I listened to a video about Taye Diggs and his “fall from grace” in the Black community. It discussed how he was the fawned-over leading man, in the 90s, until he was linked to Idina Menzel (main claim to fame – Frozen vocals). Many women in the Black community felt betrayed because…frankly, they were extremely ignorant about the insignificance of race/culture when it came to potential love interests during that time.
However, Taye Diggs is not off the hook. In an attempt to share his thoughts about interracial dating, he made some statements that weren’t received very well, at the time. Now, I am not aware of Everything he may have stated so I am basing my perspective on what was covered in the YouTube video posted by RealRealityGossip.
Taye Diggs stated, in response to comments made about the son he had with his then wife, that he didn’t want his son to have to choose between being black and being white. He wanted him to be proud of who he was and wanted him to be able to, on his own terms, include both parents. He went on to say he didn’t want his son in a situation where he called himself black and people assumed he had two Black parents. <<<This last statement is unnecessary because it’s irrelevant what random people think.
People called him ignorant. Accused him of setting his son up for an identity crisis and stating he needed to face his own self-hate issues.
In additional statements, Taye voiced how he thought people should recognize Obama for being biracial versus the first Black president. He stated “It would be great if it didn’t matter and people could call him mixed”.
Now, from my perspective, I don’t totally disagree with Taye. I do think other factors surrounding the comments, and the point in time, contributed to the narrative and the reaction.
With that said, I believe, when it comes to one’s cultural makeup, Black people suffer from the same problem that white people do. What I mean is…in the same way white people respond with “We’re all American” when discussing race and shunning the use of specific cultural identifiers which is, basically, an attempt to erase all other cultural backgrounds that affect a multicultural person’s experience; Black people also suffer from continuing to perpetuate the one-drop rule (i.e. one Black ancestor equals 100% Black identity) implemented by said whites which is, also, an attempt to erase all other cultural backgrounds that shape the experiences of a person who is directly multicultural. By directly, I mean a person who has immediate family of different cultural backgrounds versus the “My great, great, great grandfather was part Native” varieties. For instance, Kamala Harris has a mother who is very clearly South Asian Indian. To not acknowledge that when referring to her cultural makeup, is like denying her mother’s own culture and the influence it has had on Kamala’s life.
Now, it’s understood that the majority of society will see the melanin in our skin and treat us accordingly. However, that is out of our control. That doesn’t mean that a multicultural person should not identify as such. It’s ignorance that believes otherwise and those who believe otherwise are, basically, attempting to strip a person of a portion of their identity in the same way the masses attempt to do to those who identify as Black and participate in Blackness. Furthermore, Black people need to be accountability for the roles they play in the identity crises of multicultural people AND, Black people in general who don’t fit the stereotypical “Black mold” like Taye Diggs. In my own experience, Black people caused more damage than anyone in this category.
The very ironic thing is this only seems to happen with Black people. People of other cultural mixtures, identify, and are identified, as such with no issue.
Uncommonly... 