She was partly white herself!

Perhaps this may clear things up. In our culture, a person who is partly black and partly white is considered "black" and is part of the black culture. But this is not so in other cultures. I personally know someone (a white guy) who visited Brazil, where partly black and partly white people are considered white. My friend didn't know this. So he went out to a party and he said "It's great to see so many interracial couples here!" as a compliment to the Brazilian society, where races mix freely, or so my friend thought. His mixed-race host laughed, and said "what are you talking about? Everyone at this party is white!" The host later explained that he knew that in the United States, a person of mixed race (such as himself) is considered to be "black" but then said "that's ridiculous, look at me, I'm clearly white!"

FYI - My friend said the host guy was the same shade as Ronaldo. What do you think he would say about the actress in He Got Game?

So, yes, I know that blacks come in many different shades other than black. But it is our society that places mixed-race people as a part of the "black" culture. In some societies, white people come in many shades other than white.

In fact, I believe "black" is legally defined in some States, for classification purposes, as one-sixteenth black or more. So, Chris Rock said, if there are fifteen white people at a party, and one black guy walks in, they have to change the music because now it is a "black" party!!!

Regardless, in my original post, I made it very clear that the actress playing Jesus's mother, whether she considers herself "black" or not, and I presume she does, as that is undoubtedly her culture, could easily pass for white if she chose to identify with THAT culture. Why would Jesus state that she had anything against white people, when she could easily be one herself?

Spike probably should have just left this line out of the movie. It was a mistake, and he usually doesn't make those kinds of mistakes. I was wondering if anyone thought Spike was trying to send some sort of a message with it.

PS - during the segregation years, many light-skinned blacks passed for white to avoid discrimination. Babe Ruth for one, the greatest baseball player in history. Look at his nose!!! He told people that he was "Italian" but look closer at his photos...does anyone agree? Anyway, I would say that these people who "passed" actually WERE white since they were a part of the white culture. Jackie Robinson, not Babe Ruth, is still the first black major leaguer because no one knew Babe Ruth was "black" at the time and most people still don't think of him as "black" because he identified himself as white.


"Enough of that technical talk, Foo!"

I've tried to be polite, talking about cultural identity and so forth...but it didn't seem to get the point across, so I'll try to be more direct.

"Lonnette Mckee is playing the role of a black woman so she is speaking as a black woman"

She is just as much white as she is black: one half.

She does have "immediate white people in [her] family" - Her mother is white.

I would argue that she is not any more a black woman than she is a white woman. There is no such thing as the so-called "one drop" rule, how could anyone ever measure such a thing? Doesn't exist.

Besides, she looks white. I'm darker than she is and no one has ever mistaken me for black. (Although I have been mistaken for Arabic, which isn't even close to what I am). If I'm white, then she's white.

I'm sure she identifies herself as a part of the black culture, which I don't doubt, but so does Eminem, and justifiably so. But being a part of the black culture doesn't make Eminem black. Lonette McKee as Mrs. Shuttlesworth can call herself a Martian if she wants, it doesn't make her a Martian. She's white, or at the very least, inarguably she is half white.

So why would this woman, who is just as much white as she is black, roll over in her grave if her son dated a white woman, when she is a white woman herself, just as much as she is a black woman.

Doesn't anyone else see this as a problem with the movie?

At the very least it was a poor choice of dialogue, which is just the sort of thing people should be discussing on these message boards: BAD SCRIPT WRITING and/or BAD CASTING.

I'm "making a big deal of it" because I'm here to discuss the movie, what I liked and what I disliked about it. That is what the message boards are for.

I find it very strange that the most popular response to this thread has been "just because she's light skinned doesn't mean she is part white." That is moot. The fact is, she is half white. Her mother was white.

"Enough of that technical talk, Foo!"

It is hardly uncommon for a very light skinned black person to resent whites as Mrs. Shuttlesworth did. A college friend of mine, who is lighter than Lonette McKee (as a matter of fact, she strongly resembles Jeri Ryan) is really militant and pro black because of the fact that she sees how some whites act when they aren't being PC in front of black people. The things that she tells me that have been said to her face about black people (she can pass for white so she's heard it all) would have any black person fighting mad, but they will most likely never hear it because racist aren't that overt anymore. But those people felt totally comfortable around her because they think she's white. She went on to tell me that after she reveals that her mom is black, there is a mix of reaction between shock, hate, and over apologizing. She's been going through this ever since she was a kid. One time somebody at the mall assumed that her mom was the family maid. To make a long story short, she has a lot of issues when it comes to white people and Spike was not at all being unrealistic when Mrs. Shuttlesworth was quoted for saying that she would never approve of Jesus being romantically involved with a white girl.