"Passing For White" - A Meghan Kelly Today (Television Show) Segment About A Woman Whose Mixed Race Mother Passed As White (videos & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents two video clips from a Megyn Kelly segment on the Today television show of a woman whose mixed race mother passed as White.

This post also includes selected comments from ONE OF these videos' discussion thread that focus on the experience of "passing for white".

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Gail Lukasik and her relatives who appeared in that segment for sharing their story and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Video #1: Meet The Woman Who Learned That Her Mother Passed As White | Megyn Kelly TODAY



TODAY, Published on Feb 5, 2018

Megyn Kelly TODAY welcomes Gail Lukasik, whose book, “White Like Her,” recounts how she uncovered her mother’s secret: that she was keeping her mixed-race heritage hidden even from her own husband. She recounts her mother’s reaction: “Promise me you will never tell anyone until after I die.”

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Video #2: Woman Whose Mother Passed As White Introduces Her Mixed-Race Family Members | Megyn Kelly TODAY



TODAY, Published on Feb 5, 2018

As Megyn Kelly continues her discussion with Gail Lukasik, who uncovered that her mother hid her mixed-race heritage, Lukasik introduces a half-uncle and half-cousin, family members she only recently realized she had. Stephanie Frederic, Lukasik’s half-cousin, says that when she was young, people often asked: “So what are you guys?”

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SELECTED COMMENTS
These comments are from the discussion thread for the video given as #2 above. Most of these selected comments focus on the experience of "passing" for White in the United States.

Numbers have been added for referencing purposes only. All of these comments are from 2018.

1. Ru T
"This is pretty typical in a lot of African American families, mine included.........some of it you just don't talk about it [o]ut of respect for grandparents or parents until they pass....just as she stated her mother request..........and more and more people are finding out through DNA they are not who they thought they were."

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2. Al Person
"So true they were always Greek, Italian or Spanish.... Then they realise nope I'm black"

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3. Ru T
"Al Person no, the one i like the most from them especially if they have darker features is, "I have Native American Indian in me" ......yeh, righr....check that DNA!!!"

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4. talks with kin-Eee, 2018
"Mv family was the same way except my grandmother did not wanna identify as white !!"

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5. mensa517
"you're so right, i'm still trying to pry secrets from my mom she refuses to give-----NOT NEW.....and it doesn't matter until they come out of the shadows, including the famous celebrities who have been hiding behind this veil of lies ....and there are many"

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6. Aisha Lee
"My family has a record of passing as white too. My great grandmother was one of the few that didn't -- every one of her kids and grandkids turned out extremely fair though (including myself!) Makes me wonder which white person around me might actually be a relative lol"

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7. Ella Rawson
"Aisha Lee Same, my grandad was always told his dark skin came from his half native american father but he found out his mother was also half maori but passed as white, and she was mean to my grandad because he was the darkest skinned sibling which is messed up. My grandmother was mixed too and her mother would put her down for looking too "coloured". Even today there are still people who think looking whiter makes you better and it's really sad :("

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8. Lillie Herold
"Ru T Yes, it is very typical. My Father's Mother Dif Not Pass For White, But Could. Her Sister And Sis Daughter Moved To New Orleans And Did Pass. My Family Has Colors All over The Color Spectrum."

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9. 631knm
"mspinkytee You are sadly mistaken if you think this does NOT happen in the majority of AA families!!!!!! ......... It’s VERY common!!!"

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10. Atir X
"Ru T - You are so right about this. My grandfather was half white. His father was a white man his mother was a black woman of some mixed ancestry and they had twin boys. They were not married and it was an illicit Affair in the south we back in the thirties and of course my grandmother had to get out of town because everyone in that small Mississippi town would have known what happened once he saw those boys. But no one could get my grandfather to discuss anything about his father and his blood lineage. The only way we knew was from his half-sister and his mother when she was alive. But my father [h]is sun and including me have tried to get that info out of him and he went to his grave never talking about it.:

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11. Richard Myles
"Black people could never pass as white...only mixed people who have white ancestry could pass as full white. Italians, Greeks, Spaniards are also mixed with black...so they are not full white either."

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12. Ru T
"Richard Myles when we say pass as whites, it is by looks, of course not biologically or by the English standard blood percentage......... you hide that part and pray the truth is not discovered.......... hence this woman’s mother’s story."

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13. Lisa Morgan
"It was an “open secret” in my family that a great uncle passed for white. Very recently his grandson discovered out his true heritage and contacted the African-American side of his family. He’s a lovely gentleman and has been welcomed into the family."

