Well, it's true. These terms only exist because some people thought the concepts they described were legitimate. So, I'm not sure what there is to cool down. Maybe we should illuminate instead, short pants.

I think that as long as we live in a race based society that is racially stratified there will be a push to box people into neat little categories that make it easier for people to decide how they should be viewed and treated. I think it's natural for people to be curious about others when they encounter traditions,…

It's wrong because that's not how she identifies herself and people have the right to be self-identifying. I can't imagine why you'd think it's okay to just ignore part of her identity when she has made it clear that it's important to her.

Ah, "The Octaroon"! Yeah, I'm from New Orleans and those labels were in use here for a very long time. It is sick. It's terrible to judge someone's worth based on how many African or European or Asian ancestors they had. The "rules" regarding race never did make sense. They were always impossible to apply accurately.…

Actually, that is what it was based on. This isn't stuff that's hard to find out. It didn't originally define nations and ethnicity. You're simply making up stuff at this point. European folks classified people into groups based on the bogus concept that looking at someone could tell you who they were related to the…

Shh! Don't talk about that! Folks will say you're un-American if you admit that there were folks here before the Europeans arrived. Seriously, when I heard that story, I just wanted to facepalm. This country has been mostly non-white for the vast majority of the time that humans have lived here. There was a blip of…

Nope. White people invented it. It simply did not exist before that. The idea that people could be grouped according to their features, regardless of where they were from, simply didn't exist. It's something they invented. It's silly to think that in a thousand years people won't be able to list their whole ancestry.…

Fortunately, I don't particularly care if you think I'm credible. So, I guess that means I'll just continue to make my points. If you suddenly find yourself caught up on the conversation so far, feel free to make a substantive comment. Until then, why are you talking to me?

Sure, it has multiple meanings just like the n-word has multiple meanings and "Ch*nk" has multiple meanings. However, that doesn't make it okay for you to go around using them and expecting that racist crap to be acceptable to everyone else. See, OF COURSE it has never had anything but positive connotations for you.…

You are wrong on this. It IS a slur, a really racist one. It is NOT "simply a descriptive term". Good grief! It's really not hard to find this stuff out, people! Google still works. Or maybe you just don't care enough about whether you're being a racist by repeating it over and over again, regardless of what it truly…

That's really messed up that you don't respect your fiance in the way that she defines herself.

No. Race was always based on physical characteristics. People were classed together even though they came from entirely different nations. This didn't CHANGE to refer to genetics and phenotype. How many times do scientists have to explain to folks like you that race isn't scientific in ANY way, not even a little bit.

Doh! Well, I've actually run across a few folks on this post who didn't know where the concept of race came from. So, I thought you were just asking because you didn't know. I agree with you that it is a pretty stupid thing how folks associate being a "Real American" with being white. This nation has ALWAYS had…

Not really. "Breed" and "pedigree" are terms that are usually used to refer to non-human animals. If you want to describe identities, you can use their ethnic background. Ethnicity is far more accurate than any of those terms would be.

I'm African-Black-Blackfoot-Crow-French-Irish. My child is all of that plus Italian. My nieces are all of that plus Puerto Rican. Two of my first cousins are also Bolivian. Still we resemble each other quite a bit. If people look past the color of our skin, they might notice that, but they usually just get so excited…

Jomarch, if you're really interested I'll answer your question. Whiteness gets a monopoly on American identity because White people are the ones who came up with this concept of race. They are the ones who decided what it meant to be from a certain place or a certain family. They created these racial categories and it…

Nah! You're not the only mixed person who never had an identity crisis. There's no reason to believe that most of us DO have these crises. It's a racist trope that mixed race people are all stuck in the middle of separate communities and can never truly find a place where they belong. It's called the "Tragic Mulatto"…

That's my family, too! My skin is caramel and my hair is kinky on the top and curly in the back. I look more like what white people associate with being "black". My brother was born with red hair. He had freckles and used to have to constantly deal with sunburn in our sub-tropic region. One of my aunts is extremely…

Why do white people insist on calling us that? After all, it is White people who came up with these stupid concepts called "race" and blood quantums. Blood quantum is how this whole 1/2 this or 1/2 that started. They are the ones who refused to acknowledge any identity as valid unless it met their approved list of…

It's no surprise that you think calling us animals is okay. You already admit that you've been told how virulently racist it is to go around calling yourself a g*psy. G*psy is the equivalent of the n-word. The Roma are REAL people who have been REALLY marginalized and oppressed and slaughtered by the people who deemed…