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Monday, January 31, 2011
News Other? Check.
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:58 PM
We're not just African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Latino and Native American. In fact, I assert most of us are mutts of some sort.
And by "mutts," I mean no offense. I'm simply saying that very few of us are 100 percent anything. Take me, for instance, I'm German, Welsh, Irish and, we think, Creole ... but since one branch of my family tree can't remember being from anywhere other than Baldwin County, Ala., it's difficult to know for sure. My husband? He's French, Cherokee and ... we don't know.
And, really, who cares? As someone said to me a couple years ago, "We're all pink underneath."
Check this article, "Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above," from The New York Times:
Many young adults of mixed backgrounds are rejecting the color lines that have defined Americans for generations in favor of a much more fluid sense of identity. Ask Michelle López-Mullins, a 20-year-old junior and the president of the Multiracial and Biracial Student Association, how she marks her race on forms like the census, and she says, “It depends on the day, and it depends on the options.”They are also using the strength in their growing numbers to affirm roots that were once portrayed as tragic or pitiable.
“I think it’s really important to acknowledge who you are and everything that makes you that,” said Ms. Wood, the 19-year-old vice president of the group. “If someone tries to call me black I say, ‘yes — and white.’ People have the right not to acknowledge everything, but don’t do it because society tells you that you can’t.”
No one knows quite how the growth of the multiracial population will change the country. Optimists say the blending of the races is a step toward transcending race, to a place where America is free of bigotry, prejudice and programs like affirmative action.
Pessimists say that a more powerful multiracial movement will lead to more stratification and come at the expense of the number and influence of other minority groups, particularly African-Americans.
And some sociologists say that grouping all multiracial people together glosses over differences in circumstances between someone who is, say, black and Latino, and someone who is Asian and white.
Read the entire article, by Susan Saulny, here.
Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
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