Mulattoes have never been seen as white or Arab though - no matter how much they kid themselves of this. IMO, it is not just the one drop rule thats the reason for this. Given privileges but never seen as brethren.
The term black peopleusually refers to a racial group of humans with skin colors that range from light brown to nearly black. It is also used to categorize a number of diverse populations together based on historical and prehistorical ancestral relationships.
We can't force them to identify as black but we can't write them all off - What about those who do identify?
Its a similar situation with Brazil with except their systems of classification are absurd. Its like the blacker you are - the harder it is. They do anything to identify as anything but Black.
I don't want to force them to identify as black..and it is even worse when the law forces them to identify as black (a class with with less power than whites, as they see it and the crux of the problem) then they develop a complex... a love love for whites... but a love hate... which mostly ends up as HATE for blacks...history proves this over and over again if you look deep within the history of Haitian revolution... you will find blacks trusting them (even though they clearly had a complex about their mix status) was what led to failure of the revolution...
In Sudan mixed black/Arab are considered Arabs..and in Haiti upper class mullatos creoles are pretty much considered white or French...
And yes i can write them off... as fellow destee.com member once said: its all about 'self preservation'' we need stop playing NICE... and start playing the game at the same level or higher as those who started it...