WTF!!! It just seems so retrograde to me.

    Personally, I love the fact that we may not even be one homogenous species, when all is said and done. I love that everyone looks different and it’s all a great big random mess. I cannot imagine being ‘proud’ of my ‘ethnicity’ (a totally bogus construct anyway) that’s like being proud that it rains, for christ’s sake.

  295. dea says:

    Halle is going out of her mind I think. If she wanted her child to be called black she should have chosen a black sperm. Poor Nahla – thats all I have to say.

  296. Isa says:

    MorticiansDoItDeader- Love your screen name!
    I know what you’re talking about. I’ve had people forget I’m Mexican and I’ve heard some horrible things. I’ve also been called some horrible things.

    I find Saigo’s comment interesting because my experience growing up was very different. I felt isolated from my Mexican community because I do not speak Spanish. Not for lack of trying, but when I would pronounce the words incorrectly I was made fun of so I just quit. I was accused of “trying to be a white girl.” My friends were all white and I never felt out of place.

    My daughter looks white and will probably be considered white, but I still hope and will encourage that she embraces her Mexican roots. She speaks a little Spanish and I hope to learn it too in order to help her. 🙂

  297. Leslie says:

    I don’t mind the debate going on here, because it is enlightening, especially for those of us who aren’t of mixed descent. However, I do bristle a bit when people make statements along the lines of, “white people used to, so now they can’t …” I’m not those white people you are talking about. I’m probably not even related to them. It’s a sad, painful part of history that we can’t ignore, but to lump all modern whites in with the behavior of whites in the past is as ignorant as saying that all blacks today are stupid because slaves weren’t given access to education. All blacks aren’t basketball players. All Germans aren’t Nazis. And all whites aren’t bigots. The past shouldn’t define any race, and if more of us would let go of it, this debate would be much more positive. I’m sorry for the pain racism has caused many of you, but please don’t blame me just because I have the same skin color.

  298. Bopa says:

    @Franny

    The story is about the drasticly lower numbers of African Americans getting married. Comparing the numbers between whites and blacks. How is their comparing marriage rates between whites and blacks (and blacks being lower in %)an attack on white people?

  299. Fat Jenny says:

    Halle Berry is half white so her baby is actually 75% percent white and 25% percent black. No one should ever discredit any and all races. I don’t understand why this is even an issue. The reality is that the baby is black and white. The same rule applies to Obama. I hate how Obama’s whiteness is discredited and how he is only referred to as the ‘black’ president, when he is half white; both races should be acknowledged and embraced. The one-drop rule is an ignorant rule.

  300. Danie says:

    This isn’t about race or anything so interesting. It is about this vindictive personality disordered excuse for a mother keeping control over her “assets”: a human being. She is still trying to malign this man’s intentions in the public. He is her father and that doesn’t go along with Miss Halle’s life. I am starting to think the precious child is better off with her Dad, although he is just requesting shared custody. What a sensible non self-absorbed man.

  301. april says:

    wow, this makes her look even worse. it is an extremely racist thing to say. Halle shouldnt even be talking about her daughters race like that. Her daughter should be taught about her heritage yes, but on both sides, and identify how she chooses, or maybe it wont matter so much to her…

    2 of my three children are mixed race, black and white,
    the other is white, but we dont go around saying you are black or white, to them, its just “my sister or my brother” we dont really talk about race yet because it shouldnt matter. when they are older they can define themselves as they wish.

  302. JenJen says:

    I thought she was so protective of even having Nahla’s picture being taken before? Too bad her life has become so public at such a young age.

  303. shay says:

    I will tell you who came up with the “one drop rule”…white people. In general, white people do not look at any person mixed with black as anything but that. There is a paranoid preservation of race going on that no one wants to admit. If Halle attempted to claim her or her child as white, she would be looked upon with contempt, by both races. I get tired of the lame out of touch things that white people say. Why are yall so hard on Halle? Do any of you know her and Gabriel or their daughter personally? Hell no. Halle knows that black people will not bash her as much as white people and seeing how things turned out, she should have had a child with a black man. Then no one would care.

  304. Bruce says:

    OMG!!! Help this crazy azz woman!

  305. Trashaddict says:

    I’m trying to imaging if Nahla was reading these posts some day when she’s 16, and trying to make sense of them. I don’t agree with her mom but the comments bordering on rage seem a bit much. People have said some really interesting things here about their experience of race. And the posters who have the most right to comment are those who find themselves in Nahla’s situation. I’m curious how people would feel if the census dropped any racial or ethnic designation- would you feel this was a good thing, or would you feel it cheated your identity? Would you prefer the census allowed several designations? How many options for race/ethnicity would feel like enough? I’m seriously asking this question because I find the concept of trying to identify people by racial, political, gender, etc. labels is getting kind of silly. People may find it comforting because it gives them a starting place from which to think about that person, but so often it says more about who society thinks the person is, and so little about who the person really is.

