Link:http://forcv.com/index.php?idnoticia=21

Cabo Verde, Azidja, Cape Verde, Cap Verde, et cetera, call it what you want, is a racially mixed country, albeit not as throughly mixed as, say, Puerto Rico, but nonetheless, mixed. Most Cape Verdeans are predominantly African in phenotype and genotype. However, a significant percentage have looks that could easily make them pass as natives of middle east, europe and even asia. Consider, for instance, the following photographic examples of four native born Cape Verdeans

The Arab looking Cape Verdean

This man is a well known Cape Verdean musician. As you can see, he can easily pass for a native middle eastern. Were he to travel to the United States, he'd likely be discriminated not because he's black but because in the narrow minds of the xenophobes and racists, because of his looks, he can only belong to one ethnic and/or racial group, the Arabs, or more corrosively, the towerheads, which is a deragotory anti-arab term. But he isn't an Arab, he's an African, a native son of Azidja, a holy place that the ancient Africans used go to pray prior to its man-made defoliation and deforestation.

The Black looking Cape Verdean

This man,

by contrast, would be undoubtedly classified and treated as a Black man, irrestpective of his "foreign" black look. Were he to drive in the streets of America, he'd likely be stopped for driving while black(DWB). Moreover, more likely than not, he'd rather be classified along ethnic and/or nationality (read:I'm Cape Verdean) lines than the traditional racial denominations. This is the kinda of Cape Verdean that African Americans try to compel to identify as Black, i.e., say you're black. In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if he were to reply with, but why should I say I'm black, is there a country and/or continent named black?

The Hispanic Looking Cape Verdean

This young Cape Verdean man

would be what some, a New Yorker for instance, would label as "puerto rican" looking. His racial genetic make-up as far as we can ascertain from his phenotype, isn't predominately African, that is, he doesn't necessarily look black. We know that to the adherent of the "one drop rule" he'd be black, but to the average person he'd be hispanic insofar as the term "hispanic" is often loosely used as not only an ethnic term but a racial term, too.

The white looking Cape Verdean

This man, a Cape Verdean by birth, and an American by naturalization, is a state Republican Representative from Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In spite of his slightly broad nose (by caucasian stardards) which could indicate sub-saharian African influence, he is, nonetheless, for all practical purposes, white, albeit the mediterranean type, i.e., Italian, Greek, Portuguese, etc. I don't think he would be stopped for driving while black(DWB) in New Jersey or anywhere else. Nor do I think he'd have a problem catching a cab in New York City.


All in all, given all of the above stated notations and the photographs, namely the Arab looking one, along with the other three, the Black looking one, the Hispanic looking one, and the white looking state representative, would serve, I hope, as an explanatory treatise on the multi-hued and genomic character of the Cape Verdeans, which in turn, would be suffice to justify Manu Salah's labeling of Cabo Verdeanos as the kaleidoscopes of humanity. But more precisely, in the context of this post, the Cape Verdeans would be a racial genomic kaleidoscope.

A raw analysis of the Cape Verdean demographics but with some important elements. So, is it fair to stand by the notion that Cape Verdans are blacks period or are there more to add the story?

should an Arab say, "I'm a Cape Verdean" looking Arab? Should a Hispanic say, "I'm a Cape Verdean" looking Hispanic? It does not make sense to say an Arab looking cape Verdean. He is cape verdean. Period. Cape Verdeans come in different phenotypes just like Cubans do or others. What's so special about it? We are not unique in this. Let's not try to make ourselves so unique as to say that we are "different." Being Black is not based solely on phenotype. It is also a political and ideological identity. To analyze "blackness" solely on the basis of phenotype is misleading and simplistic in nature.

