Mixed Relationships and People On The Rise

The changing concept of “race.”

Saw this article on the blog Mixed American Life. America, and the world, is indeed changing when it comes to seeing more and more mixed relationships and kids. Glad to see it. Love does’t know color or ethnicity. Here is an excerpt:

President Obama is biracial, and in media, multiracials are everywhere. More than ever, they’re touting their mixed heritage.

Comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are biracial, half-black and half-white. They made their names playing black characters on MADtv. But last year, they premiered their own show, where they take on multiracial issues with glee.

But taking on such issues doesn’t always go smoothly, as music diva Beyonce discovered in a commercial for L’Oreal. In it, she declared the secret to her skin was a “mosaic of all the faces before it.” The screen flashed the phrases: “African-American. Native American. French.”

The backlash was immediate. The singer was criticized for abandoning her black identity. But the multiracial community embraced her.

It’s not just that there are more multiracial and biracial people. The government is now counting the group differently. For the first time in modern history, the 2000 Census allowed us to check off more than one box for race.

The last Census showed 9 million people, about 3 percent of the population, reporting more than one race. That’s an increase of one-third from the decade before.

“The youngest age group, kids under 5 [years old], 7 percent are identified as having more than one race group,” says Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. “If we look at the elderly, over 65, it’s only 1 percent.”

That means more people are choosing spouses outside their own race. The change, Passel says, comes from evolving attitudes. Over the past few decades, he says more people have simply come to view intermarriage as no big deal.

“More than two-thirds of people in our surveys, when asked how they’d feel about someone in their own family marrying someone of a different background, said they’d be fine with it,” he says.

Ask young people — those under 40 — and the number rises to more than 80 percent.

To read the full article go here.

Mixed People Monday – Melissa Harris-Perry

This is one sharp lady.

The MSNBC talk show host and college professor has a white mother and a black father, though she self-identifies as black.

Mixed People Monday – Tia Carrere

A diverse heritage.

The actress, who was born in Hawai’i, is of Filipino, Chinese and Spanish heritage.

Mixed People Monday – Colin Kaepernick

The guys is a true baller.

The star San Francisco 49ers quarterback, was adopted, but his biological mother is white and his father is black.

Mixed People Monday – Bruce Lee

None better.

Man I was a huge Bruce Lee fan growing up. So had to throw my old hero in here. The American–born actor was born to a Chinese father and a mother of Chinese and German ancestry.

The Browning of America

A changing American identity.

Saw this very interesting article in The Huffington Post:

Welcome to the new off-white America.

A historic decline in the number of U.S. whites and the fast growth of Latinos are blurring traditional black-white color lines, testing the limits of civil rights laws and reshaping political alliances as “whiteness” begins to lose its numerical dominance.

Long in coming, the demographic shift was most vividly illustrated in last November’s re-election of President Barack Obama, the first black president, despite a historically low percentage of white supporters.

It’s now a potent backdrop to the immigration issue being debated in Congress that could offer a path to citizenship for 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants. Also, the Supreme Court is deciding cases this term on affirmative action and voting rights that could redefine race and equality in the U.S.

The latest census data and polling from The Associated Press highlight the historic change in a nation in which non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority in the next generation, somewhere around the year 2043.

Despite being a nation of immigrants, America’s tip to a white minority has never occurred in its 237-year history and will be a first among the world’s major post-industrial societies. Brazil, a developing nation, has crossed the threshold to “majority-minority” status; a few cities in France and England are near, if not past that point.

The international experience and recent U.S. events point to an uncertain future for American race relations.

Read more here. I do think the next 10 years are going to see a redefining of America. But that will not come without a lot of tension and growing pains because these years will see huge changes in our make-up.

So What Determines Your “Race”?

So is skin color the key to what we are now?

Good Lawd.

From Gawker:

Former Democratic strategist Karen Finney, who was once the first African-American spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, was revealed today to be the new host of a 4 p.m. weekend show on MSNBC. Good for her, and good for MSNBC, which adds Finney, pictured at left, to an already diverse roster of talking heads that includes Chris Hayes, Melissa Harris-Perry, and Al Sharpton.

Don’t mention Finney’s race to Tim Graham, however. Graham, a so-called media “watchdog” for the conservative Media Research Center, doesn’t think it’s fair for MSNBC to herald Finney’s entrance as an arrival of another African-American host—y’know, considering her skin is so light and all.

 

 

Finney has a black father and a white mother so she is actually mixed. However, much like President Obama, Finney has the right to self-identify however she chooses. What is most interesting to me though in situations like this, that show once again how silly our “race” notions are, is that the key to determining if is is ok for her to be called black (or African-American) is her lighter skin and straighter hair. But Graham has no problem labeling Obama as black (also black father and white mother) presumably because he has darker skin and less straight hair.

So I guess this is kind of an admission that what your parents are has nothing to do with your “race.” Just how you look.

Just silly. I say again people, there are no different “races,” just different blendings.

 

Mixed People Monday – Tatiana Silva

Miss Belgium 2005

The former Miss Belgium, has a Belgian mother and a father who is Cape Verdian.

Mixed People Monday – Michaela Conlin

Success right out of NYU.

The actress, most known recently as a regular on the TV show “Bones,” has a Chinese mother and a Irish father.

Kim Kardashian & Kanye West Will Make Interesting Parents

The happy couple present their own unique challenges.

Kim Kardashian recently spoke about her pregnancy and thoughts on raising her baby with Kanye West:

Kim Kardashian recently opened up on another topic that has honestly been on our minds, the challenge of raising an interracial child. During an interview with BET, the reality star discussed preparing for motherhood, including what she plans to teach her bi-racial baby about race.

“Obviously you want your children, for me, to travel the world and experience different races and different cultures everywhere so I think that would be something that is important to me to give as much information as I could.

The mother-to-be said she’s also gotten some tips from some of her pals.

“I have a lot of friends that are all different nationalities and their children are bi-racial, so they have kind of talked to me a little bit about it and what to expect and what not to expect,” she said. “But I think that the most important thing is, how I would want to raise my children, is to just not see color.”

I am sure her heart is in the right place, because one thing about Kim we know is that she has no problems with seeing beyond skin color. But she has the idea wrong though. Our goal should never be to ignore color or ethnic differences. Indeed, we should revel in them. Enjoy them. Different colors and looks and cultures make the world so much more interesting. We don’t want a colorblind society. We want one that appreciates “colors” and embraces them, and does not discriminate against them. I think in a way that is what she meant though. But I just wanted to note the difference. Nothing wrong with seeing color. How we react to it is the issue.

One other point on the excerpt above, which I read on The Huffington Post. The writer used the phrase “…the challenges of raising an interracial child…” Well of course I don’t agree that people are “interracial” since we are all one race, only culturally or ethnically different. But I also take issue with the idea that raising a mixed child is more difficult somehow. I have two and have no particular difficulties compared to friends who have kids who do not benefit from being mixed. All children are a challenge. Girls present challenges. Boys present challenges. Being a minority religion presents challenges. Disabilities present challenges. Let’s not make it out that being mixed is somehow a particularly tough situation. It, like the others mentioned, means different things. But all children are unique in that way.