Racial issues in DCPS for mixed race kids
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Anonymous
As the PP mentioned, the term biracial, is generally used to describe the child of an interracial union (where the parents are classified as two separate and distinct races). The post you're referencing does not define biracial as going back two generations--please re-read the post. The child of two biracial people is someone who is multi-generationally mixed (MGM). While that person may look and identify as biracial, and be the product of two different races, they are not biracial in the way that American society typically defines it. A MGM person may experience some things that a biracial person experiences, but it's still a different dynamic. For example, a MGM child will most likely look very similar to one or both parents (who may both consider themselves to be black or biracial). The biracial offspring of an interracial union may not look like his/her parents at all--in terms of skin color, hair texture, facial features, etc. That usually invites lots of questions from strangers and classmates (I.e., is that your nanny, are you adopted, why are you brown but your daddy's white?). A biracial child also has extended family that may be all "white" on one side, and all "black" on the other. That is usually a very different experience from someone who is mixed on both sides of their family. Please note that I'm speaking in generalities, and not absolutes. I'm sure that somewhere, there is a MGM person who has had a nearly identical experience to a biracial person--so please don't respond to this post with the exceptions. Btw, you maternal grandparents were biracial, but they probably identified as black. Your mother is MGM, and if your father is "black," then you would be considered a black person of biracial/multiracial ancestry. Most black people in this country have a very similar background to yours. |
Anonymous
And we wonder why the children are prejudiced. Really!!! |
Anonymous
| ^^^ Examples of MGM people are Vanessa Williams and Zoe Kravitz. Examples of biracial people are Halle Berry, Barack Obama and Derek Jeter. As you can see from these examples, a MGM person can have lighter skin and look more "typically" biracial than a biracial person (Vanessa Willams/Halle Berry). That doesn't change the fact that Vanessa Williams is not biracial. Halle Berry is a biracial woman who identifies as black. |
Anonymous
| One last thing: A biracial or MGM person who looks "white" can legitimately identify as a white person of mixed race heritage--just as some biracial/MGM people identify as black. They will generally be perceived and treated as a white person. The only people who will have a real issue with this are white supremacists and one-droppers. Both groups are committed to promoting the myth of white racial purity. Many white, mixed race people have been conditioned to accept the one drop "rule" as law--so they identify as black. That's their choice, and it's not my place to choose their identity for them. Examples of white people of mixed race heritage are Wentworth Miller and Jennifer Beals. I don't know how these two people identify. |
Anonymous
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I am a multigenerational mixed (MGM) person if I read these last few post correctly. I look white and come from MGM parents. My mother looks complete white and dad looks biracial. I rarely see another person such as myself, so I thought I'd offer my perspective. I personally identify as biracial because I was raised to do so.
I grew up in a majority AA neighborhood as well as my parents. In that environment I was constantly harassed for my appearance and found people did not accept my simple answer if I said I was black and I found that people rejected me if I answered that I was biracial. Anyways, I decided to go with biracial because it's accurate- I'm 61% European (British Isles and France), 15% Asiatic (Probably Native American), and 24% African (most likely Senegal and Nigeria). Even still I hear from AA people and some biracial people born of parents from two different races that I'm not biracial. I understand the AAs that do this. It's in their best interest to keep their numbers up which can only be done by forcing the black label on as many people as possible. But, it saddens me when biracial people do it. It reflects the hatred espoused by AA and white racists. I think what this thread has shown is that people from mixed backgrounds are demanding their voices. They're demanding them from the oppression of white supremacist, racist AAs and, in my case, other biracials. I believe the solution is that biracial people are left alone to just be who they are. You don't have to agree with them, but you don't get to define them. They don't need you and can do it for themselves. Also, while many AAs come from mixed backgrounds, that is know reason to disenfranchise MGM with a more obviously mixed ethnicity. Their experiences are not the same as African Americans. I know few AAs of majority African ancestry who have people asking them everyday if they're white or black. It may happen, but I've never seen or heard of it. Lastly, when I was in Latin America and West Africa i claimed white, which it was insisted I was in those areas. Americans get caught up in being some type of authority on race categories, which stems from a deeply hateful racist past and egocentrism. You'll never get a valid perspective from that. I encourage people to get DNA tests, which are a game changer IMO. It feels validating to know exactly what I am and it helps to challenge the racism that forces MGMs to be classified as black. We have a right to our heritage too- black, white and whatever else. |
Anonymous
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I am biracial and self-identify as black. Although I did not grow up in DC I had quite a bit of contact with teens from the area through Jack and Jill, which represented a small socio-economic elite of the black community. At least half the children in these social clubs could easily pass for white, but did not use MGM categories, they considered themselves blacks as did their parents.