  306. Franny says:

    @Bopa – it just doesn’t make sense that a magazine geared at black people have a story about the decline in black marriage to have a title about white people’s marriage rates. that’s all.

  307. MorticiansDoItDeader says:

    @Isa, thanks 🙂
    re: the language. Even within the Hispanic community, the language varies so much that people from various regions can’t understand eachother. I have a puertorican friend who uses so much slang (when he speaks Spanish), I can’t understand a word he says. I have another friend from puertorico who married a costarican women and they can only speak English to eachother! I’m very sensitive when it comes to pronunciation, for the same reasons you are (fear of saying something incorrectly etc). So, most of the time I respond in English (when spoken to in Spanish). This hasn’t done me much good though, because it’s put me out of practice and made me a weak speaker! Also, my grandparents did NOT speak Spanish to my mom because they were trying to “assimilate” and downplay their “otherness” as much as possible. So, my mom (who is first generation American and the product of two Hispanic parents) never learned to speak Spanish. So, I didn’t learn it until later in life (from school and great-uncles). I’d imagine that “assimilation” had a lot to do with why you never picked up on the language. It’s so sad that “blending in” used to (and sometimes still does) trump cultural pride.

  308. Lukie says:

    @gia: actually, people from Spain are Europeans. He’s White.

    And just b/c she dated 3 White guys that you know of (NKOTB dude, the French/Spanish womanizer, and Gabriel, does not mean she dates White men exclusively.

  309. Laura says:

    Isn’t Halle mixed herself?

    I call their race ‘gorgeous’, whatever it is.

  310. serabella says:

    although I’m sure my comment will be lost in this cornucopia of opinions, I just had to say something (as a first time commenter.) I am half Thai and half caucasian, and I’ve noticed that when people ask my race – because obviously I am not all white – I tell them I am Asian, because that is what they expect when I answer their query. Caucasian people expect this answer, but when an Asian asked me this and I told him I was Thai, he asked what else I was, and I told him my mother was Thai and my father was white and he said something I’ll never forget… “oh, no you’re not thai, you’re American”, so this is what I answer when asked, to hell with the assholes that say otherwise

  311. Zelda says:

    @porter
    Not a syntax issue (word order?), and you just proved the point with your explanation. You are saying that even white people who may seem/believe themselves to be non-racist are really probably at least a little racist deep down, even if it’s subconscious.
    That’s a terrible thing to say. How is one to prove that they AREN’T subconsciously anything?

    “I don’t think I am/he is racist”
    “You/he probably are/is. It’s just subconscious.”

    Well who can be justified in the face of circular reasoning like that?

  312. Kloops says:

    I have no idea how Nahla is going to self-identify but it is endlessly fascinating. What I do find compelling are her asertations her child’s father is an an abusive racist. So either he is the s scum of the earth or she is deliberately slandering him and that is horrible.

  313. Frederick says:

    I have sympathy for Halle Berry. Race issue is A BIG DEAL and we all heard this song before with Mariah Carey, Prince, Alicia Keys, Lenny kravitz etc. I come from a mixed background as in half russian and half tanzanian(east africa). My opinion comes from experiance..

    I mean, she is actually saying that her daughter will have to decide for herself and that her decision will be influenced upon how the world identifies her- so the question is how “tanned” will she actually be growing up.

    maybe it would be better to have the choice to tick the “mixed” box rather than having to decide if you are “black” or “white”.

    I know from experience that I don’t want to exclude neither of my heritages

  314. Angel says:

    eh … I guess I get what she means. Not exactly the same, but, I really realised how very western I am after I seriously dated a Japanese man in my early twenties. The culture gap was so very extreme, it kind of magnified for me my ‘western-ness’ if that makes sense. I think that, if I were a black woman, and I dated a white man who was ignorant/unaware of my struggles and unique experiences as a black woman, as all white men are bound to be, that might bring those things into even more of a focus in the same manner.

    I don’t think it was necessarily a stupid thing to say, just not stated very eloquently.

    And she has always strongly identified as a black woman. I don’t get the ‘when it’s convenient’ stance at all.

