Another round of Negro, Not a Negro!

I liked when we played this game last week. I wanna play again. This time, let’s raise the stakes up.

This time it’s a contest. Each of you only gets one chance to guess.

The first person to correctly identify which of the four persons above are Negroes, and which are not Negroes, will win a prize.

The prize is a hardback copy of the 2006 book “Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture,” by John Strausbaugh.

I’m not going to tell you who those four people are. If you happen to recognize any or all of them, good for you, you have an advantage. Feel free to consult any source of information you got to determine their racial background.

But I don’t need you to tell me their names. No extra credit for revealing their names. All that matters in the comments section is your guesses for A., B., C. and D. – Negro? Or Not a Negro? (Double-click the images for a much closer look... like that’s gonna help...)

UPDATE (08/01/07): Oh wow... game over already! And I thought three of these were pretty tricky. Matt Norwood correctly classified them all.

A little later on, I’ll identify the four folks in the photos. Gotta run out and play cards now.

UPDATE (08/01/07): In case you’re curious about this racially ambiguous bunch...

A. That’s Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker magazine staff writer and author of the books “The Tipping Point” and “Blink.” His father is British; his mum is Jamaican.

B. That’s independent filmmaker Shereen Noon, who is of Swedish and Pakistani ancestry. She is the only one in this group without Negro blood.

C. That’s journalist and academician Kristal Brent Zook, author most recently of “Black Women's Lives: Stories of Power and Pain.” Her mother is black; her father’s white.

D. That’s old-school hip-hop producer Kurtis el Khaleel, a.k.a. Kurtis Mantronik. Syrian father; Jamaican mother.