Well, if you go by the "one drop rule" then Cape Verdeans would definetely be black since virtually all Cape Verdeans have sub-saharian African elements in their families. But, in any case, since the "one drop rule" is a foreign concept, and it's not part of the vocabulary of Cape Verdeans, we can thus say, more or less, that Cape Verdeans are a mulatto people and not black insomuch as the term mulatto, even though it is obsolete in the United States, in Cabo Verde, nonetheless, it is part of the racial discourse vocabulary. For instance, in Cabo Verde "light skinned Black" would be considered an oxymoron, everybody uses the term "mulato" for such an individual.
Furthermore, in Cape Verde, the roles of the slave, the slave owner, and the offspring of the first and the latter, the mulatto, was blurred to the point where there was little distinction between the three, as the historical tripartite CV society developed. That's the reason for the complex history and current political reality of Cape Verde.
On a different note, this post does not contradict in any way, the "cabo verde: the cradle of the african diaspora" post. All I'm doing is describing the different terms that are used to describe phenotypes in Cabo Verde and the United States.
Now, to address your point about blackness having to do with political and ideological identities, I would say that in this regard, then, Cape Verdeans would not be black, because very few of them have the political and ideological framework that would be classified as black, afrocentric and whatnot.
In fact, I would venture to say that the afrocentric (read: black) framework of thinking is arguably unique to African Americans. I can't think of anywhere else in the African diaspora, where there's an equal level of political consciousness and/or yearning for an all Black nation.

(FIRST LET ME SAY THAT EVERY HUMAN LIFE IS PRECIOUS)

My Dear Beloved people our differences of opinion depends much
on whose definition we accept. Having said that; when in fact a person
puts any credence on the one drop rule,we must look deeply into
who made that rule and for what reason that ruling was made.

Therefore I suggest we be very careful on much of the definitions that
in fact was unscientific and based on the idea of racism. If you accept
that premise you will be in a state of confusion and your argument will
always be at disarray. The one drop rule is not scientific fact it is very
erroneous. I am sure when you think about it you know why.

This is what Dr.Amilcar Cabral said:
"The time is past when it was necessary to seek arguments to prove
the cultural maturity of African peoples.The irrationality of the racists
'theories' of a Gobineau or a Levy-Bruhl neither interests nor
persuades anyone but racists. In spite of colonial domination (and
perhaps because of this domination) Africa has been able to impose
respect for her cultural values. From Carthage or Giza to Zimbabwe,
from Meroe to Benin and Ife, from the Sahara or Timbuctoo to Kilwa,
across the immensity and diversity of the continent's natural
conditions,the culture of African peoples is an undeniable fact: in
works of art as in oral and written traditions,in cosmogony as in
music and dances, in religion and creeds as in dynamic equilibrium
of economic,political and social structures that African man has been
able to create.

If the universal value of African culture is now an incontestable fact
it should not, however,be forgotten that African man, whose hands,
as the poet said,"have laid the foundation stones of the world". has
developed his culture,if not always,hostile conditions: from deserts
to equatorial forests,from coastal marshes to banks of the great
rivers subject to frequent flooding, through and against all the
difficulties, including scourges which destroy not only plants and
animals but man as well. In agreement with Basil Davidson and
other researchers of African societies and cultures, we can say
that in the light of the inhospitable character of the environment,
are an achievement to be ranked with the major historical
example of the greatness of man..."

Dr. Amilcar Cabral also said: "We must remember that before being
Africans we are,human beings,who belong to the whole world."

My Dear Beloved people for more information please read
UNITY & STRUGGLE BY AMILCAR CABRAL.

There has been different forms of racism in many societies or some form
of prejudice or discriminatory practice,but this question on the one drop
rule is so asinine.

THE TWO USA countries that is UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AND THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (APARTHEID) ENGLAND,UNITED KINGDOM OR GREAT BRITAIN. THEY HAVE DEFINED THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. BETWEEN KING JAMES, WEBSTER AND OTHER FOLK WHO PUT THE LEXICON OF THEIR LANGUAGE TOGETHER AND THE IDEA OF A DROP OF AFRICAN BLOOD MAKES YOU AFRICAN OR IN THIS CASE THOSE WHO ARE CAUGHT UP INTO THE RACISM OF COLOR CODE SYSTEM OF BLACK AND WHITE. PLEASE GET OUT OF THAT REVOLVING DOOR OF IDIOTIC THINKING.

PEOPLE OF AZIJAH CABO VERDE IF WE FALL INTO THAT TRAP THEN ALL OF US HAVE A GRAVE PROBLEM,ESPECIALLY IF YOU KNOW OUR HISTORY. DROPS OF BLOOD. PLEASE!
CAN IT BE MADE ANY CLEAR THEN THAT.
NOS e CABOVERDIANO e CABOVERDIANA.
CABO VERDE STA NA COSTA DE AFRICA- DE SHA KETU.

