Selected Comments From The Discussion Thread For The YouTube Video "Dating as Half-Black in Japan (Blasian Farouq Interview)"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is the fourth post is an multi-part pancocojams series about being mixed race in Asia. Particular attention in this series is given to people who are Blasian (Black/Asian).

The showcase video embedded in this post is the third YouTube video published in 2016 by That Japanese Man Yuta that features "Blasian Farouq".

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The content of this post is presented for cultural and educational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Farouq and "That Japanese Man Yuta", the producers of this film and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

Click the Blasian tag and the hafu tag below for more posts in this series.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Dating as Half-Black in Japan (Blasian Farouq Interview)



That Japanese Man Yuta, Published on Dec 8, 2016
-snip-
"Blasian Farouq" is the screen name for a young Japanese-Black man who was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.

Farouq is the last person who was [apparently randomly] interviewed on the street by producer That Japanese Man Yuta [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpDF_uV_J1M "Actually Being Mixed-Race in Japan (interview with 'Half-Japanese' People ft Farouq)"] At the end of that interview, Yuta, gave his business card to Farouq - which was a good thing since almost all of the comments in that video's discussion thread were highly favorable regarding this young man. That probably prompted Yuta to publish a subsequent two part interview featuring "Blasian Faouq".

The second video in this "series" is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KMO02xxX1g&t=183s "Growing Up Half-black in Japan (Blasian Farouq Interview)"

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE "DATING AS HALF-BLACK IN JAPAN (BLASIAN FAROUQ) VIDEO
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
A number of comments in this video's discussion thread were about Farouq's response to the question about his dating preferences. Farouq indicated that he preferred a Japanese woman who is "neat and pure", or "half-Japanese" girls, or "blonde European girls".

In addition to the comments about dating, another topic that commenters focused on a lot was whether it's correct to refer to a person with one Black birth parent and one birth parent of another race or ethnicity as "Black".

These two groups of comments comprise the bulk of the selected comments in this pancocojams compilation.
-snip-
Numbers are added to these comments for referencing purposes only.

Some screen names may have been changed as certain names don't always match the names given in the replies.

WARNING: Some comments include profanity. I've used amended spelling for those words.

1. micah white, 2017
"I know he's Japanese but hearing him say he prefers white girls while he's black was disappointing to me but he was raised in Japan so."

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2. DarkMatter11k, 2017
"I'd love to see a study done that dives into the impact that racism has on mating. It's unnatural, but understandable that he is admittedly more attracted to full Japanese women, describing them as "neat" and "pure" unlike himself, though his does indeed appear to be both neat and pure. He's attracted to European women with blonde hair as well. These two he was very excited about. Did anyone notice he wasn't particularly excited about half Japanese women, nor did he mention desiring to be with a fully "black" woman. Although he looks like a "black" man, his desire is not of the very image that he possesses, despite the fact that his image is beautiful. He mentioned that Japanese women call him handsome, but do not speak. I think the reality of being a minority causes feelings of inferiority and self rejection.

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3. TheKarret, 2018
"He didn't say he didn't think he was neat or pure, nor do I get the impression he was implying that. Plenty of white dudes talk about wanting a "pure" girl; like innocent and sweet and all that kind of sh&t*, not a troublemaker or "unladylike" so to speak, and I don't think white dudes are trying to say they themselves aren't pure when saying that. It is a curious thing to note that he'd single out European/blonde haired women, though Nevermind, no it's not; he expressed interest in dating a blonde European girl because he's never dated a girl like that, so it's very possible he's dated black girls before. Full Japanese women makes sense because that'd be the majority of what he's surrounded by - I don't think that's a red flag warning sign that he's ashamed of himself or being half black, but just a reflection of being in a predominantly Japanese environment.
Also, one's image doesn't mean anything - his own father was black and had at least one child with an Asian woman, what if he's most interested in full Japanese women as a result of a subconscious thing based on who his own parents are? Like father, like son, it could be, rather than he's ashamed of being black. I'll grant you, though; this is all based on two very brief clips/videos with him, but that seems"
like a very real possibility that shouldn't be discounted or diminished, either.
-snip-
*This word was fully spelled out in this comment.

