ita, is there controversy regarding color in Jamaica (light skin v. dark skin) like there is in South America?

I'll try to find that paper, ita, but I think that you probably have distinguished the two main possibilites. Either there was something different in the "founder" population of genes on the island or there was something different about the sociology of the place as the populaton grew.

We got the mad shadism going on, yup. My mother, for instance, grew up understanding her family should marry outside the town, because she was too closely related to all the light-skinned folk near home, and those were the only options.

She did marry darker than her (not a reach, but she was the only one of her family to do so) -- and my dad got shit for it, from at least one source. Apparently marrying as light as Ma ita was a betrayal to the cause.

Sadly, the phrase "She ain't light, she's my mother!" was the first thing that came to mind when I heard that story. And it's stuck now.

It's a crazy currency. We're the light bright side of the family, some say. Eh, whatever. Some relatives stay in the sun (the darker the berry the sweeter the juice). Others stay out and wear kabuki-light makeup. And then there are those that dye their hair black, and are sensitive about going blonde in the sun.

eta:

I'll try to find that paper, ita

That would be great, Rick. My mother dabbles in genetic research, so I'll throw it at her too. She'll throw it right back, but at least she knows I'm paying attention.

I don't know if that term is used in the US or not).

It's used, at least in my ex's family.

I think a lot of problems would be solved if the census would include a box that said "None of your fucking business".

For what it's worth, I'm half-Sicilian, and half a bunch of mixed other European types (Welsh/Scots/French/etc). My stepdad's black, and so my little brother's mixed. He seems to be identifying primarily as black at the moment, but when the family's being specific, they use "mixed". Mulatto's a word I've only encountered in literary references.

I dated a girl from Saint Lucia for a few years a while back. She and her family seemed much more race conscious than the black half of my family, which was one of the things that ended up breaking us up. Her relatives never really got comfortable with her dating a white guy, (which I thought was interesting, considering the prestige the lighter cousins seemed to have). Also, she was really uncomfortable with the idea of us having kids, and was kind of weird about my brother.

Uh, nothing really to add, except that humans are wacky.

Also, I would totally buy a wopsicle.

Yeah, I know (and have heard in actual real life) redbone too.

Interesting. The only "redbone" usage I've heard is for a type of coonhound.

Wait! I posted that and seem to remember a performer (possibly a bluesman) called "Redbone" something or the other. Obviously - a very vague memory.

Leon Redbone.

And then there is Redbones, a BBQ joint in Somerville. Very tasty food.

I'm starting to go into a Carlin-esque headspace, since it's so amazingly difficult to discuss race and skin color. Not here - I think this is a good conversation - but as a general rule.

Where I grew up was mostly white and Alaska Native, so the most common term I heard for bi-racial was 'half-breed'. Which, notsomuch with the humanizing. Then again, there is a lot of racism directed towards the villages up there.