Was Heath Ledger part Samoan/Pacific Islander?

bmw335

Experimental Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2007
Posts
115
Media
6
Likes
3
Points
161
Sexuality
99% Straight, 1% Gay
Gender
Female
Henry, I guess I'm an exception to your concensus my heritage is scottish/irish and native american. I am from the Wampanoag tribe on Martha's Vineyard Island. (Algonquin band... woodland indians).... My Great Great Uncle was Amos Smalley the man who killed the great white whale who got a mention in Moby Dick.

Just a note back in the 1800s the people who did the census would take a visual and not really trace what the nationality of a person was... and many native american indians got classified as black and/or mulatto whether it was true or not.

I do believe many Americans can have black and native american blood in their ancestory but I just want to clarify that some do not. The same could be true for Black Americans, that they do not have any other race mixture but their own. I see what you are saying but I would think maybe it's more like 1/2 americans could have black/native in there blood not most all americans.
 

B_henry miller

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Posts
2,917
Media
0
Likes
174
Points
193
Location
Big Sur, California
Gender
Male
I do believe many Americans can have black and native american blood in their ancestory but I just want to clarify that some do not.

That's why I said "most." I never said "all."

At any rate, the point of this thread was whether Heath Ledger had some degree of Pacific IslanderAboriginal/Samoan ancestry, and so far only one person has addressed that issue -- and they don't know anything for sure. Way to stay on-topic, people. :tongue:
 

joybunny

Experimental Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Posts
599
Media
0
Likes
3
Points
161
Location
Texas
Sexuality
100% Straight, 0% Gay
Gender
Female
By the way, just a heads-up. Most people who are legally classified as Indian, either 1/4, 1/2, etc., and legally registered with a tribe, hate it when people who are "white" say they are part Indian. They go ballistic. I had to learn this lesson the hard way. I once met a full-blooded Blackfoot man and very innocently told him I was part Indian. He looked at me and said, "Well, all that means is that one of your ancestors probably raped an Indian woman." I thought that was so fuckin' offensive. I said, "Or one of my ancestors was raped."

I think this is where njqt is coming from. I'd never seen this before, but there are probably some black people who would be offended by the idea of "white" people saying they're part black.

Okay, to lighten the mood....

YouTube - My Black Son (Family Guy Music Video)

YouTube - DWB Driving while black
Historically individuals who could pass for white didn't usually claim their African or Native American roots. Due to negative and potentially violent reactions from other whites many people of other ethnicities practiced the act of Passing (racial identity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). It may not be as bad today but there are still whites who either don't know or will not disclose their non-white heritage. Personally I have African, Native American (Choctaw), and Caucasian roots but I look Black. No one would really know unless I told them.

This may be a reason why the gentleman reacted negatively after you revealed your heritage. I would assume, you look more white than anything else. As a result, your revelation could have been seen as an insult both because of a memory of a violent past and also the belief that you still have the option of claiming or not claiming your other ethnic roots. This is no big deal to many but for others, it is taken quite seriously. Unfortunately, old wounds heal slowly and not everyone will be happy with your revelation.
 

B_henry miller

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Posts
2,917
Media
0
Likes
174
Points
193
Location
Big Sur, California
Gender
Male
This may be a reason why the gentleman reacted negatively after you revealed your heritage. I would assume, you look more white than anything else. As a result, your revelation could have been seen as an insult both because of a memory of a violent past and also the belief that you still have the option of claiming or not claiming your other ethnic roots. This is no big deal to many but for others, it is taken quite seriously. Unfortunately, old wounds heal slowly and not everyone will be happy with your revelation.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said anything. I have close relatives who are registered with a tribe, but I am only about 1/64th Indian.

I've had it both ways. I've had one Indian man get offended when I said, "Oh, I'm only a little bit Indian." He got really offended and said, "It doesn't matter how little you have. If you have even a drop, you are part Indian." And then I had the Blackfoot guy who got very angry when I referred to that "drop" and identified myself as "part Indian."

The lesson to be learned? Race in the US is an extremely touchy topic and you can't fuckin' please anyone. Evidence of how touchy this topic is can be found in this thread; again, I started this thread to talk about an Australian actor, and the thread got completely railroaded on to the topic of race in the US.
 

B_henry miller

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Posts
2,917
Media
0
Likes
174
Points
193
Location
Big Sur, California
Gender
Male
There seems to be something wrong with the link. Here it is:
Passing (racial identity) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Historically individuals who could pass for white didn't usually claim their African or Native American roots. Due to negative and potentially violent reactions from other whites many people of other ethnicities practiced the act of Passing (racial identity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). It may not be as bad today but there are still whites who either don't know or will not disclose their non-white heritage. Personally I have African, Native American (Choctaw), and Caucasian roots but I look Black. No one would really know unless I told them.
 

Belly_Dancer

Experimental Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2007
Posts
837
Media
0
Likes
18
Points
163
Age
52
Location
Canada
Sexuality
80% Straight, 20% Gay
Gender
Female
Wow! njqt my maternal grand mother two generations back was BlackFoot can you see it in my photo?Bet you can't.

Hmm...another strange coincidence...I have Native American great grandmothers on both sides of the family, and my skin is so white I'm almost an Albino (Joking! Please, if any Albino people read this, do not take offense! I know it is a difficult condition to live with).

I do have almond-shaped eyes, but so do many other modern Americans.

However, after reading the assertions in this thread, I wonder how many of those eyes came from a Native American ancestor.

By the way, just a heads-up. Most people who are legally classified as Indian, either 1/4, 1/2, etc., and legally registered with a tribe, hate it when people who are "white" say they are part Indian. They go ballistic. I had to learn this lesson the hard way....

Hmmm. Well, I sadly have not met very many Native Americans in my lifetime, and I haven't told any of those that I have met of my ancestry (it just never came up).

I have access to a very exhaustive family tree on my mother's side, and as far as I know there are no African Americans, but I have no idea about my father's family tree beyond two generations back.

Actually, if we're going to get technical, many scientists believe that ALL HUMAN BEINGS have African ancestry and in fact originated in Africa.
Recent African origin of modern humans - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Um...Excellent point.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said anything. I have close relatives who are registered with a tribe, but I am only about 1/64th Indian.

I've had it both ways. I've had one Indian man get offended when I said, "Oh, I'm only a little bit Indian." He got really offended and said, "It doesn't matter how little you have. If you have even a drop, you are part Indian." And then I had the Blackfoot guy who got very angry when I referred to that "drop" and identified myself as "part Indian."

The lesson to be learned? Race in the US is an extremely touchy topic and you can't fuckin' please anyone. Evidence of how touchy this topic is can be found in this thread; again, I started this thread to talk about an Australian actor, and the thread got completely railroaded on to the topic of race in the US.

Evidently it's an interesting topic, though, and you have made some very salient points on the subject.
 

B_henry miller

Expert Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Posts
2,917
Media
0
Likes
174
Points
193
Location
Big Sur, California
Gender
Male
Evidently it's an interesting topic, though, and you have made some very salient points on the subject.

Thanks. I'm very surprised the direction this thread has taken.

By the way, this thread can probably be related to the topic of "large penis" in a way we hadn't considered. The correlation between penis size and race comes up all the time on this forum.

I'm not sure, but I think that the myth that black men have bigger penises most likely started in the US, and I've read that this myth is related to US racial history. The racism in the US held that blacks were more sexualized than white men, which explains why so many people think that black men have big penises. The underlying idea is that a man with a big penis is only sexual, only interested in sex, cannot be intelligent, etc.