WE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO.
THANK YOU

YOU COULD ADD ON SOME PICTURES OF THE EUROPREAN CV PROFILE SUCH AS MY GRANDFAHTER WHO FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSE LOOK (WHITE) FROM DJA-FOGO. RECENT YEARS ASIAN PROFILE BORN IN CABO VERDE CV FATHER. WE HAVE IN CAPE COD NATIVE AMERICAN/CV
MOTHER; FATHER WAUMPANOAG,MANY AFRICAN AMERICAN (NEGRO)
MARRIED TO CV. POLISH MARRIED TO CV THAT I WHY I COIN THE PHRASE KALEIDOSCOPE A PROVERBIAL EXPRESSION AND ALL OTHER MIXTURES THAT MAKE UP WHAT WE CALL CABOVERDIANO. THAT WOULD COMPLETE YOUR TRIPARTITE ANALYSIS. THAT IS WHY WE RETURN TO THE SOURCE THAT IS IF YOU WANT. BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE, IN TERMS OF YOUR CHOICE OF NATIONALITY JUST DON'T FALL VICTIM OF RACIST COLOR CODE SYSTEM. SOME CV'S WILL SAY I AM SENEGALEESE, ANGOLAN,ETC. I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT IS TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND A GOOD HUMAN BEING,WITH DIGNITY AND INTEGRITY.

I have added the only public white looking Cape Verdean I know of in the original post.

DR X.

Most interesting.

Manu Salah; we hear you loud and clear. Thank you for your kindness.

I want to add this to the equation. For example my father(Pai) was in the second world war like many other men who was born in Cabo Verde or the USA. I have Brothers and Sisters in the Fiji Islands. Never met them,not even a picture. Also true of the Tongo Islands,also in Hawaii.

This of course has been the life of the man from Azijah Cabo Verde in his journey. If by some strange coincidence one of those (children) people.
In search of his or her roots(Raiz) finds out about Cabo Verde/Azijah.
How would we go about reafracanizing this person? Would that person have a right to claim being a CaboVerdiano? Then I am asked why would I do that? Whats the point? Music -Song -Dance-language-food...
KAKAU WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHTS.

KULTURA-CULTURE.

Well from the place you are on mother earth we love you.

Be graciously proud with dignity and integrity. Morabeza at the place you are my bother and sister in the Pacific.
PRAY FOR PEACE.

Thank you. DR.X

(X) Unknown Quantity

Creole societies is what they are: a mixture. This does not make
Cape Verdeans so unique that one has to study
the racial landscape from a "unique" perspective.
African Americans are also mixed. I could find 4 African
Americans who fit the profile that you have there.
DuBois was very light; Vanessa Williams is very light;
James Weldon Johnson was white looking...and so
on. If you analyze the post "Claridade" literature, the
"revolutionary" literature you will see what Cabral meant
by "return" to the source. I would also refer to Franz Fanon
and Albert Memmi who discuss the colonization of the mind
which is far more dangerous than the physical one. I am disturbed
by the pictures and by the simplistic analysis of CV racial landscape.
A racial identity is a social and psychological development and it
is developed within a social context. It is NOT based on your
hue. I am Cape Verdean, African and proudly BLACK!

Look, race has very little to do with social and/or psychological dynamics. That's the "liberal" interpretation. And if this interpretation was right, Eminen and all the other "wiggers" who are often psychologically "black" would be socially considered black, too, but they are not. Why? Because they are physically, phenotypically, that is, not Black.
On the other hand, a case in point would be you and Vinny Demacedo. You and he share a birth country and culture, yet he's considered white and you are considered black. Why? Because he's physically(phenotypically) white and you are not. Thus, I reiterate, race as we
know it in America, and elsewhere, has to do mostly with physical attributes not social or psychological ones.

Why do we only have pictures of man faces in the introductory article to represent Cape Verdeans? Aren't there any women in Cape Verde?

Is this one more sign of the deep rooted and unspoken instincts of the Cape Verdean male machoism?

Let's upgrade, my people. This manly portrait of the Cape Verdean image is politically unacceptable in moderns societies and biased towards women.

