Thoughts on the term "biracial"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bi-racial implies white and something else, right? In DC there is a particular irony that school forms don't reflect more than one race (yet) given the status of the POTUS, the Mayor and Chancellor's children. Is it kosher to check 3 of the mutually exclusive boxes AND other? I write in "mixed heritage". Good enough for Obama, works for me as a half-rican. ITA with pp caution against saying "half". I got lots of twisted questions about which half resulted in which feature. (Ugh.) I plan to coach my even more mixed kids to appreciate that they are ___, ___ AND ____. They have more heritages in total. Not parts of them for certain cultures. Fingers crossed it works for them.

Except it isn't good enough for Obama and he only marked African American on the census.

Or maybe Obama identifies as African-American based on his cultural and life experiences, as is his right.

The census doesn't ask how you identify yourself it asks for your racial composition. I checked all the boxes that applied to my family as it really wasn't that difficult to check more than one box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bi-racial implies white and something else, right? In DC there is a particular irony that school forms don't reflect more than one race (yet) given the status of the POTUS, the Mayor and Chancellor's children. Is it kosher to check 3 of the mutually exclusive boxes AND other? I write in "mixed heritage". Good enough for Obama, works for me as a half-rican. ITA with pp caution against saying "half". I got lots of twisted questions about which half resulted in which feature. (Ugh.) I plan to coach my even more mixed kids to appreciate that they are ___, ___ AND ____. They have more heritages in total. Not parts of them for certain cultures. Fingers crossed it works for them.

Except it isn't good enough for Obama and he only marked African American on the census.

Or maybe Obama identifies as African-American based on his cultural and life experiences, as is his right.

The census doesn't ask how you identify yourself it asks for your racial composition. I checked all the boxes that applied to my family as it really wasn't that difficult to check more than one box.

Seeing as how "racial composition" is a social construct, then, yes, it DOES ask for self-identification. If you choose to check all applicable boxes, all power to you. If someone else chooses to identify with just one race, that is his/her choice.

[Anonymous]

Resident anthropologist here. "Race" is a social construct used to identify people based on common physical characteristics. However, biologically human beings are indistinguishable. Ethnicity is a self-identified classification based on cultural affinity.

And technically, Iranians are "white"/caucasian, as are many nationalities one would associate with parts of Asia -- northern Indians, Afghans, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bi-racial implies white and something else, right? In DC there is a particular irony that school forms don't reflect more than one race (yet) given the status of the POTUS, the Mayor and Chancellor's children. Is it kosher to check 3 of the mutually exclusive boxes AND other? I write in "mixed heritage". Good enough for Obama, works for me as a half-rican. ITA with pp caution against saying "half". I got lots of twisted questions about which half resulted in which feature. (Ugh.) I plan to coach my even more mixed kids to appreciate that they are ___, ___ AND ____. They have more heritages in total. Not parts of them for certain cultures. Fingers crossed it works for them.

Except it isn't good enough for Obama and he only marked African American on the census.

Or maybe Obama identifies as African-American based on his cultural and life experiences, as is his right.

The census doesn't ask how you identify yourself it asks for your racial composition. I checked all the boxes that applied to my family as it really wasn't that difficult to check more than one box.

Seeing as how "racial composition" is a social construct, then, yes, it DOES ask for self-identification. If you choose to check all applicable boxes, all power to you. If someone else chooses to identify with just one race, that is his/her choice.

Grasping at straws, huh? The Census still doesn't ask for your interpetations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bi-racial implies white and something else, right? In DC there is a particular irony that school forms don't reflect more than one race (yet) given the status of the POTUS, the Mayor and Chancellor's children. Is it kosher to check 3 of the mutually exclusive boxes AND other? I write in "mixed heritage". Good enough for Obama, works for me as a half-rican. ITA with pp caution against saying "half". I got lots of twisted questions about which half resulted in which feature. (Ugh.) I plan to coach my even more mixed kids to appreciate that they are ___, ___ AND ____. They have more heritages in total. Not parts of them for certain cultures. Fingers crossed it works for them.

Except it isn't good enough for Obama and he only marked African American on the census.

Or maybe Obama identifies as African-American based on his cultural and life experiences, as is his right.

The census doesn't ask how you identify yourself it asks for your racial composition. I checked all the boxes that applied to my family as it really wasn't that difficult to check more than one box.

Seeing as how "racial composition" is a social construct, then, yes, it DOES ask for self-identification. If you choose to check all applicable boxes, all power to you. If someone else chooses to identify with just one race, that is his/her choice.

Grasping at straws, huh? The Census still doesn't ask for your interpetations.