  315. lachica says:

    When was the last time Halle gave Ebony an interview like this? lol

  316. Jezi says:

    I will say it once again, this isn’t about race. Halle just loves to play the race card when it suits her. This is not about white people trying to bring her down, I don’t know what poster wrote that but it’s there, this is about Halle being vindictive against the father of her child. That’s all it is. Nahla will determine what race she will identify with when she’s older and it would be unfair if her mom made her feel like she has to choose one over the other. Nahla may not even want to choose, she may just accept both sides. If Halle keeps GA out of Nahla’s life she will be able to influence Nahla much easier and I really don’t think that is fair to the child.

  317. the original bellaluna says:

    @ James – And that hurts my heart. As do several of the stories shared here by mothers of mixed-ethnicity children.

    I’m sorry – I didn’t mean any offence. I’ve just tried very hard to impart on my kids the fact that it’s not okay to use derogatory terms just because they may belong to (or identify with) a certain group of people.

  318. Bopa says:

    @Franny

    Every other set of stats states the difference between whites and blacks so why wouldn’t Ebony source that info? We can google disease rates and crime rates and 99% of them will have a break down by race. Whites are still the majority in the US so it’s not an attack on white people just a comparison. You also didn’t answer why you saw it as an attack. If it’s saying whites have a higher rate of marriage than blacks that IMO would be a negative reflection on the black community not on the white majority.

  319. jc126 says:

    Uh, the comments from a few people about “most white people”, “white people all think”, are pretty stupid and sound rather bigoted.

  320. GradStudentEatingHotPockets says:

    @Bopa
    I’m not going to put words in Franny’s mouth, but maybe the title just comes across as a little confrontational? Which I guess could also come across as an attack? I mean, I don’t know why she said that…but the title could be taken out of context and come across as being very confrontational.

    (I have no clue what all is in the article, now I want to read it…ha)

  321. GradStudentEatingHotPockets says:

    I just can’t stress enough…race is not something that we (we being research psychologists) use when we’re categorizing people.
    The reason why…
    Depending on your culture or country and where you are from, your race may be different. For instance, a person who considers themselves “Hispanic/Latino” in the USA may be considered “White” in other countries. It’s confusing.

    So at least when we used studies, we use ethnicity. If you identify yourself with African-American…regardless of how light or dark you are…you will be African-American. If you are a non-white hispanic/latino…then that is what you are regardless of your skin color! People who identify as Caucasian can check caucasian! It’s an easier way for us to scientifically and fairly categorize people. I say it’s “fair” because it really is up to the person filling out the form what they would like to choose on their ethnicity.

    Now, especially in places where they’re just asking your ethnicity and stuff on random forms (like schools enrollment forms)- they are just asking because they want to see how “diverse” their institution is (it helps with funding and whatnot). Now, I think further up on the post texasmom and someone else talked about how they wouldn’t check just one box for their children…GOOD FOR YOU! The boxes are supposed to be for ethnicity and people FORGET that or are ignorant to that, and it’s terrible to have to choose a race to identify with and not your ethnicity. My friend (who is from the Dominican Republic but is Black) refused to put down he was Black. Because he was Dominican.

    I can cite some studies that talk about how outdated it is to aska bout “race” in studies and stuff…but I’ll edit my comment and add them if people actually want to see them.

  322. Cheyenne says:

    @IrenaNL: OMG, I thought you were talking about something recent. Obama repudiated Wright years ago. And just because the rev was a few neurons short of a synapse doesn’t mean his whole congregation was as crazy as he was. Sheesh.

  323. Jacquie says:

    Why can’t we all just identify ourselves as PEOPLE. The only people perpetuating this race issue are the people who need to be identified as “____” (whatever they are.

  324. Kim says:

    Census reports just released data that Blacks have the lowest rates of getting married of any group. That’s why Ebony is addressing this issue.

  325. irena NL says:

    Cheyenne…hi!

    They left for political reasons. The hot seat would’ve been too great had the association not been suppressed by the MSM. Twenty years sitting & listening to that tells something about the congregant.

    Have a good one!

    Prayers for Nahla

  326. Jaquebelle says:

    It appears the one drop rule as applies to dating white men lol. Halle has overwhelmingly dated black men throughout her life. All of her marriages were w/ black men. The supreme irony is that whether she dates a black man or a white man, she is NOT dating outside her race lol. Where is the outrage regarding the inverse of this. It is a rare sighting to see a black man w/ his nubian counterpart, especially celebrities and athletes. For me, the person Halle ultimately chooses to vibe w/ is a matter of supreme indifference and personal preference.

