Between Skin Folk and Kin Folk: The Ancestry of Racial Ambiguity

On September 17, 1979, a White woman gave birth to a child by the name of Jeffery Shaun King. And, although White women give birth to children all the time, this child suffered from complications. These complications weren’t simply natal issues, like a premature birth or a breech birth, but issues that questioned the very identity of the child himelf. At that time, it was commonly assumed that King was the average White child born into a White family. This, however, is not the current notion: King actively identifies himself as Black. This confusion over Shaun King’s race is not a new conversation; in fact, it is one of our country’s oldest. Within the U.S. the common law, race has been based on the one drop rule, which states a “single drop of Black blood” makes a person automatically Black. This accounts for the way that many Black people identify, particularly in the deep south. Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Rosa Parks, Beyoncé and Barack Obama have all been figures who have proudly acclaimed their identities as African Americans; even though their ancestry might not be as African as assumed. However, does that matter? Is the link between race – the way we are physically and initially identified by society – and ethnicity – the ancestral story our DNA holds – as strong as we may think? Here in Louisiana, this conversation encounters even more confusion. Louisiana is the state with the 2nd highest amount of Black people with significant European ancestry, tagging right behind Seattle. It’s been accounted by many African Americans here in Louisiana, especially Louisiana Creoles, of having DNA that was approximately 70% European, even though they had two Black parents. This is linked directly to the states history, with Louisiana being one of the few U.S. states where the only drop rule was not necessarily a constant. Under French law, many of the presumed Blacks of Louisiana were identified with their fathers, who were typically European slave masters. This created a blur on the line of race in Louisiana, with the state also having the highest population of White people with significant African Ancestry. Many White Louisianians may have as much African ancestry as Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s Black mother. In fact, they may just be related to her. This complication of racial identity is widespread, and the basis is rarely consistent. A man who may be considered a full-fledged White man in Brazil may be regarded as your average light-skinned Black man in South Carolina, or a multiracial man in New York. This confusion may very well have been what catapulted Shaun King into the status he holds now, with many people allowing their fascination by his racial ambiguity to trump the nature of his activism. Regardless of whether King is Black or just off White , or just White, the Black community has to analyze the way it obsesses over ancestry. We have to also analyze how we fetishize it, and the ultimate damage it holds on all spectrums of Blackness. Whether he is light skin or a man of White skin, all that matters is whether he cares about your skin.