An incredibly dumb question regarding the heritability of a father's racial features

[MarxSchmarx]

I apologize for this very useless post in advance, but I am genuinely curious to see if any comrades can enlighten me on this matter.

Michael Jackson was a man of African descent, and was considered by most people to be "black".

He has claimed that his son at least was the product of artificially insemation.

Yet the picture below of his children suggest that his children


http://g0.gstatic.com/news/screenshots/WnRFd_33i_FphM-cropped.jpg
http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/view?q=view%3Apopular&a=z7CYOqTDOFHLmM&source=news&type=embed
would not be considered as "black" in modern America.


Indeed, in America, people with a "black father" are often considered black irrespective of the mother's race. For example, this guy:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/admin_official_thumb/administration-official/ao_image/President_Official_Portrait_HiRes.jpg

I don't think 99% of Americans, who meet the Jackson children (at least in the photo above) for the first time, without knowing anything about them except their appearance, would consider them to be "black".

I admittedly don't know what the situation is with his daughter, but at least for his son, I am wondering why Prince Jackson would be able to be able to pass as "white" for his entire life, despite having a "black" birth father, whilst many other men with "black" fathers and "white" mothers are treated as "black" in America?

[Sun at Eight]

Passing is situational. That's the answer, as you anticipate in your post. "White America" has historically been extremely strict on determining if someone is "white" ("one-drop rule"). This is all part of the history of white supremacy and the slave trade. Children produced by the rape of African slave women by white masters, along with children of consensual relationships, had no chance of being considered white unless they obscured their background and could thus pass in most situations. America also had the "tragic mulatto" trope/stereotype, the person who could not fit in either group and usually ends up committing suicide. Another trope/stereotype was the person who passed but had a child who didn't. IIRC it's estimated that the majority of people of who identify/are identified as "black" in the US also have European ancestry.

As for Americans being aware of Prince Jackson's father presumably being Michael Jackson, there may be a "Michael Jackson exception" similar to those tiresome jokes about his racial progression.

However, "white America" still seems to have a pretty defined idea of what people of African descent look like and I've even seen American news television excitedly cover the children of mixed race ("black"-"white") couples who can pass as white - this in, say, the past fifteen years.

For example, Rashida Jones' background still surprises some people.

[Klaatu]

Are these kids Michael's bona-fide biological offspring? They do not seem to exhibit any African features (other than skin color) at all?

[Revy]

I believe they are his children, and I am sick of hearing people say they aren't because they look white. It's entirely possible for someone who is mixed race to look white or pass for white. Especially since African Americans don't always have the same amount of African ancestry.