Racial issues in DCPS for mixed race kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree about Shepherd Park neighborhood! On our street alone (out of 10 houses), there are 5-6 multi racial families. It really is a great community.

Also, we all go to Shepherd and have seen and uptick on neighborhood families attending (traditionally private).

+ 1 Another vote for Shepherd Park & Shepherd Elem. Great school and great fit for our multi-racial family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biracial and my child looks white. She is who she thinks she is and not what any other human being would select for her. Jesus put her in her skin for his reasons. Enough of these race police trying to overstep him.

I completely agree with you, but my child happens to look black. I wish I could let her decide who she thinks she is instead of society telling her. She has as much European heritage as African, but those things don't seem to matter when it comes to race. It's solely about the color of one's skin. I hope we as a society get past this during my daughter's generation.

So what are you going to tell her- you look black and because of racism you'll be treated as black... so that makes you black. My biracial child "looks black". I tell him at all times he has the right to choose whatever he is. I explain that we come from a culture of embedded racism and many people of harbingers of white supremacy- including AAs who promote "one drop". He may face fall-out by racists, but that doesn't change who he is. He is biracial no matter what anyone thinks or says. People forget that the biracial experience includes getting the same discriminatory treatment AAs face, but they also get that same discrimination from AAs. So, he has to ready for the day he's called N. Doesn't make him not biracial. It makes him a victim of prejudice. He's also prepared for when he has to turn away from AAs who espouse hatred against white people. That's what it means to be biracial. One day parents of biracial kids will understand this. When it's not your experience, but that of you child, you don't understand their plight.

I was sitting in a meeting with 2 young colleagues. One colleague was white and the other black. They were talking about a friend of hers who is biracial, but identifies as white. Both women thought she was weird and insane because according to them, she was clearly black. All it did was make her seem crazy and have everyone talking about her. I'm sure she has no idea that her so called friends think she's a sell out -- including the white ones!

The woman being ridiculed is biracial--that's just a fact. She's no more black than she is white. She is free to identify however she wants...no matter what her "friends" say. I really don't know why people (especially blacks) are so invested in enforcing the one drop myth. Why do you folks (along with the KKK) work so hard to promote the idea of white purity and white supremacy?!? So sad.

I kinda agree with you but on the other the woman just sounds clueless. If it were some kind of subversive thing -- like I'll say I'm white because fuck white purity, I'd think it were interesting, but it sounds like she just grew up really sheltered and doesn't understand the reality of race relations. It's like she opted out of the whole race convo by claiming she's white (white ppl being the least likely to reflect on race relations, their own privilege, etc.). It is just kind of weird. I'm biracial and identify as such. I'm not sure why I would claim I'm white unless I was trying to make some kind of performance art point. well, at least this woman's choice, intentionally or not, really brings to the fore the general idea that whiteness has to be kinda pure otherwise it's not real to society. Fucked up for sure, but her self-identification highlights it in any interesting way....

[Anonymous]

I have children attending Eaton, there are many children of mixed race there and because so many are out of boundary I would say it is a self-selecting community.

What I see with my children is that they are less likely to say black white. They will say the person with the tan or the light skinned guy. Kids are a lot more open to variety than many adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biracial and my child looks white. She is who she thinks she is and not what any other human being would select for her. Jesus put her in her skin for his reasons. Enough of these race police trying to overstep him.

I completely agree with you, but my child happens to look black. I wish I could let her decide who she thinks she is instead of society telling her. She has as much European heritage as African, but those things don't seem to matter when it comes to race. It's solely about the color of one's skin. I hope we as a society get past this during my daughter's generation.

So what are you going to tell her- you look black and because of racism you'll be treated as black... so that makes you black. My biracial child "looks black". I tell him at all times he has the right to choose whatever he is. I explain that we come from a culture of embedded racism and many people of harbingers of white supremacy- including AAs who promote "one drop". He may face fall-out by racists, but that doesn't change who he is. He is biracial no matter what anyone thinks or says. People forget that the biracial experience includes getting the same discriminatory treatment AAs face, but they also get that same discrimination from AAs. So, he has to ready for the day he's called N. Doesn't make him not biracial. It makes him a victim of prejudice. He's also prepared for when he has to turn away from AAs who espouse hatred against white people. That's what it means to be biracial. One day parents of biracial kids will understand this. When it's not your experience, but that of you child, you don't understand their plight.

I was sitting in a meeting with 2 young colleagues. One colleague was white and the other black. They were talking about a friend of hers who is biracial, but identifies as white. Both women thought she was weird and insane because according to them, she was clearly black. All it did was make her seem crazy and have everyone talking about her. I'm sure she has no idea that her so called friends think she's a sell out -- including the white ones!

The woman being ridiculed is biracial--that's just a fact. She's no more black than she is white. She is free to identify however she wants...no matter what her "friends" say. I really don't know why people (especially blacks) are so invested in enforcing the one drop myth. Why do you folks (along with the KKK) work so hard to promote the idea of white purity and white supremacy?!? So sad.