It was always very clear to me that I was black because I knew many blacks who had blue/green eyes, pale white skin and straight hair. I am more light olive complexioned and my hair has curls. I tan and don't burn like they do. If these very light skinned AAs were black and looked white, clearly I had to be black. These are the people written about in the book "Our Kind of People." This color dynamic is talked about in the movie "School Daze." Places like Howard have disproportionate numbers of these light skinned blacks. Some of the political elite in the city still look this way (think Gray). Unfortunately, having light skin still seems to still afford privileges at least for older generations, hopefully this will change for our kids. I know that I have benefitted from my color in ways that my immediate family that is darker skinned has not. Being biracial without light skin can also be a privilege -- having a highly educated white father with high earning power and the ability to live where the best schools are located is a privilege. We need to have high standards for all children and stop making assumptions about ability and talent based on color. Back to schools...I recently visited a JKLM and the teacher did not call on a black child and a bi-racial child that had their hands up. Instead she selected a white child who did not have a hand raised. The school debates in upper NW have made me feel extremely alienated because the "no OOB discussion" and constant harping on overcrowding has clear racial overtones (shouldn't THEY go where the kids are like them). These are my neighbors and they make me ashamed to live in this community. As a product of a biracial family I want to be in a place where all the members of my family will be accepted if they visit for a school event. I also want a place that has high standards for all kids regardless of race. Where does that happen in DCPS, in elementary, middle and high school? |
Anonymous
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I'm a bit puzzled and dismayed by the several biracial PPs' comments describing bad experiences being accepted by blacks. I am biracial (I'm the blue-eyed, light-skinned EOTP PP) and grew up in predominantly black neighborhoods. While on occasion I got the "What are you?" or "Are you black or white?" sorts of questions, those never bothered me. Overall I had a pretty good experience, and didn't really think of myself as any different from any of my black friends and neighbors. My experience was so positive that I decided to attend a historically black college (Hampton), where as a PP mentioned re: Howard, there seemed to be a disproportionately high number of very light-skinned students who weren't biracial but looked almost white (like Mayor Gray, etc.). I don't think any of us were questioned about our lineage.
So not to discredit other biracial PPs' experiences--there are individual differences and yes there are some class dynamics wrapped up in there somewhere too--but I don't want people to think that biracial individuals are universally scorned by blacks. It may be that folks with unhappy experiences are the ones commenting here. |
Anonymous
| Are bi-racial (white/Asian) adults as hateful as many of these Black/White biracials posting. I Get that we all have different experiences, but I never felt the hate from the AA community. If I got any, it came from the other side. |
Anonymous
Who's being hateful?! Lots of people have pointed out bad experiences with BOTH sides. I think the whole thread started out concerned more about (predominantly white) teachers than with AA peers. But people have talked about peer issues, too. If you want to share your own experience, share it, but don't dismiss everyone else out of hand because your experience was different. |
Anonymous
And just because some people have had painful experiences doesn't make them "hateful." Geez, try a little empathy on for size! |
Anonymous
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I find this to be a very intriguing thread, which has brought to the forefront something very difficult for everyone- a changing of the status quo. People with biracial ancestry- 1st generation, 2nd generation, "light-skinned blacks with green eyes, etc"... are finding themselves comfortable in this era to challenge racial stereotypes of the past. And this is uncomfortable. I'm a first generation biracial (1/2 MGM and half white- technically 1/4 AA) and I can tell you that the MGMs on my mom's side who look white never felt comfortable calling themselves black. They very much wanted to assert the DNA that gave them blue/green eyes, which was European, but pressure from the black community forced them into the closet. I have a great-aunt who's in her 90s and she has told us stories of prejudice she endured by AAs in her community. Certainly, not all AAs are guilty of oppressing biracials, but there are many. This thread is the first that I've read pulling the veil of secrecy and shame off of this evil behavior. This discussion where this is discussed is upsetting to many because it's uncomfortable and AAs have been given a pass for the behavior. Whatever the case, I keep drawing the conclusion that what is important here is that people need to define themselves. Whites, AAs and biracials don't get to choose for others. That right is inherent in the individual. Period.
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Anonymous
You sound very lucky. However, you don't get to discredit those whom have. This is what got us into this racism mess to begin with. People need to start getting honest and accepting their role in perpetuating racism. I'm grateful to be around good kind AAs who show me dignity and respect, but as a child I did not receive that treatment. People resented my appearance and called me terrible names. White people did the same, but I was treated much worse by the AA community. As an adult I chosen to raise my children in as diverse an area as possible. I can't shelter them from the world, but I can give them a chance to experience many different types of people so they can choose who their people are. I'm grateful that at my charter you would get the evil eye if you tried to make a biracial child, or a SNs child, or a child of gay parents, or a child without the typical background feel strange or abnormal. Enough of that. |
Anonymous
I didn't post the above, but I would add the caveat that's there's lots of kind of enforcement of the "correct" way to be black in the AA community (affecting not just biracials or light-skinned blacks or whoever but everyone) and that's a problem. We'd all be better off in general if the mold was more flexible. Not to derail the thread, put that goes for some gender/masculinity stuff, too (a PP posted about that w/r/t her young son). I think the greater black community has some work to do in this regard. |
Anonymous
I think what you're describing is more about the effectiveness of Jim Crow and brainwashing. Several generations out you have people like yourself who talk about all of these "blacks with straight hair", etc.. They're not black. They're biracial, but are viewed in a longstanding light most favorable to preserving white supremacy. Know I'm a proponent of people choosing for themselves because of the mess we've created and I respect choice. |
Anonymous
Sorry, but the bolded really gave me pause! Based on your aunt's age, and the horribly racist, segregted time she lived in, it sounds like what you're saying is she could have and WANTED to assert her European heritage, translation: "pass" (a hugely fraught term with all kinds of personal/political implications) as white and other black people resented her for it. I can really symapthize with the black people in this position!!! I remember an Oprah episode about how family membes who were out in the world "passing" often wanted nothing to do with their black-looking relatives for fear of being outed themselves. (The show was about family reunions.) Not to say your aunt did this, but just to point out that for a 90-year old, yeah, there would have been some really understandable tension b/w a white-looking MGM wanted to "assert" that and other blacks back then. I can understand where all sides were coming from... |