It inherently does! Because it's all interpretation. If someone is from the Dominican Republic with ancestral roots in Africa but doesn't identify as African-American or black (as many don't) , are they obligated to check it? No. There is always interpretation when it comes to racial categorization because there are no hard and fast lines between groups. Why do you suggest I'm grasping at straws, anyway? You act as if I'm trying to promote some sort of agenda. All but the most backwards-minded folks recognize that race is a social construct that is inherently open to interpretation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Resident anthropologist here. "Race" is a social construct used to identify people based on common physical characteristics. However, biologically human beings are indistinguishable. Ethnicity is a self-identified classification based on cultural affinity.

And technically, Iranians are "white"/caucasian, as are many nationalities one would associate with parts of Asia -- northern Indians, Afghans, etc.

this guy is white?


and this guy too?

[Anonymous]

Race is simply a word to describe the differences between people. Somehow, we seem to forget that we all came from the same place at one point in time. Whether your skin is dark or light simply depended on what type of climate your ancestors traveled to. I am always flabbergasted at how much weight people give to the color of the skin. It's quite ridiculous really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Resident anthropologist here. "Race" is a social construct used to identify people based on common physical characteristics. However, biologically human beings are indistinguishable. Ethnicity is a self-identified classification based on cultural affinity.

And technically, Iranians are "white"/caucasian, as are many nationalities one would associate with parts of Asia -- northern Indians, Afghans, etc.

this guy is white?


and this guy too?

the first picture didn't come out, but yes, Iranians/Arabs/Afghanis, etc are considered caucasian. White doesn't always mean you can disappear in the snow if you're naked. Caucasians actually can have very diverse tones to their skin, just as blacks can. There can be very light skinned black people and also black skin that is truly black like someone from south Sudan. That's why race really is more "gray" than a black and white issue (lol). On that note, I am of European descent, but I have a north Indian friend who's legs are whiter than mine, even though she has more olive tone to her skin than me.

[Anonymous]

Fascinating -- do share more. I am a black person and this is why I am so glad not to live in the U.S. anymore. It's just not that interesting, I swear. I do not give a flying fig about the 14 races in your family background, your shockingly full lips or your bone-straight hair anymore than I care about the black descendants of Thomas Jefferson who need to have that genetic trivia be officially acknowledged as part of their background. I wish to God we could let all of this crap go for once and for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the first picture didn't come out, but yes, Iranians/Arabs/Afghanis, etc are considered caucasian. White doesn't always mean you can disappear in the snow if you're naked. Caucasians actually can have very diverse tones to their skin, just as blacks can. There can be very light skinned black people and also black skin that is truly black like someone from south Sudan. That's why race really is more "gray" than a black and white issue (lol). On that note, I am of European descent, but I have a north Indian friend who's legs are whiter than mine, even though she has more olive tone to her skin than me.

What about this guy? Pretty white, huh.

www.washingtoncitypaper.com/.../03/0324gray.jpg

Yes, race is a cultural construct. I love the term Caucasian because the vast majority of Americans who think they are, couldn't find the Caucasus Mountains on google maps.

[Anonymous]

Your link didn't work.

[Anonymous]

As a non-white person, this conversation strikes me as offensive to most minority groups.

[Anonymous]

@14:27, I agree. It seems like some of the posts that I've read make it seem like a person's racial composition is something to be embarrassed by or ashamed of.

I don't know what my racial background is. It may seem dumb and I'm sure that there will be at least person to insult me, but that's OK. My father and mother were both from the same area of eastern Kentucky and their families were all born and raised there, too. This goes back a few generations. In the census reports, there were years where some of my family were listed as white and others were listed as mulatto. Some were listed as being a free person of color. There were also records that referred to the same people (in different years) as being tri-racial isolates. My father either doesn't have or won't tell me any information that could shed some light on his race. The only information that I have is what I've uncovered on my own (with the help of my husband who is great at geneaology) is just what I've already shared in this post and also that my great grandmother (my dad's grandma) was adopted from an orphanage and that she was of Native American descent, but that's all that I learned about that. My dad isn't interested in finding out anything and he is uncomfortable even talking about it. I asked if he would be willing to take a cheek swab DNA kit if I buy it and send it in, and he pretty much shrugged it off.

I would consider myself very lucky to know more about my racial make-up.

[Anonymous]

Why? Will it really change anything about your day-to-day reality or understanding of yourself? Let's say you find out you are related to the Queen of England. And?...Life goes on pretty much the same as it did before. Meaningless.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't change anything for me, but I'd like to be able to pass along my family's history to my daughter, if she wants to know about it. All I have is little pieces. So you're right, nothing changes in my day to day life but I wouldn't say that it's meaningless to know or not know. I'm not looking to understand myself any better than I already do. I'm also not looking to find out that I'm related to royalty.

I have a form of anemia that can be treated in several ways, and some of the options are related to race. My dad has the same form of anemia, but he also has high blood pressure and heart damage. Those all have treatment options that can be more effective if a person's race is known. I'm not saying that knowing the information that I wish I knew would help for sure, but wouldn't you want to try the best treatment options that you could?

Maybe for you, it would be meaningless, but maybe we have very different opinions regarding what has meaning and what doesn't.