My 14 year old son is bi-racial. His birth mother is black and Blackfoot Indian and his birth father is white. We have raised him with an appreciation and a respect for not just one, but all facets of his ethnicity. This was not hard to do, it didn't take a whole lot of extra effort and it has been very rewarding in many different ways. He has been educated in the history and cultural differences of whites, blacks and Native Americans. If you were to ask him "What color (or ethnicity) are you?", he will tell you "I'm mixed". This has never posed a problem for him and it has never been an issue for us.
The reason I bring all of this up is this: lately, it seems, over the past few years, I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are willing to embrace the idea of multiethnicity. Some people, and the numbers are growing larger, are insistent on a bi-racial person claiming or "identifying with" one race, even though their bloodline contains two or more. Why is this?
Why do so many people (especially celebrities) feel compelled to choose an etnicity? It's like a game show, "Pick -A- Race". I think that I need to remind them of something: in embracing just one, you are discarding the others. You are tossing away an entire history of people, a bloodline that flows through your veins. What are you so ashamed of?
Barack Obama: I love you...love that you are a young idealistic man....but you're not black...you're biracial. And if black people don't like to be reminded of that...tough. If white people don't like to be reminded of that...tough.
Halle Berry: Honey, you are bi-racial. I realize that your mother told you when you were young to "identify with the group that you looked the most like." But you know, part of growing up is realizing that maybe mom is not always right.
Tiger Woods: Well, you have had issues with both sides concerning your ethnicity. That's because you choose to be "black" when you're dealing with black people and you choose to be "asian" when you're dealing with non-black people. And that's just sad.
Most of us were taught when we were children that color doesn't matter. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "let us not judge a man by the color of his skin but the content of his character." When did that idea meet its demise?
It's frightening to think that a 14 year old child has more character than those in the public eye.
There are those who will disagree with me. Okay. You have the right to do so...it's still a free country. Too bad some of those freedoms don't extend to everyone.
Peace allllllllllll......................
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5 comments:
Excellent points Sprinkle. I don't think I know anyone who can be identified with a single race. As more and more people have their DNA checked, they have surprises in store. I am identified on sight as caucasian but I am a European, Native American, Sub-Sarahan African. So far I haven't found any boxes on forms that have a choice of "mixed". That's where the demise of bi-racial occured. We had to check a box.
My ex husband is bi racial, mother white father black and he chose to call himself black as that was the only group that he thought accepted him. He got negativity from whites and therefore chose to leave their heritage out of his ethnic makeup when talking about his ethnicity. I believe he has since changed as he remarried a white women and I can't imagine him still ignoring that part of his make up. But I do know that is why he considered himself black as opposed to bi racial.
I completely forgot that I came to say thank you for your kind words on my blog. I got so caught up in your post I forgot why I was here.
Aren't we all mixed by now?
I agree with you for the most part. But I've always believed that race is about perception. The country will always look at Barack Obama as Black because that is what they see, no matter what his background is. If someone is mixed or bi-racial, society is not mature enough to think about the white part of their ancestry...they are automatically Black. And I think the reason behind this is because in some sick ways we love to marginalize people. If you have an ounce of Black in you, then you are tainted in a way and cannot be accepted into white society. It is almost a supremecy Hitler-ish notion. And it sickens me. It is so superficial and sad.
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