    Halle’s mother raised her as a black woman. A white woman who more than understood the complexities of race relations in America. I really don’t have a problem w/ this and the bottom line is that if you are inclined to vehemently dislike (and their seems to be a sad amount of this present)Halle, everything she says or does will be misinterpreted to justify one’s dislike.

    For those of you who have not perused an Ebony magazine. I invite you to do so lol. There is no secret password or handshake involved in this transaction. You simply walk into a store which sells Ebony magazine and present the cashier w/ enough money so that you will be able to gracefully exit w/out the police being called. You certainly don’t have to be “ebony” to read an Ebony magazine. I am a fan of a variety of magazines which don’t necessarily reflect my heritage. I avidly read beauty magazines, but the last time I checked the mirror, I was not a size zero w/ sunken cheeks and blue/green eyes.

    I don’t feel as sorry for Nahla as I do for us. White AND blacks using the discussion of race to espouse and expose their inner prejudices and extreme hatred so very disproportionate to a simple matter of preference. One love.

  327. Bopa says:

    @GradStudentEatingHotPockets:

    I can partially see that but the title came off as silly to me. “Is Marriage Only For White People?” sounds like an odd title that I guess Ebony figured would catch the eye and make people want to pick up the mag. Also being a regular reader of Ebony I already know what the title means and Franny wouldn’t have any way of knowing that.

  328. leuce7 says:

    @Traschaddict and Jacquie,

    I think you both touch on exactly why this issue is so delicate.

    I am American. I was born here, I love this country, I think it’s the best place on earth, etc. etc., red white & blue fireworks and whatnot (obviously not to that simplistic an extent; I have MANY issues with America and think it can be a better place, but it does boil down to I am American and love being American).

    That being said, yes, I would actually be annoyed if I couldn’t identify as Hispanic/Latina. I am American, I did grow up here, but we spoke Spanish at home, our staple foods included beans and tortillas, I had an ancestral and cultural ties to native indigenous populations with a really different experience than those of the majority white (or maybe Eurocentric?) culture, customs and habits that are identified as Hispanic.

    Does it make me less American? No. Just like it doesn’t make a Black/English/Scottish/Thai/Russian/African etc. any less American when they come here and choose to become American. But yeah, if you *deny* me the opportunity to say, hey fellow American/fellow member of the human race, here’s what defined *my* experience, I’ll get a little annoyed. It’s not a judgement and there’s no good or bad to it, I just have an experience I can describe in no other terms than Mexican-influenced.

    And to sum up, all the above is one of the reasons I do love the US, because I buy into the ideal that we’re a nation made up of damn near everything, with a lot of missteps along the way, but with a never-ending attempt at growth. We’ll ask the questions and try the different approaches. We’ll take anything and we’ll learn and grow and it’s an IDEA, not a culture, not a skin color, not a language, that makes us American.

  329. malaka says:

    well its halle berrys kid and no one has the right to tell her what her kid is gonna be. clearly nahla looks black and im not gonna look at her and think “white girl” even though she is 3/4 white and 1/4 black. and if halle is proud to be black than im sure nahla will too. and as far as halle saying she is proud to be black than why cant you people leave it alone. its probably white people and other races who want halle and nahla to not be black because their racist. its halles decision not ours.

  330. Isa says:

    MorticiansDoItDeader- You’re right. My dad was trying to learn English so Spanish was never spoken at home. My dad is fluent in both now, but my brother, sister, and I are not. Everyday at work I have someone try to speak Spanish to me and I’m always having to explain that I don’t know it and then they want to know why.
    I know enough words to get me by, but I can’t form a sentence. I can’t pronounce them correctly since I have a Southern accent and can’t seem to roll my “Rs” but people are much more forgiving now than in school.
    I can understand a lot more than I can speak.

  331. Jaquebelle says:

    Why on earth would Halle’s mother be offended at her identifying as a black woman when Halle’s mother instituted this concept. Halle has been very clear in stating how her mother responded to the race issue by explaining to Halle that she and her sister would be regarded as a black women.

    We can all second guess Halle’s motives, colored by our pre-existing opinions of her. Call me Novocaine, because I am NOT feeling this intense hatred for Halle Berry. Meanwhile the father escapes even the slightest amount of scrutiny. What do we know about him and maybe, JUST MAYBE, there might be some culpability on his part.

    The ever evolving blending of races and ethnic groups is a beautiful thing to me. And just as I respect the commentators of this website to raise and identify their multiracial children as they deem fit, let us also extend the same benefit to Halle. After all, its not what they call you. It is what you answer to. One love.

  332. samihami says:

    “I’m black and I’m her mother and I believe in the one-drop theory”

    But Halle, you’re not black! You are mixed race, and your daughter has a white father. You’re just not very smart, are you?