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14. Davis Jones
"Aisha Lee ..My great grandpa passed for White... The story goes that he would slip into Klan meetings to see what they were planning to do and go warn the black people."

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15. Martine Shamzin
"You never HAVE to do anything. Just as black people never HAD to pass as white. They did it to get jobs, and to get more respect. It is always a choice, as is everything we do. But it is sad that someone would be in a position that simply having different skin color would afford them a better chance at being accepted or hired. Societal racism is always bad, no matter which race is being put down."

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16. Stephanie Carr
"Very thought provoking video. My grandfather used to pass for white to play cards in white-only establishments. Unfortunately, it got him killed..very sad. Even sadder is that I never got to meet him..."

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17. Mark Keller
"My great grandmother could pass for White and often did so to buy things that she couldn't get in Black stores."

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18. Monica Beal
"I don’t think my grandparents ever shopped at just black or white stores . Some people say my grandma looks white. Her family is mixed race as well. They couldn’t eat in restaurants growing up . Like that’s where drive thru windows come from . They were windows for ppl who were black and of other color ethnicities . So they could order food and not come in the restaurants. The restaurants owned by white people were all kind of like clubs in Greenwood, Ms . You had to have a password to get in but you had black people as waiters and dishwashers. So black ppl had house restaurants so they could have the same experience we have today and be welcomed some of them didn’t integrate until 1997 . Don’t think this is just MS . My dad says he remembers going to the grocery store. Black and white had to wait in the same line , but they had different water fountains and restrooms . They had this stuff going in Maryland and everywhere else. They used to spit on interracial couples during that time in Maryland. Also one part of md used to be were blacks could go to school and one area where Whites could go. My high school teacher At Montgomery Blair for my junior year was talking about that . How it was at one time in the silver spring and Rockville area somewhere ."

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19. Kristina Depp
"Monica Beal Black Americans owned businesses, hospitals, post offices and every thing we needed including real clubs not house clubs when they were left alone and not murdered. Read about Black Wallstreet and the cities Black Americans built before they were destroyed by jealous whites"

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20. Jim Hawkins
"They were not destroyed out of jealousy. They were destroyed as had they been allowed to thrive and grow like other businesses, Blacks would have in this time fairly substantial financial foundation. Also, the notion of Blacks opening real businesses would have been commonplace had these first generation enterprises succeeded. The violent and vitriolic destruction of those early Black businesses were meant to send a message, "No matter what you do, we can and will destroy it and there isn't one thing you can do about without risking your live or the lives of your family"."

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21. Ming Song
"Mark Keller what were the things that couldn’t buy in black stores?"

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22. mali carter
"Ming Song fresh meat/produce. Fine clothes. Etc."

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23. Jasmine Valiente
"My great grandmother passed as white to get into the only school in their community"

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24. Styles By Deanna Lynette
"Mark Keller Wow! My grandmother told me stories of her doing the same thing. She said it just made life a little easier in those days. She said she would do it when she wanted to shop in stores, eat at restaurants and sit in the front of the bus. It’s amazing the bravery they had!"

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25. Paris Jones Kelly
"Yes my family did this too"

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26. dancingnature
"Mark Keller mine did too. She went to see a white family friend in the hospital and passed as a family member. She lied because her friend was dying and she wanted to see her"

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27. reshonda parker
"California Mountain Art And Life I agree! It’s sad to me that people can act so ignorant. It’s a fact that black people were treated horribly and back in those days lighter skinned black people who could “ pass” did. It’s not because they wanted to, they had to! Color of our skin was life and death! No one can tell anyone about THEIR family or family history. It’s crazy to tell someone they’re lying as if you were there and know lol. One thing that has stood the test of time has been ignorance. That is t going anywhere anytime soon!"

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28. Ashajhunai' Jones is the xjcj, zye
"Same and when she would tell us about it, it made me cry"

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29. Alicia Morris
"My grandma is very fair with green eyes. Easily passed as white until she opened her mouth and that thick Jamaican accent came out lol"

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30. Skye Moon
"LOL She was a part time passer. That's what they called them. The ones who pass only in situations that benefit them but live as black all other times."