This sentence was underlined in that original comment.

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4. ichnsn chgo, 2018
"He was born and raised in Japan, that's what they like."

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5. Dwayne Whitted, 2017
"The indigenous Japanese were dark skin know your history"

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6. SkinnyFB, 2018
"Exactly! The AINU!!!"

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7. SONNY da CUSE, 2017
"its always the black father and Japanese mother.....why???"

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8. GUY MAD, 2017
"Do you mean why 'no black woman and Japanese man?'"

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9. Sharon !, 2017
"Sonny S ,, Military Bases !"

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10. SHARE H!S V!S!0N, 2017
"Agree with the military comment, plus, if it were a black women she wouldve brought the kid back with her, plenty of people like that in the US black mom, russian dad, or I knew a guy once whos father was from Monaco, mother was a sales rep, black."

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11. Miguel Lewis, 2018
"Here are a bunch of African women with Japanese husbands.
http://asianblackcouples.com/japanese-and-black-couples-in-committed-love/

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12. Justinian21c, 2018
"There's a lot more men than women in the U.S. military, hence more American fathers of half-Japanese kids. Secondly, blacks are a disproportionately large percentage in the U.S. military compared to the overall U.S. population."

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13. Lonelyeco, 2017
"I understand why he would say white, blonde girl when thinking of foreigners, since us Black Americans usually don't have enough to travel. Oh well. Keep the fine brothas in Japan on their toes. Peace."

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14. StarRoseAngelic, 2017
"What? I lived in both Japan and Korea and there were plenty of Black foreigners. Please remove yourself from whatever bubble you're living in."

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15. Ahido Mikaro, 2017
"+StarRoseAngelic Maybe you haven't really "lived" much in them or don't know what "plenty" means. Half a percent of Japan is not Japanese, Chinese or Korean. And that still doesn't mean just black, which are a minority in the minority. Ultimately you are not proving much by talking about the exception to the exception to the rule."

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16. StarRoseAngelic, 2017
"+Ahido Mikaro Did you even read the original comment? No one is speaking on Japanese natives, we are talking about foreigners. Specifically black foreigners. The OP's claim that this young man only references "white blonde girls" because many Black Americans don't travel is founded in ignorance, not facts."

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17. kelkel5169, 2018
"Ahido Mikaro his african=black genes phenotype dominated he's a Blackman (it don't matter if he's biracial his culture mayb different from mines but if he gets pulled over or apply for a job or go missing you know what they gonna check on that box) I've dated one for 2yrs he's a blasian 2 born overseas 2 but he calls his self a african/black man & identified as a African but his skin light as asian(Full African daddy!)But he sides with Africans more)"

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18. IG georgio24, 2018
"kelkel5169 full African daddy! Lol where are you from"

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19. Ke ke G, 2018
"IG georgio24 amerikka roots from Haiti and Louisiana"

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20. Lonelyeco, 2017
"StarRoseAngelic to you and the other. When you say you've seen many blacks where was that? Tokyo? And we black Americans do not travel much. Look at the quotas. Also, another factor of him thinking this way is media. When America is advertised overseas White Males and White Females are majority of the time used to represent America. It is not ignorance, but research from many sources. So check your attitude before acting a fool to look superior. I am not the one. Can't even post a relaxed friendly post on here anymore. Dang!"

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21. Jon, 2017
"I'd say that's definitely just because of things like film because I stayed in Seoul for a few years and I definitely saw plenty of nonwhite foreigners. More so than I expected. It's like it's just been beaten into the minds of people in other countries but yea, you'd probably be surprised to see first hand blacks and middle eastern folk in places like Korea."

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22. StarRoseAngelic, 2017
"+Lonelyeco Sad that you think that way. You should note that media portrayal and actual statistics are two different things. Please join and follow the social media accounts of TravelNoire, BlackTravelHackers, and other groups. There are many traveling communities of hundreds of thousands of Black Americans who travel annually. If you or your family are having financial issues traveling, check those groups out for tips. God bless."

