Reply to Racial issues in DCPS for mixed race kids

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]21:02 again.  Not sure it's wise to enter the fray again, especially about the racial identity issue, but here goes:

My parents, immigrants, moved Stateside in the sixties--mother is black; father is a different race.  My parents said pretty much nada about race to my siblings and I growing up.  However, we were raised in a black neighborhood, attended a black church, etc., so culturally we grew up with a mostly black American experience (along with some contribution from each of my parents' countries of origin).  I have sort of a Jennifer Beals look, whereas my sibs are several shades darker, but none of that seemed to matter much.

Black Americans are definitely not the only group that have their issues with color, European admixture, etc.  My father's ethnic group has tons of issues with color.  I'm proud of both sides of my heritage, but I've always identified moreso as black.  My siblings and I would've been laughed out of town had we tried to identify solely as my father's ethnic group.  I've found a lot more acceptance among black Americans.

Interestingly, because of my racially ambiguous look, I'm not readily identifiable as black--and I've been privy to racist comments by non-blacks (luckily, I can probably count these times on one hand).  I think the OP's child may face the same issues, since being 1/4 black he may not look phenotypically black.  It is then up to him whether he wants to challenge people on their comments--which would mean disclosing that he is part black, which can be awkward, since they've just offended him--or just sort of take note and move on, keeping with a "fly on the wall" status.

I'm not really sure what my point is--I guess just to defend black Americans a bit, and to say there is a level of complexity to issues of race and racial identity that can't easily be captured by sweeping generalizations about AAs, biracials, or whites.  There is definitely a historical context related to the "peculiar institution" of slavery that influences racial identity for people with some African ancestry in this country.  Sorry to get all Henry Louis Gates, but it's true.  I get that some PPs have had painful experiences--while we can extrapolate a bit from these, hopefully we all each realize that there are good aspects to all of these cultural groups, and that our own experience won't necessarily apply for others.  
[/quote]Thank you!
[/quote]

I have a feeling your Dad is Puerto Rican just like my husband.  And for the record, I would have no problem with my girls marrying black men as long as I knew that the entire family on both sides accepted their choice and did not 20 years later start spewing venom in front of their poor kids.  And it ought to be easier because there are plenty of Black Puerto Ricans.  I just want to make sure they also keep up their Spanish (I became fluent, one of the reasons his non-stateside but more Americanized father's family likes me, while MIL downstairs does not - she won't speak Spanish with our kids) because I had friends in college both from NYC and LA who were teased about not knowing their "native" language by people of their same "ethnic" group.

It sure is a complicated world out there.  I just kind of keep hoping that we all keep mixing so much that it becomes less of huge deal - as a mom of biracial bicultural kids I would love to see that process just keep going and going and going until almost nobody knew or cared about what box to check.[/quote]

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