I kinda agree with you but on the other the woman just sounds clueless. If it were some kind of subversive thing -- like I'll say I'm white because fuck white purity, I'd think it were interesting, but it sounds like she just grew up really sheltered and doesn't understand the reality of race relations. It's like she opted out of the whole race convo by claiming she's white (white ppl being the least likely to reflect on race relations, their own privilege, etc.). It is just kind of weird. I'm biracial and identify as such. I'm not sure why I would claim I'm white unless I was trying to make some kind of performance art point. well, at least this woman's choice, intentionally or not, really brings to the fore the general idea that whiteness has to be kinda pure otherwise it's not real to society. Fucked up for sure, but her self-identification highlights it in any interesting way....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/robinson/robinson080199a.htm
I wonder if the woman is from another culture. There's a great article by Eugene Robinson that appeared in the WaPo Magazine in 1999 about his experience with race as a foreign correspondent in Brazil. He is at the beach with a bunch of friends and acquaintances and asks a woman who has similar features and color to him what it's like to be black in Brazil. She insists that she is not black and that in fact neither is he. Later he finds out that because she is economically well off that she (and other Brazilians) do not consider her to be black. And this is true in some countries -- people identify racially in part for other reasons besides physical appearance.

I decided to give up on theoretical classification and focus instead on the concept of race relations, which I figured would translate more easily. I turned to my colleague's Brazilian girlfriend, whose name I recall as Velma, and asked what it was really like being black in Brazil.

She answered with a look of genuine surprise.

"But I'm not," she said. "I'm not black."

She smiled at me as one smiles at a child who just doesn't understand, an isn't-he-precious kind of smile. But then I saw her quickly glance around at the others, making eye contact, and I had the sense she was somehow seeking to validate the declaration she had just made.

Velma had been born more than a thousand miles away, in the poor northeastern part of Brazil, the equivalent of our Deep South -- a place where a plantation economy once flourished, where slavery had persisted a full generation past the end of the American Civil War. It was obvious to me at first glance that Velma was primarily a descendant of those slaves. She was a small woman with long, jet-black hair, flaring nostrils, high cheekbones, and brown skin at least a couple of shades darker than mine. It wasn't even a close call, in my book. But she was telling me she wasn't black.

I blurted out, "But you must be, Velma. I'm black, and you're as dark as I am."

She put her arm next to mine, to compare: Yes, she was darker. Positively, definitively darker.

"But this color isn't black," she said. "This isn't black at all."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm biracial and my child looks white. She is who she thinks she is and not what any other human being would select for her. Jesus put her in her skin for his reasons. Enough of these race police trying to overstep him.

I completely agree with you, but my child happens to look black. I wish I could let her decide who she thinks she is instead of society telling her. She has as much European heritage as African, but those things don't seem to matter when it comes to race. It's solely about the color of one's skin. I hope we as a society get past this during my daughter's generation.

So what are you going to tell her- you look black and because of racism you'll be treated as black... so that makes you black. My biracial child "looks black". I tell him at all times he has the right to choose whatever he is. I explain that we come from a culture of embedded racism and many people of harbingers of white supremacy- including AAs who promote "one drop". He may face fall-out by racists, but that doesn't change who he is. He is biracial no matter what anyone thinks or says. People forget that the biracial experience includes getting the same discriminatory treatment AAs face, but they also get that same discrimination from AAs. So, he has to ready for the day he's called N. Doesn't make him not biracial. It makes him a victim of prejudice. He's also prepared for when he has to turn away from AAs who espouse hatred against white people. That's what it means to be biracial. One day parents of biracial kids will understand this. When it's not your experience, but that of you child, you don't understand their plight.

I was sitting in a meeting with 2 young colleagues. One colleague was white and the other black. They were talking about a friend of hers who is biracial, but identifies as white. Both women thought she was weird and insane because according to them, she was clearly black. All it did was make her seem crazy and have everyone talking about her. I'm sure she has no idea that her so called friends think she's a sell out -- including the white ones!

Actually it says more about her judgmental and fake "friends" who would concern themselves with her race. Secondly, a lot of biracials are "clearly" white. My daughter looks 100% Nordic, but she is 28% of African ancestry. She identifies as white but people would look at her like that girl from "Imitation of Life" if she identified as black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think letting biracial kids self identify is fine. I can't think of too many people who would really object to that. But if you take someone like tiger woods, who self identified as Cablasian, not AA, you understand how other people's perceptions will still play a role. And they should be aware. Because i don't know anyone, white, black, latino, biracial, or anything else, who thinks of him as anything but the black golfer who cheated on his wife.

Yup all was well and good in Caublasialand until the scandal hit. You may want your interracial children to choose their own identify, but there's nothing wrong with prepping them for how society will view them.

Society views my biracial blondies as white and that is how they identify. Their choice. I'm biracial too so I get how personal it is and how important.

[Anonymous]

They could check Green, of Martian origin - wouldn't make a damn bit of difference to the average teacher reliant on stereotypes who looks at em and sees "special needs student" or the average citizen reliant on stereotypes who looks at em and sees "thug" or the average cop reliant on stereotypes who looks at em and sees "suspect". Damn shame.

pretty much what I told my kids...when the cops focus on them for walking in their upper class neighborhood after dusk, I doubt they are saying "Look at those hispanic kids "

[Anonymous]

^^ so what? People doing wrong are not a reason for children to identify with a race. This stupidity has to stop!

