All Articles Tagged "Mixed"
Multiracial Groups Better Off than Blacks, Still Segregated
To those singing praises of what a desegregated melting pot America is today, Pamela R. Bennett, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, says we haven’t come as far as they may think. Although the growth of multiracial Americans suggests greater racial tolerance, there is still racial segregation among these groups, her new study has found.
Using where people live as a symbol of their social status, Bennett studied the residential location of people who identified themselves with more than one racial group when filling out their 2000 and 2010 census forms. For both years, Bennett found that the social position of multiracial groups falls between blacks and whites, but multiracial groups have their own racial breakdowns. There was a lesser degree of segregation among people who are both black and white when compared to those who only identified as black; yet the black-white multiracials appear to be more segregated than Asian-white or American Indian–white multiracials across various segregation measures.
“For patterns of segregation in 2000, taking socioeconomic status into account does not change that picture,” Bennett said. “So while some scholars and activists view official recognition of multiracial identities as a movement toward the deconstruction of race, I caution against such an optimistic narrative for now.”
While it isn’t necessarily surprising to the black community that those mixed without any African ancestry would be higher up on the social totem pole, it knocks a bit of steam out of arguments suggesting multiracial people are a sea of harmoniously blended faces all subjected to the same issues.
Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.
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Author Writes Book as a Guide to Raising a Biracial Child
Identity is something many biracial children and even adults struggle with. The issue of not being black enough, white enough, Latina, enough, etc., can weigh on a child’s self-esteem, especially when one parent fails to acknowledge one part of their child’s racial makeup.
That was Tiffany Rae Reid’s experience. She was raised by her Hungarian mother and because her African American father was absentee, her mother led her to believe her darker complexion and other black features resulted from darker completed Hungarian ancestors she was shown photos of as proof. When Reid eventually found out her real father was black and only lived 20 minutes away from her, she struggled to forgive her mother and the way she made her feel devalued by denying her black ancestry. The experience motivated her to write “Color Blind — A Mixed Girl’s Perspective on Biracial Life,” as a guide to help parents of biracial children understand the struggles they deal with.
“Unless a child’s parents are both biracial, it will be hard to understand the life experiences that are going to be unique to their biracial children,” says Reid. “Halle Berry is not the end-all-be-all mixed chick. We come in all different sizes, all different colors and all different textures.”
Biracial children who are raised to be ignorant of certain parts of their heritage especially struggle with identity and develop feelings of alienation, anger, and powerlessness, as well as confusion about how they’re supposed to act, Reid says.
“By not seeing color, you’re not honoring my history, you’re not honoring my culture and heritage, you’re not honoring the challenges and obstacles I have because of the color of my skin that you will never face. For anybody raising biracial children, whether they’re adopted or naturally born, I get that it’s love and I absolutely honor that. But love is not enough.”
While Reid was eventually able to forgive her mother, she knows her story is not unique and she want to help other children and parents who are going through the same things that she did. “My life’s experiences — all the challenges, all the nights I was up crying, all the arguments with my mom — they were all for a reason. This book shows people that truth is freedom. Parents need to be that beacon of truth for their children so they can live their authentic lives.”
Can you relate to Tiffany’s experience growing up as a biracial child? Do you struggle as a parent of a biracial child to help them develop an identity?
Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.
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