By Charlotte Young

For the first time, demographers are able to make comparisons with the category now known as the “mixed-race” group thanks to the 2010 Census, which revealed that multiracial children are the fastest growing youth population in the country.

The Census gave a comprehensive report on the change of the multiracial population over the past 10 years, which showed an increase in multiracial children of “almost 50 percent to 4.2 million,” according to the New York Times. Going forward, this allows for data creation on a previously ambiguous and largely undocumented part of the population.

There are 57 racial combinations on the census. Most identified as black and white, at 20.4 percent. The census also revealed that the number of people in all age groups who identified as both black and white has grown to 1.8 million.

C. Matthew Snipp, a professor in the sociology department at Stanford University said the data “marks a truly profound shift in the way Americans, particularly African-Americans, think about race and about their heritage.”

But despite the population growth of mixed races, blacks and whites are the least likely to report being multiracial. American Indians, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders tend to report a mixed identity at a higher rate.

Suzy Richardson, the founder of the news and opinion website “Mixed and Happy,” says she is happy that her young multi-racial daughter will now be able to grow up and build confidence in her identity. “The numbers, for mixed race families like my own, mean that the world must stop and recognize the changing face of today’s family, the changing face of today’s individual,” she told The Times.

If someone has one black parent and one white parent, would you refer to that person as black? If someone had one white parent and one Japanese parent, would refer to that person as…what would you refer to that person as?

The Grio took a look at that whole “one drop” rule for black folks:

Census data show that an increasing number of mixed race Americans are no longer checking just one box on their government forms. In fact, mixed race individuals make up one of the fastest growing groups in the nation. A recent Pew study found that one in seven new marriages is between partners of different racial backgrounds.

So what exactly is the problem? Diversity in our society is growing, developing and slowly maturing. Look no further than our current president for proof of that. But growth and change is inherently uncomfortable and stretches our existing positions. I say this is always a good thing.

Read the rest of this article and what the author has to say about his own multi-racial background on the Grio!

In the January 29 issue of the New York Times, I was met with the news that the biracial and multiracial classes are still as confused about their identify as they’ve always been. The self-indulgent 2.0 version of “Imitation of Life” reared its ugly head for the gazillionth time in a four page spread where mixed race kids (again) lamented their victimhood and difficulty belonging.

In this article, one young man who was half Ghanaian and half Scottish bemoaned how his grandmother on his Scottish side dressed him in kilts and his grandmother on his Ghanaian side dressed him in dashikis. Tragic. I’m sure the introduction to two very rich cultures by adoring grandparents was internalized unfavorably by the already befuddled and blended creature.   The poor young lad probably headed off to therapy the very next week.

For too long, African Americans have allowed biracial and multiracial members of our community far too much latitude. This is due in large part to biracial tales of woe and other tragic mulatto-isms. Enough already. A cloud does not put out the sun and adding white to color just creates lighter color. If you have a black mother and a white father, then you are of course, less black than your mother, but you’re not white.  You are a watered down version of black. Feel better now?

In these tragic mulatto debates, the topic that is all too often skimmed over is the goal of starting biracial clubs like the ones mentioned in the NYT piece.  Why do they have an unyielding desire to isolate themselves from the broader African American spectrum? It seems that even mixed race people know that they aren’t quite white (enough),so they trot on over to the middle and settle for biracial and multiracial clubs in an effort to further distance themselves from their darker brothers and sisters. This is the only conclusion I can reach since I know first-hand that having lighter skin isn’t enough of an encumbrance to require a support group (and I doubt curlier hair is either).