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23. Prince Asim, 2017
"He did say that he tends to date "half-Japanese" girls, so that probably includes half-Black/half-Japanese girls too. He said he had never dated, "blonde European girls" before."

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24. xenotypos, 2017
"Lonelyeco-> Maybe yes, maybe no, who knows we all never met him. Don't assume the reason of his statement, to have personal preference isn't a sin.
I don't see the issue people always have everywhere all the time about (hypothetical) personal taste."

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25. Fauzril Lukman, 2017
"this is funny cuz his thoughts is just the same as most of Indonesian who if they heard "foreigner", their thoughts is always a white men/women, rich, and smart."

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26. ALL Star, 2017
"growing up in an Asain culture, he got imprinted with the Asains custom of having light skin in best and thinking Europeans are the standards of beauty, all Asains I met. They even draw all their heroes in anime white, and would kill to meet someone with blonde hair, example Sailor Moon white and blonde with blue eyes , Goku white and blonde with blue eyes, Naruto white and blonde with blue eyes. I bet he doesn't even know the reason he is so good at sports and getting so popular is because everyone think that his dark skin is super hot and his athletic genes he got from his dark skin father, gave him that awesome body but hey to each his own hopefully he finds his pale beauty.

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27. kelkel5169, 2018
"Lonelyeco issa lie 😂😂😂 I travel all the time I'm going to Africa and Korea,Haiti this year & some of us work hard & save,why dont u catch them sales online because they're always having a great sales on Japan ,try income tax time or picking up extra hours!It's plenty of blacks/Africans that come visit their 7-8yrs in a row and I may take a break but I always travel plus all my family 2"

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28. Leila, 2017
"Seems like a nice guy, and these interviews just go to show how much where a person grows up can influence them. I was surprised when he said he likes Japanese girls that are "pure and neat" and gave an example of a Japanese model who is gorgeous but not voluptuous in the slightest, and then said he likes girls with booty lol. I think this guy needs to travel the world more and broaden his horizons a bit."

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29. Leila, 2017
"He dresses like someone's who's into "black" culture as well, like hip hop or rap etc. This guy is an enigma lol, it's interesting though"

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30. Hadi Nu'man. 2017
"because hip-hop culture is big in japan and korea. that's why he wears that kind of outfit."

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31. Ttheway2 life, 2017
"Well i don't think he should be called Half Japanese. he is full Japanese with some american ancestry. But, only if he have a duel citizenship. He is Japanese with american ancestry."

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32. Jasmine Adachi, 2017
"aw hes cute! too bad he dont like his own kind 😒 we black women dont need a self hating black man anyway 👋🏼"

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33. Marwuan, 2017
"Jasmine Adachi he likes half of his kind"

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34. Lonelyeco, 2017
"That doesn't mean he hates himself or his own kind. He does not see his ethnicity often. Also, like in the U.S., media plays a huge part in your selection of the opposite sex."

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35. Anton Ekstrand, 2017
"Lonelyeco I'd really like to know what you base your assertion that "media" somehow plays a big role in your personal sexual preference on. I don't know any method you could use to accurately measure that and it just sounds like something you would like to be true.

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36. Lonelyeco, 2017
"Psychology. The mind subconsciously receives messages through media (television, art, music). If you were born somewhere and the majority you see are black women on makeup commercials and Black women and Asian men are always together whether, through the female the damsel or hero, you would gain the assumption that that is the norm. The same as in a test with girls that showed black girls that played with dolls were more likely to dislike their self because they were not the same ethnicity as the majority of the dolls. Since the majority of dolls were white. Look it up. This is not a theory, which if it were science you would probably take as truth."

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37. AfroBoricuaSamurai, 2017
"Well he's Japanese & the majority of Japanese people, half black or not, have a fascination with White people; it's not because he's a "self hating black man." 😒👋🏾"

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38. TonyRedgrave1501, 2017
"He is not a "black man". He is mixed..."

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39. FixedAlgorithm, 2017
"+TonyRedgrave1501
Are you black?"

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40. TonyRedgrave1501, 2017
"+Kodama Mixed too but with east european. I wouldn't call myself black nor white."