Kakau,
you are assuming that because I say I'm Black,
that I'm phenotypically as Black as the definition that
you have on the web. Again, you are looking at blackness
from superficial point of view when you say that Eminem could
be considered Black becuase he sings rap, wears the hip hop gear
and speaks slang. That is youth, urban and inner city culture. That
is not Black culture or a Black identity. You must go beyond the
superficial and beyond what you can SEE. My Black identity is
not based on my looks. I challenge you to read Cross (1999)
and Phinney (1995) and examine the psychological development
of an ethnic and racial identity. By the way, I have a friend who
is as white looking as Macedo and he identifies Black! Go figure!
By the way, to corroborate what my sister said, there are WOMEN
in Cape Verde as well.

Seeing is beleiving. Show us her picture!!!

You see, I would have gladly added pictures of public Cape Verdean women if I could find them. But I can't find any public CV female picture on the internet that would fit under say, the "arab phenotype" or the "white phenotype".

For The "Black" and "Hispanic" traditional phenotypes, however, there are loads and loads of them to point out that I don't think it's worth pointing them out insomuch as, for instance, the entire make-up of the Cabo Verde government is Black-looking or Black-Hispanic-looking.

Yes, there is such a thing as Black-hispanic looking. If you ask any New York city police officer he (or she) would tell you the same thing. For example, just about all of my Dominican friends(whom CVs bear an eerie resemblance to), when they get arrested, they are always listed as "black-hispanic", not just hispanic.

These Cape Verdean goverment Ministers would be listed as Black Hispanic by NYC police, too, God forbid they get arrested by the NYC's finest.

Kakau,
I can't believe I'm helping you
with this but...what the heck Since
you really want to do this, check out some female
singers. You will find an array of looks. I'm already
sorry I did this!

Kakau,

Check out mariadebarros dot com, caboverdeonline dot com for Mayra, and some pictures of gardenia benros, the so called badia branca. Great pictures for all purpose and display. Check also the front page of FORCV for some "desbundadeiras"!

Does this help?

Oh no,
Not the kentura fashion show!
By the way, you can also search
for writers and filmakers such as
claire andrade-watkins, gina Sanchez Gibau,
etc. We've got it all!

This issue seems to be very controversial, and we may never reach an agreement. Why don't FORCV conduct a POLL and see where people stand?

We'd be more that happy to post a poll about this.

Can you give us the Question and the options for the poll?

There's no need to have a poll. As I said in the post, most Cape Verdeans look like this guy, that is, predominantly African in phenotype and genotype.



The ones that look like this Arab looking CV


And this hispanic looking CV
are definetely in the minority.

And needless to say, this white looking CV, is part of the less than 1 percent of white Cape Verdeans.

Kakau,
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you keep
saying "Hispanic cape verdean." I can't help reacting
to it becuase it is incorrect. I hope you tell your
Dominican friends that they are "Cape Verdean looking
Dominicans, or better yet, "African looking" Dominicans.
Sapo, I never thought I would agree with you on anything
but, alas, I'm with you on this one!

Dear person who signs as unknown:
I would like to respectfully submit that my
answer was in reaction to the post that referred
to CV's as "hispanic, arab, and black" looking.
My point is that there are people who are light skinned
and identify Black. There are also people who are very
dark skinned and do not consider themselves Black.
This shows that a Black identity has some elements
of social context (whether you are in Brazil, U.S. or
Cape Verde) and also psychological one. Depending
on some experiences, some features of a social identity
are more prominent than others. For me, in U.S. I am considered
Black; when I went to the continent (Africa), I was told I was
not Black enough. I have a black identity that goes beyond my
hue; it is ideological and political as well. I hope this clarifies the
issue for you. Thank you.

There Are some CV"s that look more Caucasion then Vinny,Green Eyes thin nose thin lips.come on lets get out of this. So are there some Hispanics and some African Americans,have you ever seen Poppy White or Adam Clayton Powell. Cv's are not alone in these looks for heaven sake have you been to Brazil or to Cuba or to India. Please lets give this a rest.
What are you trying to prove anyway? Who in the hell cares. Look any people that have gone thru miscegenation have them looks. Wake up Mr. West!