Halle Berry: "My daughter is black"
| 14:02 UK time, Thursday, 10 February 2011
That's what she has told her white husband during their increasingly bitter custody battle over their two year old daughter Nahla.
The first black woman to win a best actress Oscar, told Ebony magazine that even though she's half-white and her child's father Gabriel Aubry is white, she still considers her daughter Nahla black.
"I feel she's black. I'm black and I'm her mother, and I believe in the one-drop theory. 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. What I think is that that's something she's going to have to decide."
She subscribes to the controversial "one drop theory". For those of you not familiar with it, it came about during segregation and says that one drop of black blood automatically makes you black. To many people it was a theory designed to exclude and separate.
Her comments have certainly started a debate.........And been criticised by parents of other mixed race children
"There is so much wrong with Ms Berry's statement that it's difficult to know where to start... Halle Berry is herself the result of a mixed-race relationship between her white mother and black father. She has previously confessed to having identity issues. So why she would apparently deny her child true knowledge of her cultural make-up is beyond me"
And Sonia Poulton, who wrote the article, will be joining us on the today's show.
In this article Halle Berry also talks about not letting her race down when she chose to marry outside it.
"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"
Are these still issues in 2011 where you live? Do mixed race children get the same opportunities as other kids? Should kids be labelled as black or white? And how important is it as a parent to teach children about their heritage?
On today's programme we're bringing together people with parents from different races to talk about their experiences of being mixed race. We'll also be speaking to parents about the additional responsibilities that come with raising a mixed race child. If you want to take part you can get in touch in the usual ways
