blackamoor Ethiopian Negro free person of color yellow maroon musty dusky mulatto bright mulatto dark mulatto quadroon octoroon Grif Creole Negro again color afro-american african-american black from our arrival here in the Americas we've been called so many things the terms have changed over time but the importance of codified racial categories has not it's like so important so deep so important at the very foundation of America our entire economy was based on racial categories who was allowed to own land where you could live how you were taxed whether you were a slave indentured free poor or rich was all determined by your racial category in 1790 the first u.s. census was managed by none other than your boy Thomas Jefferson yeah his views on race were not the best Jefferson believed that race was biological and it determined a person's intelligence beauty even ability to experience complex emotions his evolutionary hierarchy of the races went from the black man to him he even came up with this quick little mathematical equation to help us understand racial categories okay okay little a equals pure Negro and capital A equals pure white now the unit of blood of the issue that hid a crossing of little 800 capital B over now they're offering real hue over to so now it's a one-eighth of a so that the third cross that third equation clears the blood music clears the blood that's what he said it clears the blood of I guess pure Negroes so that's race math what Jefferson is trying to say is that if a person had 1/8 or less black blood which is one black great-grandparent they would then be considered white did this change their status as a slave you know but according to Jefferson if that person were to be emancipated they would enter the free world as a white American citizen like these kids what yeah I know it makes no sense what about the one-drop rule well that didn't start until after the Civil War as a result of an emerging ideology based on pseudo science called eugenics that said we could improve humanity through selective breeding like dogs yep it became a social movement in the u.s. that included county contests for the best baby and fittest family and forced sterilizations of poor whites and minorities everyone was obsessed with racial purity well everyone like Hitler yeah our eugenics movement inspired Hitler girl this is this is too much okay so if what makes you black or black amor or a quadroon or whatever can change so easily what does it even mean I don't know and when I don't know I asked my mom hi mom thanks for being on the show we need to know something what is race it's usually based in this country is especially based on physical characteristics genealogy ancestry the census is important because we need to count we need to know what the population looks like it's just like we have anything else planning you have to if you're having a dinner party when a nominated you're coming it's the basis for so much like Medicare we need to have number of accounts for Medicare Social Security housing schools expenditures how much money stays going to get from the federal government all of that is black the same as African American so this is the thing in terms of again federal surveys census data collection the work that I do with the data that I use we say black rap in American we usually put the two together the really important reason for having black in there is because oftentimes if you have folks who are African origin in terms of their ancestry but they're from the Caribbean they don't necessarily identify as African American they identify as Caribbean American so then black would be more inclusive which one of your daughter's is your favorite and you know I have no favorites ac-actually three favorite daughters okay thanks mom bye anytime love you hey em don't call me that oh I'm sorry I keep forgetting you know my mom's great-uncle was caught a Griff and his military records Griff that sounds like some Harry Potter stuff well you're not wrong it comes from the word Griffin which means half lion and half eagle it means half African American and half Native American so wait the african-american part is lion yeah that's messed up you think I could bring it back though like maybe write it on the census under country of origin girl no I'm not trying to do math again you are black Arana african-american I think I'm can American oh right because you're from the real Africa Kenya AZ Kenya specifically my parents are Kenyan but I consider myself black America well someone and my family was from the real Africa like back in the day I mean look at me listen and my mom is a monkey on one side and Nats cook on the other right Eagle and other stuff white stuff but that's normal most black Americans have white ancestry blackness is complex maybe that's why it's more popular than african-american hey it's 2019 you can call yourself whatever you want to so Grethe no God a zero I think I need to talk to some real black people about this okay so we're out here Austin Texas trying to find black folks walking around I live here I know it's kind of tough we're gonna do it when a half people answers a question of the video I am here with Jeremiah Thank You Jeremiah and the question of the day is when someone asks you what's your race do you say black I say black I would like to identify as African American but I don't know anything about African culture I'm just evening on that fact it's completely different culture as far as what they go through as far as how their upbringing is their parents teaching them the food they eat stuff like that I encounter a lot of like personally accidents like that and so I feel like when I say I mean they can also say that they're black when I say african-american is like it's me I mean tighten into their African breaking too but it's more of like the didn't come to America by choice it's kind of thing right so like I feel like black is more of the uniting matter like what country you're from you're still like I will say either first of all my idea on race I feel like I know is a little bit different than everyone else's um as far as I'm a Christian I'm follower of Jesus and so I believe this this idea of how we try to categorize or something could be a good thing and a bad thing but the end of the day I don't allow it to take away from my walk with God let's say it depends on the situation and who I'm talking to for the most part I'll say black if I'm talking to someone who would identify similarly however if I'm talking to someone who wouldn't identify that way I'm American just because I want him to call me that so I don't want to say what they I don't still no consensus okay it's time to call on the big dogs okay everyone we've caused you here today for the very important task of deciding once and for all what we should call people of the African Diaspora so any ideas what is a name to the negro if you till the field he is a negro if he work the mill he is a negro if you sing anthems to extol the praises of his America and fight under its banner he is still a negro so one for Negro if this cat thinks I'm gonna call myself a Negro he's got another thing coming Jack I'm black black as the night sky black as the pit they try to keep a scene you dig so you think we should be called black and not african-american black as the womb we came from and I'm mother Africa black is beautiful but what about us mulattoes oh my god you can't say that word anymore I'm gonna tweet this well what can I say three people of color I don't see color a friend of mine had that condition a few teaspoons of mercury should clear it right up okay all right um miss Sojourner Truth do you have a preference on what you'd like to be called ain't our woman okay well we've got some choices so maybe we shouldn't film but colored people can't vote that's how come we're having this meeting no we we can vote if you're a man a nine woman what is the vote to the negro slave can't see anymore make a decision all right if the Negro is a slave look I don't think we're getting anyway of course not you won't you'll never come to a consensus on who we are what we should call ourselves because a black is not a monolith and all of our experiences are valid well there's only one thing left on the agenda then dance subscribe follow social media etc bye you [Music] [Music]