Reply to Racial issues in DCPS for mixed race kids

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What does the term "biracial" mean? Someone who has a parent or grandparent that are from a different race?

My grandmother and grandfather were both mixed race, thus my mother looks "very mixed" (almost passes for white).

I'm constantly asked "what are you?" I always answer "black."

A PP said something about biracial means it goes back 2 generations? I'm confused.  These classifications are becoming more and more frustrating to me as I get older.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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