Racial Identity Development Of Multiratial Children And Multiracial Families

The peer reviewed article “Ethnic and Racial Identity During Adolescence into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization” is a well written article on the struggle that people of color face when coming face to face with their identity in social situations. Umana-Taylor, Quintana, Lee, Cross, Rivas-Drake, Schwartz and Seaton (2014) analyzed ethnic and racial identity or ERI and how it relates to important developments and issues from early childhood well on into young adulthood. They worked to find the most important milestones during the development or ERI as well (Umana-Taylor et. al 2014). This paper will consist of the information given from the article and how I’ve dealt with my own ERI.

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

There are some groups that none of us has any choice in whether we belong to them or not. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, family and even social status are at birth, groups that we belong to, yet cannot choose, and many of these endure throughout life. Although family, religious beliefs and even social status can be altered in later life, all of these groups are ones that are integral to an individual’s identity and in fact add it in life. However, as a child their influence is perhaps even more important as in these formative years one’s gender, culture, family and even religion actively create individual identity.

James McBride can tell you firsthand about man verse racial identity. Journalizing his experience in his New York Times Bestseller novel the Color of Water simply outlined his struggles of finding who he was. His upbringing included a black father and a Jewish white mother. His background made it hard for him to understand why his home was different than others on the street. Although McBride experience shows an older outtake of racial identity, some may say this still is a problem today. Offspring feels the need to pick a race in society to succeed in the generation and it may be the step to understands them more. Notice in the subtitle of the book "A black Men tribute to his white mother" he label himself as just black as if there was a barrier between his mother and himself because the so different. Today we need to not let racial identity become a big part of our lives.

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.

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

Interracial families are more prevalent today than they have even been and the number of interracial families are growing each year as people are becoming more accepting of people of other races and rejecting the past. However, interracial families still report dealing with issues such as discrimination. Not everyone has yet to accept and welcome the idea of an interracial family in their own family and neighborhoods. Parents and children who are a part of interracial families must deal with multiple biases, how people act towards them, and developing a healthy identity in a world that is not always ready to accept them as they are.

Even though I believe to have a strong cultural diverse upbringing that differs from many of the lifestyles of my white friend, I never experienced any self-depreciation and oppression regarding my culture. I do believe I have undergone cultural development in terms of acculturation, but considering I have never experienced the need to abandon my cultural values, I feel it is appropriate to refer to the white racial identity development model rather than the racial/cultural identity developmental model. As a white female, I have certainly benefitted from white privilege, and it is my responsibility to acknowledge that aspect of my racial identity.

In her book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” , Beverly Daniel Tatum, explores the identity of racial development in the United States. She analyzes the definition of racism as well as the development of racial identity. Along with these topics she in turn offers possible solutions to racial problems that plague us today.

This population of people is considered unique in that they represent the coming together of two historically divided communities, the White superior group and the Black oppressed group. The presence of biracial individuals in America has help shape racial classifications. These classification ideas developed during the 1800’s, placing biracial individuals (“mulattos”) above Blacks on the racial hierarchy. Because of their white blood “mulattos” were viewed as more intelligent and accomplished than Blacks, granting them certain privileges causing a bigger gap between the interracial and black communities, aiding in the acceptances of biracial children within the black community. Even our former President Barak Obama is bi-racial, and the reading of his “Dreams from My Father Memoir,” he admits to it, as well as details in having bi-racial struggles, just like Odell Moore my

The raters came to the conclusion that White-primed biracials are more likely than Black-primed biracials to be thinking about their White identity after writing the essay about their chosen parent’s ethnicity. Rates found that Black-primed biracials are likely to be thinking of their Black identity than White-primed biracials. These results showed that the priming was effective in priming biracials to identify more with one of their races.

The article Psychological Advantages of Strong Identifying As Biracial introduces the idea of multiracial people and what they identify themselves as.The article Psychological Advantages of Strong Identifying As Biracial uses facts to explain how they fit in with people that are not multiracial. Multiracial people have flexible identities is a powerful example that illustrates biracial people have no problem blending into our society. Another important idea from the article Psychological Advantages of Strong Identifying As Biracial is “Multiracial people are proud to be multiracial which demonstrates they are proud of who they are and have no problem expressing it. The examples found in the article Psychological Advantages of Strong Identifying

Race is a construction of social aspects that refers to individuals and groups that contain certain characteristics (Cornell). Races are identified differently in societies over a given amount of time; an example would be, “that one time racial classifications were based on ethnicity or nationality, religion, or minority language groups. Today, by contrast, society classifies people into different races primarily based on skin color” (Cornell). Ethnic and racial identities are quite important for many children and adolescents, particularly those who are members of minority ethnicity (ACT).

In 1972 the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) passed a resolution, which said, “Black children should be placed only with black families whether in foster care or adoption. Black children belong physically, psychologically and culturally in black families in order that they receive the total sense of themselves and develop a sound projection of their future.... Black children in white homes are cut off from the healthy development of themselves as black people.... We have committed ourselves to go back to our communities and work to end this particular form of genocide”(Silverman). Since then, family scientists have conducted extensive research on whether the negative affects of transracial adoption is as detrimental to the development of racial identify in children as the NABSW claims. Ultimately, many have come to the conclusion that it is better for a child to be in a loving family, regardless of race than to be orphaned. In this paper, I will outline arguments both for and against transracial adoption as well as offer suggestions on how parents can foster the development of a racial identity in their adopted child.

Identity is a lifelong process no matter what race you are in. The parents must