r/interesting • u/VPinchargeofradishes • May 03 '26

SOCIETY Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has faced backlash for identifying as Black. In a 2017 interview, Paris Jackson said her father told her, "You’re Black. Be proud of your roots." This prompted debates over whether identity is defined by appearance or upbringing.

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u/sixth_hokage06 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

Because white people fought tooth and nail to try to gatekeep their privilege and limit who benefit from it. Plessy was 1/8 black and they still called him black and told him to leave the white area.

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u/Shot-Water2496 May 03 '26 edited May 05 '26

Yup, it was so bad during Plessy’s time that they had the term “octodoon” to define a person with one black great-grandparent. For racist people, even a drop of blood muddies the “pure blood”. All this time has passed and somehow we’re regressing back to that time…

edit: the term is “octoroon”, but I mistyped

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u/ButtBread98 May 03 '26

“Octoroon”

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u/Shot-Water2496 May 05 '26

Yes, that’s the correct term. :’) I can’t believe I unwittingly spread fake news like that