Being Proud of Being Mixed Is Not The Same As Being Ashamed Of One's Ethnicity

I just read a column on an African-American-oriented website by a gentleman who espouses the belief that people who label themselves as "mixed" or "bi-racial" do so primarily because they are ashamed of being whatever the sole ethnicity is that others feel they should claim to be. He referred, for example, to Tiger Woods, who he says should only be labelled black but who is someone who embraces his multi-ethnic heritage instead.

I am not surprised to read this sort of opinion. Even when I write these postings for my blog and write about how proud I am of my multi-ethnic children, I can see how small-minded people might very easily think I must have some shame in simply calling them black, which is what most would prefer to call them. And I also recognize that as I teach them to be proud of all that they are, not just half, that I have to be very careful, even with them, to not give them the impression that simply being labelled black is a bad thing. Because it is not and I know I am personally quite proud of who and what I am and what we, blacks, have contributed to this world.

So I do understand why that columnist feels the way he does, this idea that "bi-racials" are running from something. All I can say is that for all the Mixed people I know, and for me personally, this is far from the truth. Choosing to focus on the multi-ethnic as opposed to the singular racial identity simply is more accurate. And it is more in keeping with how every other community is allowed to identify. Frankly I find it insulting that blacks are the only group that is forced to live by the "one-drop" rule. I am actually more surprised that blacks don't choose to fight this rather than be shackled by it. So it is not about being ashamed of anything that people call themselves bi-racial or mixed, but rather it is about being allowed to accept both parents as equal, it is about living outside of what others try to force us to do out of outdated racist notions, and it is simply about getting beyond stupid classifiers based on skin color, when that should be the least important thing in our lives.

Supreme Court Ruling Complicated In Its Implications

Sorry I have been away so long. You don't want to know about my computer woes. But I am back at it again and hopefully this time I will remain a daily if not semi-daily contributor again.

Well this is as good a day as any to get back in the saddle. Today the Supreme Court, in a split decision, struck down voluntary "race-based" diversity programs at public grade schools. Their ruling essentially says "race" (their word since you know I hate the term and find it a misnomer) cannot be used as a factor for schools as they attempt to implement programs that diversify their student bodies. Conservatives, of course, hail the ruling, while liberals and Democrats have decried it as a slap in the face of the longstanding "Brown V. Board of Education" that essentially destroyed the old separate but equal doctrine.

Now you would think someone who writes a blog based on the notion of "no more race" and getting beyond the concepts of race, would be ecstatic at the Supreme Court ruling. After all, the Court is saying we must stop focusing on race in making decisions about people. Right?

Well, here's the problem with that ruling though. The programs that were used in this case, like many others that will be affected, were rooted in the goal of bringing people together across racial and ethnic boundaries. Which in the long run is exactly what we need to be doing if we are ever going to reach the true point of ignoring race. I agree with those schools in their philosophy based on the belief that getting young people to spend time around each other is the greatest thing we can do to helping them see for themselves that racial and ethnic differences aren't the most important thing. Socializing, playing and learning next to each other goes a lot farther than subjecting people to lectures and preaching racial acceptance.

Now do I recognize the irony of using race to promote a future of no more race? Of course I do. But we sit in such a screwed up, racially-sensitive world right now that sometimes it does indeed require counter-intuitive ideas to get us to where we need to be. And I know this for sure, having the "races" living and being educated in separate worlds does not do anything for a real coming together. So I do believe that we took a step back today. But no matter what the Court has done, I also think the lid is already off he jar for the most part, and this decision won't, in the long run, stop the inevitable that we see occurring.

Another Multi-Ethnic They Want To Label Simply As Black

Ah, the rush to simplify the so-called racial tags. I noticed that once again, people, in this case the media, have been quick to call a celebrity-athlete "black" almost at the same time they acknowledge that he is of mixed ethnic heritage. This time it is relation to internationally known Formula 1 racing phenom Lewis Hamilton.

The media have had to move quickly to label the young British man, as he is considered to be to F1 what Tiger Woods has been to golf, a non-white in a sport dominated by whites, who has risen to the top at a meteoric rate. Indeed what Hamilton has done is nothing short of extraordinary.

He currently leads the standings in F1, which by itself is a feat since he is so new to this top level. But he comes with credentials that are awe-inspiring. In this, his debut year Hamilton has set three Formula 1 records in quick succession. At the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix, he became the first F1 driver to finish in the top three in his first three F1 championship races. After he finished second at the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver ever to lead the drivers' championship. Hamilton gained his first victory at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix in June, the fourth youngest to do so. In gaining his first Grand Prix victory in his sixth race, Hamilton became the first driver since Pablo Montayo in 2001 to win a race in his first Formula One season.

Wow. And of course when I heard several news reports on his recent victory and rise to the top of the standings, he was labelled the first black person to do so. Hamilton's being only half black is again too complicated for most. Hopefully, he, like Tiger, will publicly call attention to this error. Being on the world stage as he is, he is in great position to call a few people to task on this all-too-common mis-labeling.

What Will The Future Hold?

I was just thinking about the premise of this blog - no more race - which refers to the future as brought about by all these multi-ethnic people that are becoming more and more the norm. I would hope that their proliferation will mean that racism and the focus on race and skin color will go away at some point when their numbers become the majority, which I do believe will happen some day.

But the thought I was having was wouldn't it be a shame if all that happened after all this is that a new form of discrimination were to occur, one based not on which purity you were, but rather on which ethnicities you were. Something like those mixed with European ancestry and something else, discriminated against those mixed with Asian and something else. Or people thinking they are better because they are Mixed. Or those that will measure how many groups they can lay claim to versus anothe Mixed person. How awful. And I hope this is a nightmare that does not become reality. We all should be diligent to make sure that it doesn't. I don't really believe this will happen though as what I get from most of the multi-ethnic people I know is that they approach the world and people with a much greater sense of acceptance than most others do .So I don't see why this would change.

But strange things do occur. So it is not altogether out of the realm of possibilities that a new form of bigotry could arise. Like the great Star Trek episode where there was a planet of people who were black on one side and white on the other, right down the middle of their bodies. The planet was split into an ugly battle because some had the black on the left side and some had the black on the right side.

Substituting one discrimination for another is not the future I am hoping for.