  333. miamac says:

    I guess being around the same age as Halle, I too accept the one-drop theory. The last I recall it was written into law so why are non-blacks, specifically white people, disagreeing? Isn’t this one of your laws? And no, I’m not racist. I just recall learning in my history class that one percent of black blood deemed a person’s race as black. YES, WHITE TEACHERS MADE US LEARN/READ THIS FROM SCHOOL BOOKS! I know some will say times have changed but has the law changed? I never had a problem ‘owning’ one percent black as I’m proud, very proud, like Halle, to be black. If I had a daughter or son, they would share my point of view and my race. I, like Halle, would accept their decision to be labeled otherwise when they reached age. But until then …

  334. Robbbb says:

    I agree with Miamac and Halle, one drop of black blood does make you black, and she looks like a light skinned sista and will be treated as one, trust me. Just ask Obama or Halle or Mariah or hell my Grand Dad. You are the ones who made the law look it up.

  335. Robbbb says:

    No one is saying that about Obama, White people only pick and chooses, but it don’t work that way. If that girl isn’t black then there isn’t any blacks in America. We all have something mixed in us. But we go with what we look like and that girl looks black. You do too and have for years. My Grand Dad was half white, but was called black and treated as such so that’s what he identified himself as. The Girl is black and that all to it.

  336. Say WHAT? says:

    Re the “One Drop Rule” – anyone who unquestioningly accepts such a vile racist rule designed to keep blacks in their place and white people “pure” – which they are NOT, needs to have their head examined. Especially if they are of African descent. How stupid can you be?

  337. Lukie says:

    @samihami

    WRONG!

    She’s a Black Woman that happens TO BE mixed race/biracial.

    If you were my friend and told me to my face that I “was not Black,” that I am only “mixed race”, we would NOT be continuing our friendship.

    None of you, NONE OF YOU have the right to tell ANYONE who or what they are, unless it is detrimental to their or your well-being. And no, identifying her child as a Black child that happens to have a White dad or a White dad w/an Indigenous background, is not detrimental to her, you or anybody else.

    It’s her daughter. She came from her uterus. Until her daughter is old enough to decide for herself, she is what her mother says she is. Maybe she will identify as mixed race. Maybe she will consider herself biracial. Maybe even multiracial since none of you know if her father is full white or mixed w/native. Either way, it’s her decision to make when she is older.

    NOT ANY OF YOURS.

    If a person is a healthy eating vegetarian and raises their child to be one until they are old enough to decide for themselves, would any of you give this much grief, even if that is the culture of their home? NO, so until her child decides otherwise, respect the MOTHER’S decision.

    In this country, Black, Native and Asian people were forced to follow one drop rules. Don’t be mad if we accepted it so well, that now we claim it, heck, are proud of it, whether you see us as Black/Asian/Native, etc. or not.

    And once again: African Americans are mixed. Does this mean none of us are Black & you want to claim all of us as “mixed race” too? Not bloody likely. Are some of you bitter b/c you feel as if we are “forgetting” the other side?

    SURPRISE! As long as you are a non-white person in America, I promise, that isn’t likely to happen. Wanna know why? Open up a magazine. Go see a movie. Turn on your TV. The bulk of it is not geared to Other. It’s geared to White America and if you disagree, that’s fine.

    But your disagreement does not make me wrong. Ask any person of color that is proud to be what they are. I promise you, none of them will disagree with me.

    You all just need to back off and respect her mother’s decision whether, you dislike her or not. It isn’t your decision to make.

  338. GCR says:

    I read the entire interview and the “Interviewer” asked Halle questions about race. And yes the interviewer mentioned that Nahla’s father was white
    and French Canadian. Happy some?
    Aubry’s ex business partenr that has known Aubry for 11 years told the media that Aubry used racial slurs toward Halle and became vindictive after their
    relationship was over. He claims he will give a depostion in court. It is hard to tell what side he is on. Aubry’s quite shi* is NOT under the table for me. His orchestrated PR move with KimK was to get a rise out of Halle
    and his paternity move was only needed
    if Halle was detesting that he was NOT the father. I never recalled him saying Halle kept his baby from him. I’m sure he will want to take his daughter to Canada and with him while he works so let him fight for custody so the agreements can be fair and in the child’s best interest.

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  340. dafne says:

    now imagine the other way: a white woman apologising with her community for dating a black man… isn’t that racism?

  341. rose2012 says:

    I am black and this chick is out of order. She is black when it suits her , that child is half white , cut the crap Halle

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