Taye Diggs, who has always had a proclivity for white women, procreated with his ex-wife Idina Menzel and wants his multiracial offspring to be identified as “mixed” instead of “black.”
A herd of angry social media users stampeded all over Diggs for this. Most particularly since Diggs ignorantly and wrongly laid the blame for society’s racial lunacy at the feet of black people, as if this historically oppressed demographic was responsible for configuring the rules of race in American society.
Diggs, who will never be confused with a history professor or a sociopolitical oracle, has conveniently forgotten that the mainstream is the culprit who came up with the one-drop rule, meaning that if an individual has one drop of black blood in them, they are to be classified as black. African Americans were in chains when this rule was developed and under Jim Crowism/legal segregation when this was reinforced through a mercilessly violent caste system, particularly in the American South.
Perhaps remedial instruction in American history is in order. But I digress.
Diggs began rationally enough in his own defense, but then veered off the road and into a philosophical ditch.
“When you [call biracial kids Black], you risk disrespecting that one half of who you are and that’s my fear,” Diggs explained to THeGrio.com.
“I don’t want my son to be in a situation where he calls himself Black and everyone thinks he has a Black mom and a Black dad, and then they see a white mother, they wonder, ‘oh, what’s going on?’”
Diggs invokes President Obama as an example of misusing Black versus biracial. “As African Americans we were so quick to say okay ‘he’s Black, he’s Black,’ and then there were the white people who were afraid to say he was biracial because who knows,” says Diggs, as if an oppressed class of people ever made up the rules of any society. “Everybody refers to him as the first Black president, I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that it’s interesting. It would be great if it didn’t matter and that people could call him mixed. We’re still choosing to make that decision, and that’s when I think you get into some dangerous waters.”
This is why Diggs scalp was peeled back by Twitter-sphere. The “Best Man” actor did have his supporters, however, who understand that he wants his son to embrace the composite of his physical makeup.
But for the most part, urbanite Twitter users were not understanding and articulated their sentiments with jagged-edged responses. Take a look.
I wonder if Taye Diggs understands why his son doesn’t have the option of identifying as white (if he can’t pass) White supremacy ideology.
— Ferrari Sheppard (@stopbeingfamous) November 18, 2015
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Taye Diggs’ publicist right now pic.twitter.com/vGNO2VMcZd
— CJay ☯ (@louisianabrown) November 18, 2015
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