From Writing for Social Justice Blog (Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?)

One-drop Rule

I kind of wish that Tatum had gone more into the Japanese and Black mixing, since it is one that kind of interests me more and I know less about. I know I heard that Asian races are supposed to be more concerned with the purity of their races, and less accepting of mixed children. I have found that interesting since there is/was supposed to be a new trend in the Chinese people working in Africa causing more multiracial pairings than before. You can read about it here. One reason I find it interesting is because I have a lot of friends who self-identify with parts of Asian culture like Buddhism, martial arts, foods, music, and clothing--and absolutely love the Wu-Tang--but have never been successful in having a relationship or been totally accepted by the Asian community. On the other hand, I have also just finished reading a series about a young Sudanese boy who met and married a young Japanese girl, and went halfway around the world to get her back from her father after he had her kidnapped. Pretty interesting story...

Anyway, I have looked more into the White/Black racial mixing before. Mostly, because of my niece's identity crisis when she was a toddler. With all the psychological studies done on this very subject that I read through, I still couldn't find a way to help her make sense of who she was. I eventually realized that it was just something she was going to have to figure our for herself, and all I could do was be there as an example. While she still tends to "favor" her whiteness, at least she isn't as negative about her blackness as she used to be.

The book also made think about how racial classification mattered in other countries as well. The one-drop rule may have been specific to Americans, but it is no different than what was done under the Apartheid system in South Africa--probably because they based their system off of Jim Crow, etc. here in America. The 1983 case reminds me of this book called When She Was White by Judith Stone. I didn't know it was supposed to be a movie too. Here is the trailer: