Multi-Racial Identity

Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant made me readjust my understanding of race by definition and consider it as a new phenomenon. Through, Omi and Winant fulfilled their purpose of providing an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they shape and permeate both identities and institutions. I always considered race to be physical characteristic by the complexion of ones’ skin tone and the physical attributes, such as bone structure, hair texture, and facial form. I knew race to be a segregating factor, however I never considered the meaning of race as concept or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporal and phenotypic makers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences, in which in turn create the oppressing dominations of racialization, racial profiling, and racism. (p.111). Again connecting themes from the previous readings, my westernized influences are in a direct correlation to how to the idea of how I see race and the template it has set for the rather automatic patterns of inequalities, marginalization, and difference. I never realized how ubiquitous and evolving race is within the United States.

Most of the present researches focus on studying biracial individuals from minority-majority racial group combinations (e.g. Asian-white), leaving the psychological path of descendants from minority-minority intermarriages (e.g. Asian-black, Asian-Latino) largely overlooked. Future researches should investigate whether there is any difference between the identity formation processes between biracial individuals from minority-minority combinations and their minority-majority counterparts. Under the influence of white privilege, biracial individuals with double discriminated identities might suffer greater trouble in psychological adjustment and experience greater oppression (Chong & Kuo, 2015). Future studies can also delve into the intersectionality of gender and race to examine whether the racial identification of biracial descendants would be different between individuals from white father-Asian mother intermarriage families and those from white mother-Asian father

There was a time when America was segregated; Caucasians and African Americans were forced to attend different restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. However, the era of segregation has been terminated; now America embraces and appreciates the various cultures and ethnicities that create this melting pot several people call home. Likewise, it is this melting pot, or mosaic, of races that multitudes of individuals have identified themselves with. Thus, race and ethnicity does matter for it portrays vital and crucial roles in the contemporary American society. Furthermore, ethnicity and race brings communities together in unity, determines which traditions and ideals individuals may choose to value, and imposes an impediment for it categorizes humans unjustly.

When addressing self-identification, some multiracial or biracial individuals do identify as being two or more races. Some identity as just one, or that they feel closer to a certain racial group. About 69% of Multiracial adults with a black background considered themselves as black/African American (experiences, social interactions that align them within the black community). While Multiracial Asian adults, with a white and Asian background, feel more connected to the white community than to the Asian community. Another group of multiracial individuals, are those that are white and native American, and around 22% say they have a lot in common with the in the US that is native America. And 61% say they have a lot more in common with the whites.

In his essay, “As Black as We Wish to be,” author Thomas Chatterton Williams tries to paint a picture of a world where the sight of interracial families was still considered an oddity and shows how, over the decades, society has slowly became more acceptable towards the idea. He begins the essay briefly discussing the ignorance of people during the late 1980’s while also elaborating what hardships African Americans have dealt with over the past century. He explains that even with the progression of interracial families and equality of African Americans, a new problem has now risen for interracial children of the future. While either being multiracial, African American, or White, what do they decide to identify themselves as? This is the major question that arises throughout Williams’s argument. While Williams’s supports his argument with unreliable environmental evidence, as well with other statistical evidence. His argument is weakened by an abundance of facts, disorganization, and an excessive use of diluted information.

Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Whiteness of a Different Color offers innovative insight into the concept of “race” and the evolution of “whiteness” throughout American history. Jacobson focuses his analysis on the instability of racial identification over time and how race has been created and perceived throughout different stages of history. He states in his introduction that “one of the tasks before the historian is to discover which racial categories are useful to whom at a given moment, and why” (p.9) and while he is successful in some respects, his analysis is somewhat incomplete in providing a full scope of the power relations that created, altered and maintained racial identities in the United States. While Jacobson offers a detailed

Traditional historiographies of whiteness in the United States emphasize the critical examination and reorganization of the persistent racial discrimination constructed from the problem of white identity. Lipsitz investigates the racialized structure of contemporary America and unveils

One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents

THESIS: Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important than class differences in American society.

How does Fredrickson distinguish between race and ethnicity? How and under what circumstances can ethnicity become racialized’ (para.2)?

Race is the product of illusion, yet it also is the cause of social status disparity, segregation, discrimination, oppression and hatred. It has been, as an un-detachable part of our society, constructed, developed, and reformed, together with the history of America. Regarding the matter of race, in this article, I would like to find out the differences between academic and practical discourse of race, and how racial categorization affects people’s lives. To support the article, I will incorporate studies from anthropologists with information gathered from the interviews with three white males of the same generation. They are all students at the University of Minnesota age from 19 to 21, two of which are also in the Marines. While three white male can’t speak for all white people, I wish to somewhat understand how consistent or inconsistent they, the white people, are on a certain matter of race.

As a school counselor, we have the opportunity to work with all kinds of students from all different walks of life and different backgrounds. However, in the terms of biracial individuals, this has become a complex topic for counselors. With racial identity and their inability to easily fit into a specific racial category, most counselors are unsure about how to work with biracial children to bring about healthy identity development. According to the text,(Johnson, 2009) the issue began with the fact that minorities were underserved in mental health services. Despite the initiation of Community Mental Health Center Act of 1963, “many ethnic minority groups were still being underserved” (Johnson, 2009). Researchers also suggested that underserved populations did not feel that counselors were competent or well aware of

Race is not is biological, race is an idea that we perceive based on physical characteristics. People experience their racial identity at different times in their lives. Describing how I became aware of my own racial identity and how it affected me to be the person I am today and my future is a good eye opener for becoming a future educator. Also my perspective of how my racial identity has changed maybe a slight change but nothing too drastic.

I recently stumbled upon a short video published by The New York Times in 2008 during the pinnacle of Barack Obama’s presidential run. This video, entitles Being Multiracial in America, featured a group of young, mixed-race College students elated that the United States would potentially elect a man that grew up in a blended culture comparable to their own. There was this conspicuous desire shared among these students to live in a society understanding of the intricacies of one’s racial identity. None of these students wished to identify themselves as only one of their races. They wanted to eliminate this illusion of racial choice. To these young people, one person shouldn’t choose what sole race they are because they exist within this category of “both”. The complexity of their own genetic makeup was something they felt would be eradicated by aligning themselves with only a percentage of themselves. Seeing a man run for president who made it known to the country that his mother was White and his father was Black overjoyed these individuals. There was an astounding sense of hope that Barack Obama provided for this group. Their prospect was that once the people of this nation understood that mixed-raced individuals can acknowledge themselves as such, we would be on our way to eradicating this intense racial divide, leading to so much violence and anger, that exists within our country.

My racial identity and ethnic identity are tied to my everyday experiences as an African American. I identify as African American or black because it’s my culture. I born by two black parents and grew up in a black household. Although I was often told by my parents that I’m black, I would say that the term “Black” was given to me before I even entered the world. The term “Black” was given to Africans by Europeans when they took us as slaves to the Americas. Ever since then, the one drop rule applied to anyone with African heritage in the United States. In “What White Supremacist taught a Jewish Scholar About Identity” by Abby L. Ferber, she proves that race is a social construct. While researching the readings of white