Just because you ask a lot of questions, doesn't mean you get any answers.
In the past 2 blogs, I've been asking why we call Barack Obama black and why we can't embrace his multiracial identity.
Throughout my research, and in my own experiences, I've come across several arguments against 'multiracial' as a unique identity.
1. it challenges the belief that race should be eliminated as an identifying factor
2. it takes away from established minority groups
3. it's too specific, too accommodating
4. who is multiracial? where do we draw the line?
I want to walk through these arguments and answer a few questions from the previous post. Hopefully you'll come away with new perceptions of multiracial identity.
Argument One: Multiracial identity challenges the belief that race should be eliminated as an identifying factor.
We live in a time and a society where we have convinced ourselves that we are 'colorblind'. I never really thought much about this term until the Whiteness class I took last semester.
It's a bullshit term. The point of eliminating racism and racial stereotypes is not to ignore the differences in cultures and appearances, but to embrace these differences without fear or judgment.
As I originally pointed out, we do care about race, we care about it more than we're willing to admit to ourselves. If you don't believe me, let me know and I'll walk you through some experiments to prove you wrong.
And don't think you get a free pass just because you're not white.
Racial categorizations still exist. People, within America, at least, identify with their race more often than not- even if its the white kids from the suburbs that I always hear saying that they have "no race".
So the point of claiming a multiracial identity for myself and others of mixed races is not to emphasize racial categorization but to find a place within these categories without feeling so alienated.
When people look at me, I can sense they're placing me into one of two categories: suburban or ethnic. Suburban is defined as someone who could pass for white, but probably isn't. Suburbans can 'act' white and usually have many white friends. Ethnic is someone who could pass for anything. These aren't really stable enough categorizations for one to cling to, especially since it all depends on who is looking at you and what they see.
The reality of social situations is that people of similar backgrounds often find comfort in each other. This is typically referred to as the "lunch table dilemma" for multiracial kids. Consider your high school and college experiences, groups were often formed of similar racial and ethnic backgrounds. It just happens.
So where does the multiracial kid place him or herself in these type of racial breakdowns? Are they too black? Are they not white enough? Are they too ambiguous?
I've detached myself from relating to any of the races that make me up and I've come to realize how much people identify with their race. As I hang out with other white kids, asian kids, hispanic kids... there's that one piece of connection that I am missing with them.
This was a long winded answer, but in conclusion: the belief that race is being eliminated as an identifying factor is just plain bs.
Argument Two: Multiracial identity takes away from established minority groups
That's kind of a poor way to phrase the argument, but I couldn't find the right words to piece it together. There's a few different elements to this argument that I hope I can clarify by the time I'm done with my response.
When Barack Obama first announced his presidential campaign, many were in awe at the potential of a black president. Earlier in his campaign, many tried to clarify the fact that he was biracial, not black. In response, there was outrage that the media was trying to take away from his blackness- that essentially, because Barack was a high political figure now, they wanted him to be more white than black.
When I try and steer people away from labeling me as "ethnic" or "suburban" I usually get somewhat of a similar response. People ask me if I'm trying to be special when I say that I'm more than just white. Or they ask if I'm trying to "whiten myself up" to help myself succeed in society.
No one is trying to do anything in asserting a multiracial identity. It's just the truth. I'm not white, I'm not asian, and I'm not hispanic. I'm none of these, but I'm all of them.
The 2000 census was the first time on a standard application form that individuals were allowed to check more than one box in the race category. Originally, they were considering adding a 'multiracial' category, but the feedback was entirely negative. Many groups such as the NAACP opposed this categorization because they felt it would decrease the amount of Americans identifying themselves as black or hispanic or etc. I'm not saying that that's a good or bad thing, but that was the argument.
The race question was inititally added so that crimes based on racial discrimination would be easier to track- it was decided that adding multiracial would complicate these matters.
On a personal, legal, and societal sense... declaring this identity seems to cause many problems. So what do we do?
It's hard to find an initial category for these individuals and it's hard to create a category for these individuals.
Oh, and as a side note, I just want to clarify that even though I am affirming that yes, in fact, there are certain identity issues within multiracial individuals, please don't take away the belief from this writing that we barely know how to dress ourselves in the morning because we're so confused as to we are. It's not like that. It's prevalent, but not controlling.
There are just so many questions to ask in terms of the who, where, what why, and how of multiracial identity. So many questions, that many people don't even know how to define it.. which I guess leads to the last two arguments:
Argument Three and Four: Multiracial identity is too specific, too accommodating and who do we even define as multiracial? Where do we draw the line?
I think these two arguments are best combined together. I came across these two arguments and variations of them throughout my research for my paper last semester. There were actually books written on the topic.. "Challenging Multiracial Identity", for example.
One of the authors I was reading stated that should we accommodate multiracial individuals, we will start becoming too specific in our racial categorizations that any form of identity in general will render useless.
Bullshit.
This was specifically in reference to colleges creating multiracial clubs (much like an Asian Culture Club or an African Latino Society). The author seemed convinced that should we allow this multiracial club, soon we'd be hosting groups for people specifically of, let's say, Irish-Russian-Egyptian-Colombian descent.
Bullshit, again. I'm going to be honest that I don't even have a counter argument for this. In my mind it seems ridiculous, but if you can back this one up in a more convincing way.. please, I invite you to share your argument.
I've seen variations of this argument though that say it's kind of a slippery slope. Who belongs to the category of "multiracial"? How many generations can one go back in order to claim a multiracial identity? Say if someone's parents are black and they discover a white great great grandparent, are they multiracial? If we did that, we'd all be multiracial, of course. Racial categorizations would get out of control.
That's the argument. I think, based on a lot of the ways I've seen people identify with their race, I don't see many people following this path.
I believe that I mentioned in the first post that I've discovered that many of the same people who argue that multiracial identity is either too specific, or that it takes away from someone's asianness, or blackness, or whiteness.... will also argue that the one drop rule is out dated and racist.
So if the one drop rule is void within our society, what is the real argument against a multiracial identity? Why is this something we have been so opposed to? Even if the majority are not outright speaking against it, there's still a lack of effort to acknowledge its existence- despite the exponentially growing numbers of interracial marriages.
What is your solution to the problem of multiracial identity?
Based on what you know about me, how do you suggest I identify?
I don't have the answers, maybe you do...
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