Very Smart Brothas' Damon Young — inspired by reactions to Christopher Dorner but also referring to figures like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — tries to unpack what makes us decide that some folks are authentically black while we retract others' racial credentials.
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Anyway, Thomas and Dormer are just two prominent examples of this phenomenon Here’s a few more …
Black man: Black
Black woman: Black
Black man with White wife: White
Black woman with White husband: Still Black to everyone but Black men
White man with Black wife: Kinda Black, actually
White man with White Wife but very Black-friendly politics and opinions: First Black president
White woman with Black husband: White woman!
Single White woman with very Black-friendly politics and opinions: Still White woman
White woman genuinely down for the cause: Good try, but always and forever a White woman …
Read Damon Young's entire piece at Very Smart Brothas.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
Damon Young is the editor-in-chief of VerySmartBrothas.com. He is also a contributing editor at Ebony.com. He lives in Pittsburgh and he really likes pancakes. You can reach him at [email protected].
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