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31. Demar Horton
"Mark Keller my grandmother could have pass for white but she married a black man and she lived in the south they probably saw her as a white women it was dangerous for them 80 years ago you have a white looking women married too a black man"

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32. Demar Horton
"Mark Keller my grandfather also looked like a white man blue eyes white skin and racist in his own way too other black people any time you hate your own dark black grandchildren I knew he had a lot of white blood he always say they hate us but he used too come off like he hated me forreal"

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33. Jim Hawkins
"There was a wider variety of quality offered in White stores. That is to say that you could get the range of inexpensive to very expensive. For a Black store back then to offer comparable variety would have cost more as they were charged the "Black Tax" which was an additional charge levied upon Black business owners for getting "above themselves" and competing with White merchants. The cost of quality merchandise for a White merchant was always less as a Black merchant would be forced to pay more and either take the hit on profits or adjust their price to include the Black Tax, which then of course made the product more expensive for Blacks to buy. Mark Keller's grandmother passing saved them money. In my family we are Black and Irish, many of my older relatives passed to get jobs, decent homes , business loans, etc. Pretty much what every White person was getting as a matter of course, they had to engage in deception and self degradation to get. But they were willing to do so as their fair skin enabled them to situate our family to have some advantages."

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34. Tori Volasgis
"Same. My great grandma passed as white as well."

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35. Keep Rocking!
"Pssh. If she can pass as white, she AIN'T BLACK!"

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36. Rae Neumann
"@Keep Rocking! well many people who can pass are the generational mixed Black people. Nowadays many who want to pass can't because they are biracial b/w but don't appear as white. So most people can see the Black in them. And some so badly wish they could be white, and hate their blackness."

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37. MeJane
"Rae Neumann, these bi-racial people who you are referring to, that "hate their blackness", you've talked with them, and they've told you this? Or is that your opinion of them based on their actions, the way they live, etc?"

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38. Rae Neumann
"MeJane I know one who said they didn't want to be Black, and would not date another biracial person because its possible that they could have a child who is Black in appearance. I know another who told me she don't consider herself Black because she only grew up around white people and she don't associate with her Black side. She believes they should create another group called mixed, that way she wouldn't have to acknowledge white nor Black."

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39. Benita Jones
"I understand. My grandfather looked white (really sort of Italian) and was a mechanic. He never officially passed but just left them guessing or didn't clear it up for them. He married a black woman and was told by some whites that he should pass and pass off his wife and daughters (light but not white) as Indian (Native American). He didn't but in the late 1930s and 1940s, was able to have vehicle repair contracts with major companys. I'm sure someone who made the arrangment knew. Might have even been the white part of his family. But there was no uproar of anything because most with the companies knew he had some "colored boys" to come out and do the work on the trucks but assumed D was white."

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40. Debbie Johnson
"My grandmother could've passed as well but didnt. She would visit her half white siblings all the time with my dad in tow. But he said they couldn't go in the house because they were too dark. So they waited for her in the car. Her white father also treated her like a farm mule while her white half siblings (who were also illegitimate) got to play. So no I don't fault this woman for trying to make a better life for herself but I probably would've chosen someone a tad more tolerant. Can you imagine how she felt every time he used the n word or talked crap about blacks? Ugh that's something I wouldn't been able to live with"

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41. 2XtremeRKO
"I found out my nan was mixed race in my late teens when she told me about he grandfather after her brother mentioned we had African heritage but he didn't know what part of Africa because of the slave trade I couldn't believe it my nan never mention it or spoke about it. I then asked her questions and she told me that when she was younger family members told her she was lucky because she could pass as white because she had blonde hair and blue eyes. She told me about the racist abuse her family members suffered and how her uncle was frown away at sea when he died serving in the armed forces because of the colour of his skin. Recently I done ancestry DNA to find out what part of Africa my great great grandfather came from and he's Nigerian I wish my nan was still alive so I could have told her that."

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42. Tanya Blanchard
"Wow! My father's mother did the same thing Gail's mom did. For 2 generations no one knew. I asked when I was little, I was told they weren't important. I too have birth certificates with the word Malotto in the Race spot. Had a Cousin that did some Genealogy that said my Great Grandparents we're Cherokee, French & Black Irish. My Grandmother always wore White Foundation, while her skin tone was always a dark tan. My parents families are all from Louisiana. This was an Awesome Discovery. Gail has more family, which is so Cool. God Bless Them All. Cheers!!"

