“One Drop” Would Make Me Black?

“If one drop of black blood made you black, why didn’t one drop of white blood make you white? And hadn’t anyone noticed yet that everybody’s blood was red?”

Tiffany Reisz

I am still confused by the labels that we Americans attach to one another. My mother’s ancestors were from Germany; Dad’s were from Ireland and Holland. That makes me a German/Irish/Dutch American.  According to the Census, this makes me “white.” 

In the meantime, had my dad married a woman from Nigeria I would be categorized as Black. Yes, I probably would have the physical appearance mixed between the whiteness of Dad and the darkness of mom. I would be considered by most Americans as being Black, not white or something in between. Given the way of American society, I would probably agree with that label.

But this conclusion doesn’t make sense.

A mixture of black and white would produce grey. Or brown and white would produce beige. Regardless, the label “black” could not be accurate. And why do I bring this up?

Professional Sports

I watch professional sports on a regular basis. I am amazed at the athletic ability in the NBA, Major League Baseball, and the NFL. These players come from a variety of backgrounds that have changed dramatically since my early days in Braidwood.

When I was drafted by the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs in 1962, the style of play was far less physical, and the players were overwhelmingly white. Begun in 1946, the NBA had an unofficial quota system following the first black players on teams in 1950.(The first four are: Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, Nat Clifton, and Hank DeZonie.) By 2020, 17% of the players were white with 74% considered “black.”

Baseball had its first black player, Jackie Robinson, in 1947. Currently, there are 8% black players, 58% white, and 32% Hispanic in MLB. The National Football League is now comprised of 58% black and 25% white.

So What?

Why do we Americans label or categorize these players as black or white when there are so many who come from mixed nationalities/races? (I have trouble with the term “race.” There is one human race.)  

My observation is that 20% of the black players probably had white ancestors, but they are classified, or labeled, as black.  According to national statistics conducted by Penn State, “… 17-18 percent of all African American men descend from a white male ancestor who fathered a mulatto child sometime in the slavery era, most probably from rape or coerced sexuality.” Further, there are 50 million whites who have at least one Black ancestor. (Penn State University 1997-2002)

Looking at this through an historical lens, it was known as the “one drop rule,” which means that a single drop of “black blood” qualifies to make a person black. A racially mixed person is automatically assigned to the subordinate group in America, meaning black. This is understood by most Americans, black or white. (The”one-drop” law was adopted in Tennessee in 1910.)

Isn’t this labeling merely a social construct, something that was arbitrarily imposed on us? As long as most Americans believe it to be so, we will continue to divide one another solely by physical appearances and delegate groups into stratified layers: white, Hispanic, Asian, and black on the bottom. Really, it’s a caste structure that we have created. 

In the Future?

Within the next 40 years, racial labels will mean very little. The separation based on skin pigment and other physical features will fade as a sad era that started with slavery and continued with Jim Crow beliefs in the dominant white culture.

My great grandkids will be astounded that American culture actually believed this stuff. 

“It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” 

W.C. Fields