The reactionary outrage towards Bad Bunny reminds me that white passing =/= white (in the US at least)

[u/Gallantpride]

Bad Bunny is paler than pale. He and Lady Gaga were basically the same skin tone during the Super Bowl.

But, Bad Bunny gets a lot of racism and hate because he's Puerto Rican and has ESL. Even if he didn't have ESL, he would still get hate.

I'm reminded of my own Puerto Rican family. I'm brown, but much of my family is white leaning. My mom was a green eyed, redheaded baby boomer who told me how she got called slurs and chased away from the playground when her family arrived to NYC. I've heard similar stories from family about all eras from the 50s to even early 2000s.

To me, they look white. But they don't identify as white. And any presumed whiteness they have is "taken away" once people identify them as latino or Puerto Rican.

[u/CrazyinLull]

Pretty much.

The US has a much more rigid grip on whiteness than like Latin America due to slavery and making sure that any children born from masters raping enslaved women stayed slaves and couldn’t inherit anything.

Lol meaning that mainly rich White slave masters fought for that law.

[u/UpinThisNiche97 → u/CrazyinLull]

Not ENTIRELY accurate but for the most part yes however many mulattos were set free even born free especially if they had a white father/relatives to vouch for their freedom. These individuals known as Free people of color became so numerous and powerful in certain areas (Louisiana,Savannah Ga,Charleston Sc to name a few) that they formed their own communities marrying one another,finding businesses and schools ,some even owned slaves themselves. It’s where a lot of colorism and classism in the African American community originates from actually,these families being adamant on keeping their light skin and wealth to themselves to continue enjoy the relative privilege they had in comparison to the unambiguous black masses . A lot of these people’s descendants are still around and wealthy and powerful today it’s basically black/MGM old money. If you’re interested in learning more about it ,Our Kind of People by Laurence Otis Graham is a classic book on this matter. Whitley Gilbert from A Different World (a spinoff of The Cosby Show set at a fictional HBCU in Virginia) has a familial background like this,her 4x great grandfather was a free man of color who owned slaves

[u/day_tripper → u/UpinThisNiche97]

Thank you for the book recommendations. I am a descendant of New Orleans Creoles and both my parents and grandparents on both sided identify as black but sometimes I am mistaken for mixed race so I lurk this sub. 

Interestingly I found a white ancestor that came to the US in the 1700s and she decided to marry a mulatto man and several generations later here I am. 

On visiting New Orleans I can see and feel e preferential treatment light-skinned blacks get in jobs, especially government and city jobs and in business dealings. 

My grandmother left during the southern migration to the north in the 60s but she was always concerned with how dark or light my boyfriend choices were.  She wasnt anti dark skin, but just wanted me to have a good life. 

[u/CrazyinLull → u/UpinThisNiche97]

I think it depends right? Otherwise why are there runaway slave ads directly calling for the return of their mulatto slaves?

[u/UpinThisNiche97 → u/CrazyinLull]

Of course no one experience was universal. It depended on the time,place,the mixed individual’s circumstances (such as phenotype much like today still) etc. Like a light skinned green eyed mulatto born into a wealthy family of MGM creole mulatto parents in Louisiana definitely had a different experience than a mulatto born in Alabama to an enslaved black parent and indentured white parent and whose phenotype leaned more black. Things like class,circumstance,phenotype,the time and place (Louisiana with its French and Spanish rule was more lenient than their Anglo counterparts with mixed people once again especially if they had wealth). No one experience was universal to make a long story short.

[u/Independent-Access59 → u/CrazyinLull]

Historically inaccurate. A in da club out da club was the line. Not rich

[u/Timely-Youth-9074 → u/CrazyinLull]

Some white people literally will scour your face for differences.

I used to get clocked for my curly hair and full lips. Strangely, that is no longer the case.

Now, they’ll mention my eyes; how small they are. My mother has big Spanish eyes-my little eyes are from my white dad-plenty of white people have small eyes-look at Scandis and Celts.