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41. TonyRedgrave1501, 2017
"+Kodama I mean mixed east-european and african bro'. And with east-european I mean minority groups in caucasus region of russia. So not really typical east-european more like caucasus europeans (armenians, georgians, ossetians, aserbaidchanians and more...). I have 4 different ethnic groups in me. And by the way not all east-europeans are "anti-black". Just racist motherf&&kers* every country has."
-snip-
This word is fully spelled out in this comment.

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42. TonyRedgrave1501, 2017
"+Kodama It's always hard to tag the caucasus region because it's not really east-europe nor middle-east/arabia. It's inbetween and culturally really diverse. It's like between tables and in the beginning of asia."

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43. TonyRedgrave1501, 2017
"+Kodama What is "Blackness"? I just said he is mixed and that's true since he is half Japanese so he isn't "Black" which is a stupid term anyway. Why call yourself or other people "Black"? It's African you idiot! Black is a color! You seem to be too stupid to read I guess because I wrote I'm half African and half Caucasus-european. I made comments about this stupid term "Black" in the first place because it's stupid to call African people like that and since I'm half African myself I don't want to be called "Black" because it's a term for a color not a ethnicity. White, Black, Yellow, Red only Americans use color terms for ethnicity. Stupid!"

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44. Life with Dante, 2017
"He's just as much Japanese as he is black. The "one drop" rule is over, dude."
-snip-
Read my comments below about "the one drop of black blood" rule.

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45. L
"Hopefully this doesnt sound racist, but tbh it's kinda weird for me to see a "black" man speaking japanese fluently."

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46. Terasets, 2017
"Honestly african languages/accents are closer to japanese than other english speaking/european countries imo so i dont think it looks weird."

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47. Joelthedon22, 2017
"Well he's a Japanese man, so..."

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48. Language Learning Lounge, 2017
"A while back there was a video of a black man in China and these two girls cut him in line. He told them not to cut in Chinese.... the pretended not to speak that dialect. He went through three dialects before they gave up and left. It was amazing. Moral of the story: don't be surprised at all. People from all backgrounds speak all sorts of different languages! (Natively or learned. =])"

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49. Leandro Ribeiro, 2017
"Actually it is weirder to see native English speakers being able to do so since the pronunciation is so different. I live in Brazil, the country with second largest black population in the world (only behind Nigeria) and it's also the country where Japanese is most spoken outside Japan and also the country with the largest Japanese population outside Japan. I can speak at an intermediate level and I'm pretty sure that I'll become fluent in no time. Most foreigners in Japan that can speak Japanese are not from Europe or US, they are Koreans, Chinese, Brazilians..."

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50. Kany Diabate, 2017
"if you are a person that dont travel and knowledge is narrow then yes it will be weird to you, im a "dark skin black" lol female born and raised in paris , origin from west africa , and speaks fluently japanese english, german and african dialects and currently live in LA (plus of course mother tongue french) i travelled a lot so it looks "normal" to me, you should just open and look around youll discover many diversities ;) ;) ( no worries i didnt take it as "racist" , just out of your knowledges zones)"

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51. Blacktattedgaijin, 2017
"+Kany Diabate Preach !"

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52. Kany Diabate, 2017
"+Blacktattedgaijin ;*!!"

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53. Blacktattedgaijin, 2017
"+Kany Diabate Back at you ;*..."

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54. LilyLaya, 2017
"Out of curiosity, why do you keep putting black in quotation marks? The man in this video is black. He is also Japanese. Why are you tip-toeing over his race?"
-snip-
I believe this question was directed to "L".

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55. Queen S, 2017
"But he's not black he's biracial"

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56. LilyLaya, 2017
"+Shamara Morgan And one of his two racial backgrounds is black. Therefore, he is black. Why do you think biracial and black are mutually exclusive?"

