{"id":3287,"date":"2007-04-02T08:43:43","date_gmt":"2007-04-02T15:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2007\/04\/02\/a-multiracial-movement-and-a-multiracial-box-wont-solve-the-racism-problem\/"},"modified":"2007-04-02T08:43:43","modified_gmt":"2007-04-02T15:43:43","slug":"a-multiracial-movement-and-a-multiracial-box-wont-solve-the-racism-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=3287","title":{"rendered":"A Multiracial Movement and a Multiracial Box Won't Solve the Racism Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a comment on the last thread on Rachel’s Tavern<\/a> about how biracial children affect family approval of black\/white relationships Dave of mulatto.org<\/a>, made the following comment:<\/p>\n

Professor Rachel Sullivan here gives a good textbook example of propaganda that facilitates white\/black biracial subordination, by making the case that white\/black biracials shouldn\u2019t be considered a population with challenges distinct from blacks except for being more privileged.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem is that this is not what I said, but I do think this is an opportunity to talk about some of the politics of multiracial identity. For the record, my dissertation was not on how people of mixed race identify. It was about family approval of black\/white relationships, and the reason children (biracial or not) were important was because the most common reason given for opposing an interracial relationship was the idea that the children would suffer. That belief was premised on the “tragic mulatto myth.” In this study, all of the people I interviewed were couples in Black\/White interracial relationships. Only one of those people self identified as biracial. I did not interview the children of these couples, so I did not get their opinions.<\/p>\n

However, for the record I do not agree with Dave’s position, which to me reads that “people who have one black parent and one white parent are a distinct racial group and should identify as biracial, mixed race, or mulatto, not as black.” (I’m not sure how he feels about people of mixed parentage identifying as white.) Here’s a quote from his comment:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s logically inconsistent to say (1) white\/black biracials should be identified as black because most white people will only see and treat them as black, and (2) whites treat white\/black biracials better than black people because they see them as different than dark-skinned black people. Although I don\u2019t think this makes logical sense, I think it\u2019s crafted to be anti-white\/black biracial propaganda. The first part implies that white\/black biracials shouldn\u2019t have a distinct affinity identity to organize and advocate for ourselves, because we aren\u2019t treated differently, and the second part implies that white\/black biracials are less deserving of telescopic philanthropy (definition on wikipedia) than black people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dave’s belief is that people with mixed ancestry should organize their own groups, and they should see themselves as distinct from African Americans. I have no objection to organizing some multiracial groups, but I also thinking that many of the needs, concerns, and issues overlap with those of other people of color. Personally, I do not think it would be beneficial to try to create a new racial group akin to the “colored’ population in South Africa.<\/a><\/p>\n

I am tired of multiracial activists who say people should have an option to choose their race, and then these same people get mad if people do not choose “biracial” or “multiracial.” People should have the choice, regardless of their color of phenotype, to define themselves racially. I also feel that these choices may change over time or circumstances; making racial identities fluid in some cases. I feel that both the one drop rule, and the assertion that people must choose biracial are racist because they encourage essentialist<\/a> definitions of race and because they do not allow the freedom of self definition.<\/p>\n

I also think that those in the multiracial movement who continuously attack African Americans in the name of asserting their own identity, as if it is completely distinct from the African American experience, are joining a racist bandwagon. It should be duly noted that some of the biggest supporters of multiracial categories have been conservative Republicans such as Newt Gingrich (Williams 2006) ((Williams, Kim M. Mark One or More: Civil Rights in Multiracial America<\/em>. University of Michigan Press, 2006.)) To me this is a big red light–why would conservative Republicans, who are not generally proponents of racial Civil Rights support such a cause? One possibility it that allowing people to check multiple boxes doesn’t really change the racial order much at all. It doesn’t require a realignment of economic resources; it’s not an affirmative action program that could expand opportunities for groups traditionally left out. Another more sinister theory is that Republicans’ support multiracial activists because they see it as an opportunity to promote the idea that the US is colorblind and racism is over. For some of these Republicans the next logical step is Proposition 54<\/a> in California, which would have put an end to all collection of racial data (Prop. 54 did not pass.). This is not likely the end that many multiracial activists want, and it is my sense that multiracial activists are being used by the right in some of the cases to help prove that “racism is over.”<\/p>\n

My other problem with Dave’s comment is that he down plays the significance of lighter skin color and colorism. There is a long history in the US and most definitely in Latin America of people being advantaged because they are lighter. Many of the first African Americans allowed in to the middle class were those people who were lighter (and presumably of mixed race). Groups such as the blue vein societies<\/a> limited membership to lighter and wealthier members. Sociologist Edward Telles’ award winning book Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil<\/a><\/em> highlights how colorism has shaped social inequality in Brazil. Brazil is not different from most Latin American countries where lighter people have greater prestige, power, privileges, and wealth.<\/p>\n

My questions to Dave are– Why can’t there be an alliance between multiracial activists and African American Civil Rights groups? Why do you think the “multiracial” experience is so utterly distinct from the black experience; are they not overlapping? When a person spends an inordinate amount of time saying they are not in some group, it makes me wonder what their problem with that group is. Why have some<\/em> multiracial activists made it their personal business to distance themselves from African Americans (and vice versa)? To me it seems that both groups are fighting the same problem–racism. Or are they? I’m not going to give my own answer to all of these questions, but I think these are the types of questions multiracial activists and Black American activists need to ask themselves.<\/p>\n

I believe people at a personal level should be able to choose their racial identities, and should not be forced to choose a monoracial identity (black), a biracial identity, a protean identity<\/a>, or a multiracial identity. At the personal and structural levels, I think the primary goal should be ending racism, and in my view this can best be done by building alliances, and not by trying to create more racial categories or groups. One only need to look at a country like Haiti to see that creating a mixed race group (Creoles) does not lead to racial equality. While there is no doubt in my mind, people should be given the option to choose a mixed race identity, if we are going to end racism, adding a mixed race category will not likely solve this problem. The Latin American case shows us that getting rid of race and having a large mixed race population does not end racism, and I don’t think we can expect that here either. Economic restructuring, promoting anti-discrimination laws, providing equal opportunities, and engaging in other programs that help will destroy racism will likely do more to end racism, so we have to do more than add a “mark all that apply option.”<\/p>\n

Finally, it is way past time to call a truce between multiracial activists and African American civil rights organizations. Dave’s comment continues to fan the flames of this argument. Identifying as biracial does not have to mean a person is saying he or she is not black, and identifying as black does not have to mean that a person is saying he or she is not biracial. People can have it both ways–they can be biracial and black or black and biracial, and if we can get beyond that sticking point we can go on to flesh out racism in its cultural and structural manifestations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a comment on the last thread on Rachel’s Tavern about how biracial children affect family approval of black\/white relationships Dave of mulatto.org, made the following comment: Professor Rachel Sullivan here gives a good textbook example of propaganda that facilitates … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race-racism-and-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}