Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Halle Says Her Baby is Black


Halle Berry is in next month's issue of Ebony Magazine answering questions about her daughter's race...
On Her Daughter’s Race

What I think is that that’s something she’s going to have to decide. I’m not going to put a label on it. I had to decide for myself and that’s what she’s going to have to decide-how she identifies herself in the world. And I think, largely, that will be based on how the world identifies her. That’s how I identified myself. But I feel like she’s Black. I’m Black and I’m her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory.

I identify as a black woman, but I’ve always had to embrace my mother and the white side of who I am, too. By choosing, I’ve often [wondered], “Well, would that make her feel like I’m invalidating her by choosing to identify more with the Black side of myself?

Halle Berry On Dating Outside of her Race


Well, first thing I want to say is that I’m very connected to my community, and I want Black people to know that I haven’t abandoned them because I’ve had a child with a man outside of my race and I’m dating someone now outside my race who is Spanish and French. I have never been more clear about who I am as a Black woman[...] And who I really am is a Black woman who is struggling to make my race proud of me, who is struggling to move Black women forward in the profession I’ve chosen, and those relationships have actually helped me identify more clearly[....]The truth that it’s taken me a long time to learn how to love myself, and color isn’t really a part of what I look at when I’m deciding who I want to spend time with. I look for the soul, the person, the evolution, what he believes in, who [he is as a person] and how does it affect me in a positive way.