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57. Queen S, 2017
"Are you an idiot? Biracial is biracial black is black how much sense does that even make black children come from two black parents not one you modern day slave the one drop rule is a slave rule your master gave you he's BIRACIAL I bet he doesn't even identify as "black" "

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58. Blacktattedgaijin, 2017
"All of you ignorant mothaf&&kas* commenting about biracial people and what we identify our selves as PLEASE STFU! I am Black and Mexican. Father is black, Mother is Mexican. I am both, case closed. Crazy how the people who aren't even "biracial" have the biggest mouth on the subject."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment,
The bold font was used in this original comment.

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59. tyra, 2017
"L lmao why did you put black i quotations he is black"

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60. Joel Kotto, 2017
"He's biracial and it's pretty obvious when you look at his face and skin tone..."

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61. Senpaitama, 2017
"Joel Kotto skin tone?? lol my sister is wayy lighter than him but she not mixed...."

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62. SHARE H!S V!S!0N, 2017
"hes dark skinned japanese. Not black. Black is an american thing, and a way for people in America to identify other blacks around the world. But he is so far from black its not even a joke.He dont know anything about our bullshyte over here in the states and I am glad for him."

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63. Linda L, 2017
"+SHARE H!S V!S!0N he is half Japanese half black, just because he was born and grew up in Japan does not change the fact that he still has some black descent, one of his parents is African"

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64. Linda L, 2017
"+SHARE H!S V!S!0N you don't represent society mate, no matter how you feel, society will still continue to see this man as half black and half Asian, nothing you can do to change that."

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65. Joel Kotto, 2017
"Maybe my argument isn't that relevant, yet he's a biracial and Black Americans' rules giving in to the American racist way of thinking inherited from slavery times shouldn't apply to him. If you're biracial, you're not Black, you're biracial and should be proud of everything making you up as who you are. Period. (ain't mad, just os you know)."

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66. tyra, 2017
"+Joel Kotto So you're saying he's not black???¿"

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67. nekrataal7, 2017
"Let's just go with Obama's example: for all intents and purposes, this half-black, half-japanese guy is pretty much black."

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68. Joel Kotto, 2017
"Don't project your low American racist ways of thinking to this guy. If Obama was willing to really define himself according to White supremacist rules, good for him but if this guy doesn't, it's even better."

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69. nekrataal7, 2017
"+Lance Fernandez Good luck convincing the rest of America that former U.S. President Barack Obama was biracial/mixed and not just black."

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70. poloko collen, 2017
"ppl say he is black and really he is not...just blasian....no hate."

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71. Qris 6O6, 2017
"im full black i live in guam if your from japan you know alot of japanese from nagoya tokyo,narita etc come here for tourism and as far as i can tell from everyone i meet theyre super friendly and idk how else to say it but they love the fact that im black but sometimes tehy say i look like will smith or eddie murphy haha but i love the japanese theyre super cool"

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72. Sam Y, 2017
"I knew the name Farouq was quite Arabic/Islamic!!! I was genuinely surprised to learn thats his name. I know many African Americans who are not muslim have names that have islamic origins, like Jamal, I know a guy calles Hussein but he isnt muslim either which I thought it was very interesting!"

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73. Gantz akira, 2017
1 year ago
farouq is an islamic name , that is one that knows right from wrong.
my nephew has that name tooo.

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74. Sabah Alkhair31, 2018
"Farrouk is muslim name. In arabic language it means different between good and bad. And it means very honest person."
-snip-
A commenter in this discussion thread or one of the other discussion threads of "Blasian Farouq" videos indicated that Farouq said he had gotten his name from his uncle on his father's side. He also said that he wasn't Muslim and neither was his father or his uncle.

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75. Ijacqueline forbes, 2017
"After this interview you will very famous all over the world. The face of the world is changing. Its a fusion of cultures....Get use to it!!!"

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76. Benji Talima, 2017
"I enjoyed this vlog/interview and i look forward to more. However i find it disturbing that some people have failed to understand culture and race till 2017. Black-Asian, why should it puzzle feeble minds. We live in a global society and those that do not travel only read from one page, however thank God we gat the internet, this shouldn't be any harder. Read, explore and learn."

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77. thatOne, 2018
"I wonder what it was like for his mom raising a black kid in Japan and how it affected her.?"

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