Mixed Races

2. Mixed Races Beyond black and white

3. Oppression • Prior to 2000 mixed race individuals could only identify as one race on a US Census. There were 4 racial categories: • White • Black • American Indian/Alaskan Native • Asian/Pacific Islander

4. Oppression • And 2 ethnicity categories on the census • Hispanic origin • Non Hispanic origin • This lead to inaccurate statistical information regarding the United States • This required individuals to deny part of their heritage.

5. Politics and policies: attitudes towards multiracial Americans by Mary E. Campbell and Melissa R. Herman • Campbell and Herman (2010) cite Davis (2001) stating “Multiracial people are also sometimes treated as though their minority ancestry is their only ancestry because rules like the one-drop rule, which forced those with any black ancestry to accept a monoracialblack identity, make it difficult to claim multiracial identities (p. 1513). • Ethnic and Racial Studies Vol. 33 No. 9 October 2010 pp. 1511-1536

6. History of Multi-racism • “The so-called one-drop rule (i.e., hypodescent) obligated individuals to identify as black or white, in effect erasing mixed-race individuals from the social landscape. For most of our history, many mixed-race individuals of African American descent have attempted to acquire the socioeconomic benefits of being white by forming separate enclaves or “passing.”  By the 1990s, however, interracial marriages became increasingly common, and multiracial individuals became increasingly political, demanding institutional changes that would recognize the reality of multiple racial backgrounds and challenging white racial privilege.” • Reginald Daniel, G. (2001). More Than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order. Santa Barbara: Temple University Press.

7. History of Multi-racism Miscegenation laws, were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of two different “races”. Such laws were first introduced in North America from the late seventeenth century onwards by several of the Thirteen Colonies, and subsequently by many US States and US territories and remained in force in many US states until 1967. After the Second World War, an increasing number of states repealed their anti-miscegenation laws. In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, the remaining anti-miscegenation laws were held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. - Wikipedia

8. What comes to your mind? • Many times biracial is identified automatically as being black and white…. • This undermines that there are many different cultures and ethnicities that one may be “mixed” with. • Many biracial individuals experience the same racism, prejudice and discrimination that single race minorities experience

9. Having to choose and being accepted • Individuals may feel discrimination and prejudice from both or all sides of their culture heritage from others who are of one race • Possibly being unsure as to where to fit in • Example of an individual who is Asian and Mexican who experiences alienation and prejudice from individuals who are Mexican or Asian.

10. Identity Confusion • Constantly having to answer and justify information to the question: WHAT ARE YOU? • Dialogue on Mixed Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIHFupQm5wk • Mixed Race Identity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehhxGC0cd4E&NR=1

11. Labeling • Hapa- a Hawaiian term used to describe a person of mixed Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage. • Honhyeol- Korean word for a bi or multiracial person which literally translates into impure blood • Mulatto- denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent or a person who has both black and white ancestry • Mongrel- derogatory term for the mixing of races • Half-caste- term used to describe people of mixed race or ethnicity • Quadroon- is a racial category of hypodescent used to describe a person of mixed-race with one-fourth African and three-fourths Caucasian ancestry. • Hypodescent- the practice of determining the classification of a child of mixed-race ancestry by assigning the child the race of his or her more socially subordinate parent. • Passing- refers to a person classified by society as a member of one racial group (most commonly those of African-American heritage) choosing to identify with the majority European-American group rather than that assigned by social prejudice http://www.mixedracestudies.org/wordpress/

12. Stereotypes & Myths about Mixed Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YVOOqsclY4

13. Privilege • There are many different viewpoints as to how a mixed race individual may have more privilege than someone who is a single race minority. • Passing: • A mixed race individual who appears as white and “passes” as such enables them to access power and privilege from being “white”

14. Privilege • According to an article in Psychology Today, mixed race individuals have the advantage of a larger and more varied gene pool. This results in better health due to less risk of genetic diseases. The article states that better health translates to increased attractiveness. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200512/mixed-race-pretty-face • The findings in this study are an interesting contrast to the historical views that interracial “mixing” would damage the “superior” white gene pool.

15. Other Resources • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html • http://history.berkeley.edu/faculty/Hollinger/articles/one_drop_and_one_hate.pdf • http://www.dartmouth.edu/~socy/pdfs/pols_policymrh10.pdf

16. Family-centered practice with racially/ethnically mixed families Oriti, Bruno,  Bibb, Amy,  Mahboubi, Jayne.  Families in Society.  New York: Nov 1996.  Vol. 77,  Iss. 9,  p. 573-582 (10 pp.)