Ms. Magazine tries harder, but gets confused.
Two of their writers, Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn and Haley Taylor Schlitz wrote an article titled “Politicizing Blackness, Multiracial Love and Identity: “That we Make of this Moment is on Us.” They say, “For our part, we both identify as Black women. Janice is a Gen-X Californian born to two African American parents. Haley is a Texas Gen-Zer of mixed-parentage: half-white and half-Black.
But in an America still held hostage by the vestiges of slavery, and the “one drop rule,” we are both seen as 100 percent Black—despite the diverse ancestry that comprises Haley’s DNA and experiences. We are more than a generation apart, and yet the politicizing of Blackness remains a mainstay in our lives.”
America is not holding us hostage by the one-drop rule. We are doing it to ourselves by not using correct terminology when speaking of writing of people who are biracial or multiracial. The media is doing it and we’re just plain tired of it.