[Anonymous]

Should be and is are two different things

[Anonymous]

Hit return too quickly. I will definitely tell a darker/non lily white child to be aware they may be treated differently by cops etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be child abuse for me to raise my white looking blue-eyed blonde daughter as black. I only have this suggested to me by old school AAs who dislike white people. They actually change their tune once they see the kid. She's platinum blonde and very blue-eyed. Once they see her picture, they give a strange side-eye look amazed and then say, yeah, I understand why you wouldn't.

Regarding self-selecting for myself- I look very biracial- I only get flack from AAs when I tell them I am not black, but biracial. They invariably tell me that I'm black because at some point in my life I will be called the N word. That is the dumbest bull I've ever heard. But, it's a pervasive talking point because I hear it all of the time.
Oddly enough I have never been called the N word except when AAs are warning me it's coming. They are the problem!

There is so much truth in your post. As a biracial person who grew up in DC, my experiences with AAs in DCPS were horrific. I agree that they cause more havoc and Hell for biracial children. If I was the OP, I would avoid DCPS unless it was the JKLMM schools. Placing a biracial child especially one who doesn't identify as being AA in a predominately AA school in DC can be Hell on earth.

[Anonymous]

I really can't believe that this thread has this many posts. Wow! People just need to realize that "race" is simply a way to put people who look similar into a group. So if you fit into the public's description of "white" you will be viewed as "white". Simple as that. What's funny is that wherever you go in the world, these definitions change. Over here we may have groups such as "white", "black", "asian", "hispanic", etc... but go to different parts of the world and people may not just have an "Asian" category, but they will have a "Korean", "Chinese", "Vietnamese" category as well. Go into another part of the world and you may have "Cuban", "Mexican", "Dominican", "Colombian" category. Go somewhere else and it may be "Swedish", "German", "Norwegian". Go somewhere else, and it may be "Ethiopian", "Kenyan", "Liberian".

My point is that race is simply a creation to group people into categories. Please end this Thread!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be child abuse for me to raise my white looking blue-eyed blonde daughter as black. I only have this suggested to me by old school AAs who dislike white people. They actually change their tune once they see the kid. She's platinum blonde and very blue-eyed. Once they see her picture, they give a strange side-eye look amazed and then say, yeah, I understand why you wouldn't.

Regarding self-selecting for myself- I look very biracial- I only get flack from AAs when I tell them I am not black, but biracial. They invariably tell me that I'm black because at some point in my life I will be called the N word. That is the dumbest bull I've ever heard. But, it's a pervasive talking point because I hear it all of the time.
Oddly enough I have never been called the N word except when AAs are warning me it's coming. They are the problem!

There is so much truth in your post. As a biracial person who grew up in DC, my experiences with AAs in DCPS were horrific. I agree that they cause more havoc and Hell for biracial children. If I was the OP, I would avoid DCPS unless it was the JKLMM schools. Placing a biracial child especially one who doesn't identify as being AA in a predominately AA school in DC can be Hell on earth.

+100. Oyster is also a great option for biracial kids--plus, they'll become bilingual!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really can't believe that this thread has this many posts. Wow! People just need to realize that "race" is simply a way to put people who look similar into a group. So if you fit into the public's description of "white" you will be viewed as "white". Simple as that. What's funny is that wherever you go in the world, these definitions change. Over here we may have groups such as "white", "black", "asian", "hispanic", etc... but go to different parts of the world and people may not just have an "Asian" category, but they will have a "Korean", "Chinese", "Vietnamese" category as well. Go into another part of the world and you may have "Cuban", "Mexican", "Dominican", "Colombian" category. Go somewhere else and it may be "Swedish", "German", "Norwegian". Go somewhere else, and it may be "Ethiopian", "Kenyan", "Liberian".

My point is that race is simply a creation to group people into categories. Please end this Thread!!!

Or...you can just stop reading and posting on this thread. Please stop trying to control other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really can't believe that this thread has this many posts. Wow! People just need to realize that "race" is simply a way to put people who look similar into a group. So if you fit into the public's description of "white" you will be viewed as "white". Simple as that. What's funny is that wherever you go in the world, these definitions change. Over here we may have groups such as "white", "black", "asian", "hispanic", etc... but go to different parts of the world and people may not just have an "Asian" category, but they will have a "Korean", "Chinese", "Vietnamese" category as well. Go into another part of the world and you may have "Cuban", "Mexican", "Dominican", "Colombian" category. Go somewhere else and it may be "Swedish", "German", "Norwegian". Go somewhere else, and it may be "Ethiopian", "Kenyan", "Liberian".

My point is that race is simply a creation to group people into categories. Please end this Thread!!!

No way, really?!?! Your point is news to precisely no one. The people replying to this thread are talking about race in a specific context -- DC and DCPS -- not some other part of the world where those other categories are salient. If you don't have anything to contribute -- which you obviously don't -- then go start a thread about gumdrops or lollipops or whatever it is that gets you going.