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43. Jacque Renee
"My maternal great grandfather is white and paternal great grandma is white, my grandma can pass and when I had my children yes me being a dark skinned black woman both my children were very light complexion and both worth blue eyes than turned hazel after 3-6mths. The kids father was like what’s going on and so was I. I knew I hadn’t cheated but dad thought so and asked for dna Test. bcse he is dark also. Yes, my kids took after my white great grands. But bcse during those times of my great grands history they gave my grand father up for adoption So the white great grandmother didn’t want to raise her biracial kid so we didn’t know she were white bcse black People raised them. My grand dad had gray eyes and it came out his white mother gave him away bcse she got pregnant st by a black man thus he was biracial or black and he hated her for that. And my grandma dad was a white man. That my mom knew as kid growing up bcse my grandma stayed with her dad when my mom was born But I wanted to know why my children looked like this and began asking questions since grandpa was the only other person with light eyes and fair skin. Then Mom told me about her white grand dad. Crazy. Blacks just weren’t proud to claim the white parts of our history just as much as white weren’t proud to claim the black parts🤷🏽‍♀️"

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42. Wyoming Oregon
"I'm from Louisiana and I am creole....but I am very DARK. My mother and her people (creole) is very fair skinned and some look like a white person. And in 2018, there are STILL these same people on my mother's side that are STILL passing for white. I see it ALL THE TIME. There is also a community...a little town not far from me where these highly light skinned folks go into the world and pass for white. Its painful to watch when you know the reasons why they do this.."

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43. saboi mwinda
"'Passing as White' and not 'passing as Black.' Could the archaic one drop rule be one to blame for this double standard? As someone who grew up in central Africa, a black person was clearly described to me as someone who is the closest to or is 100% Bantu. People are biracial or of mixed heritage are not seen as black by all villagers and urban dwellers of African countries because clearly they are not due to their phenotype i.e European features such as a thin long nose, long European type hair and European type skin color. The confusion about race description in America is incomprehensibly to people who live other parts of the world."

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44. Monica Dillard
"There are many, many white families like this because there were many Blacks passing for centuries."

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45. Tamara Jatti
"My father is a black south Asian man. My mother looks like the same skin colour that most people associate with actresses in Bollywood movies. My brother is black like my father and I am lighter skinned. Colorism was a huge problem in my extended family. It’s further complicated by the fact that there are some people in the family that looked very east Asian, a few people in the family who are clearly mixed with white, and every conceivable thing you can imagine in that one huge extended family. All of them are Punjabi from India. My dad wasn’t born in Canada, but he came over when he was very young and he’s completely Canadian. My mother was raised in India. A bunch of my dad‘s relatives of his generation, were either born in Canada or came over very very young. Some of us are brown, others are black. Still, the colourism was just a massive problem in my extended family. It bothered me then, and it still bothers me now."

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46. Jelly Kay
"My friend's father was a white Frenchman and her mother was a black Mauritanian. My friend was white skinned - pale as alabaster, with red hair that was semi afro in texture. She had a wider nose and full mouth, but people would consider her white. He brother was dark skinned and looked 100 percent black. Just random genes all round. Nothing more. All bleed red. All hurt, love, get sick, die. We're one race - the human race."

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[Pancocojams Editor's Note: The first part of this comment is quoting Gail Lukasik's uncle and the second part of this comment is quoting his daughter.]
47. evileyez504
" "We lived in an Italian neighborhood, there was an Asian man, he was family,we didn't care, we just knew Dad" , to me this says, they did know, but were passing as Italian, possibly Sicilian. You don't grow up in an Italian neighborhood as a black family and just be able "not care", especially in those days"

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48. Rebecah Clifton
"I think he meant that as a child he was unaware. In any case, it's sad that anyone ever had to 'pass'. My great great something gma, in Kentucky, passed. She was black and Native American a common combo in that region during Civil War days. Her mom though was light skinned mixed race and gma apparently looked 'white enough'. Society is a mess due to racism and hatred regarding race. I really hate it, and am glad that my grandkids have never mentioned anyone's skin color. When the topic arises as they get older, they will be taught what they are taught now; fairness, LOVE, that we are all the same and LOVE. Good and bad people come in all ranges of color."

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49. PoGirl
"Just like my mom is racially mixed, well so am I, finally got my DNA and didn't inherit much but again, in our family everyone looked different. My gramps looked like a black man, my mom told me as a teen when I found hidden pictures of her dad and asked who he was. She said "didn't you know I was a passer?" I asked her what that meant and she told me someone who passes for white. She looks spanish, which we are too. I didn't think anything of it. Most of my friends were mixed. I really never really knew many all white folk."

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50. pamela harris
"I’m called black , DNA claims I’m 61percent European American . I’m great grandfather was with a black woman , Not married but had two children . You can see my picture and know people don’t believe me . You never know , you just never know what our people went through . Times were very bad for people of color ."

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