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.
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.
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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 damon@verysmartbrothas.com.