Many people who have one African American birth parent and one non-African American birth parent consider themselves to be African American. Some don't. Senator Barack Obama is an example of a person of Black/non-Black ancestry who considers himself African American. I have read that champion golfer Tiger Woods does not.

In my opinion, Americans and other Western nations throughout the world rely on visual clues to help them determine who is or is not a member os specific races. In that sense, individual people lack the power to decide which race they belong to since their physical appearance-their skin color, facial features, and hair texture-largely make that determination for them. If they choose to go against societal norms, and declare themselves to be White even if they don't "look White", regardless of whether or not they were raised with very little contact with African American people, they will have a difficult time convincing other people that they are, indeed, White.

I've met people who I and who other people would consider to be African American based on their physical features. Those people had Black and Native American ancestry, and were raised as Native Americans. Some of them self-selected their racial group to be only Native American, and some of them indicated that their race is both African American and Native American. I think that American society is much more accepting of a person saying that they belong to both the Black race and the Indian race, then they are with a person saying that they belong to both the White race and the Black race.

The "powers that have been and the powers that still be" have made what was once legal rulings and what is now is still social determinations that a person cannot be considered a member of the White race if they have any known degree of "Black blood". However, this White exclusivity rule has been weakened because nowadays people can claim Native American ancestry and still be considered White {if they look White}. Maybe that is also the case for people who have some Asian ancestry.

Because the one drop of Black blood rule is undoubtedly racist, I believe that the time will come when more people of Black/non-Black parentage who don't "look White", will insist that they are White. And the time will come when more people of Black/White ancestry who don't "look White" will insist that they are members of both the Black and the White race. I believe that time will come, sooner rather than later. But I hope that those people who make the decision not to be legally counted as Black, recognize that some members of society will probably still consider them to be Black. And I hope that those people who "opt out of membership" to the Black race, will not make that decision because they are prejudiced against Black people.