If your child is biracial, what box do you check for ethnicity?

I was about to post that. LOL! I knew something was up with the custody battle. At first I thought it was a money thing... TMZ has it posted that Gabriel says Nahla is white. A little background on why Bill Cosby chose the actresses who played Sondra and Denise. He did that to show how varied an AA family can be in terms of coloring. If you watched the show enough you would have caught that Cliff's father and Claire's mom were the grandparents that those two grandchildren were supposed to look like. That's why no one said a thing in this country about them not matching their parents...

With Halle being bi-racial, Gabriel can't outright say Nahla is white. If he wanted a white child, he should have did it with a white woman.

I think the sad thing is that race has to play any part in this custody battle. You can play dirty, and then you can REALLY play dirty. They're both wrong for this - Aubry using racial slurs, Halle calling him a sperm donor...What is this child supposed to think of her parents when she becomes old enough to learn that all of this happened? It's a shame.

Oh no, I wonder what the issue was .. hope they get over it before the kiddo gets older then again its out there huh? Guess he was just a Gigilio... :evilgrin:Sleeplvr.. remember "Cliff"'s gorgeous dad? as young as I was I thought he was so handsome. Who was Claire's mom again?Also irl Bill and Phylicia.

I have not seen a recent pic of the baby, but Aubry is more an ethnic White to me,and the child seemed a bit browner than Halle. Yet I would think that race should have been a part of their discussion if they planned on becoming parents.

Halle doesn't have the best track record with men meaning she doesn't fall for the nice guy. She always picks these guys with issues. She has major hearing loss in one ear because one used to beat her, then there were the cheats, the sex addict and now this... Sympathy might be on her side because of her track record of jerks. Did you see the comments from Gabriel's ex-girlfriend? She was surprised that he was dating Halle because he has issues with race. I think Halle was trying to sweep this whole thing under the rug until he sued for custody. I've always been puzzled by the race fights with interracial couples. Do they discuss anything prior to marriage or children? My guess is Gabriel was thinking or hoping the baby would have been lighter than she is... These kind of cases turn really nasty and it's not only alienating a parent but an entire race for the child.

Hahaha! I guess so LOL!

Yea her track record is not good with the guys. Makes me wonder about her relationship with her dad. I hope she takes a break from men for a while. Now I have to find a little Louie Prima to listen to. LOL

I don't think she had a relationship with her father. He was abusive towards Halle's mother and sister (this has been written). When she won an award, she thanked either her manager or agent and said he was the only father she's known. Seriously, you'd think race would be discussed. If Gabriel has an issue with race, he may have thought the daughter would look like Victoria Rowell's daughter; she's bi-racial and her ex-husband is white.

I remember Halle's bio indicating her dad left the family when she was 4. I think the mom met him in the hospital where she worked, he was an orderly (ex soldier) maybe some ptsd issues? Hmm, as for what the baby should look like: makes Aubry suspect to me or like AAs lots of CC are mixed 'race' them-self. ;)

I said the same thing... take a break from dating. Now that makes sense regarding her father. Too often people get stuck trying to fix an old relationship via a new person in their life. You can't fix your mother or father through anyone else. People don't discuss anything prior to marriage or having babies these days... then they act surprised when everything comes out. You have got to look at Halle's age. During the time she was a child she would have been black so if that's what she wants to call her child... That's what she can do. Too bad she and Aubrey didn't discuss that prior to them having the baby.

Apparently, Halle did an interview with Ebony magazine in which she went into more detail about various things. [url=http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/08/halle-berry-on-her-daughters-race-and-interracial-romance/]Halle Berry on her daughter's race and interracial romance – The Marquee Blog - CNN.com Blogs[/url]The comments after the report are interesting.

The comments are actually more interesting than the article. It gives some pretty good insight into how the average person thinks. I don't understand the whole you're denying a parent mindset. Your identity should be about you and not your parents. So many parents are wrapped up in how they feel and not how the child feels. Did you see the comments from the AA father who said his son looked white? He was having issues with his son possibly not identifying with him down the road. This is where so much of the conflict comes in today. Parents wanting to be recognized when it just ain't about you. Some people seem like they would hang a sign around the child's the neck no one will mistake them based on their phenotype. I've run across people who make it their calling card when it has absolutely nothing to do with the given situation. I grew up a military brat so I saw kids of all kinds of racial & ethnic combinations. Most of them had very healthy attitudes regarding who they were. It was no big deal to say I'm this but my mom or dad is that. It was not seen as denying a parent. If a child had an identity issue it was mama or daddy's fault. My DS's therapist told us she works with a number of transracial adoptees regarding indentity. My DD brought up adoption during her IQ testing so we discussed some adoption topics when we reviewed her results. Parents can make a big mess of things if they don't handle things correctly.

ITA on the identity issue Sleeplvr. The comments are interesting for sure.

FWIW...I see this thread has developed into deeper waters than what box to check, lol, but I do have a comment about that. Right or wrong--see previous discussion--where I teach when students are enrolled, they are asked the race question. I was there one day when a biracial child was being registered. The mother asked which box to check and was told that for reporting purposes (federal and state data) because only one box was allowed, to select the race of the mother. The information isn't used for anything else--just so they can say our school is X% this race, Y% this race, etc. So, at my school, you can put what you want anywhere else, but on that specific document, it is the mother's race that is considered. Don't even ask me what to do if the mother is bi/multiracial...lol...I have no clue. Anyway, my point is that some places may have their own guidelines. DH and I are CC, but I was raised around children of many different cultures and have always LOVED learning about the differences. We are open to adopting from any race or mix of races. We were just talking about this with my AW today. (And I must add that even CC children from different areas of the US will have different cultures. I am a southern girl. DH was raised up north. There are differences even in our traditions, norms, etc.) We intend to teach our child(ren) to appreciate all aspects of their race/culture, whatever that may be. We don't have to be a melting pot, where we all blend into one. Instead, we can be like a 7 layer salad where all the different ingredients work together to compliment each other without any one losing it's identity. KWIM?