multiracial

Actress Halle Berry was born to a white mother of British extraction and a black father of American extraction.

The terms multiracial, biracial, and mixed-race describe people who are not easily classified into a single race. (Biracial refers to those with ancestors from mostly two races). This has caused some problems for census-takers, until recently.

Multiracial also describes a society or group that is composed of people from more than one racial or ethnic group.

What makes a person multiracial?

See also Admixture

According to Michael Levin, most people can be clearly identified as belonging to one race or another, meaning that most people can trace at least 75% of their ancestors to the same geographic region associated with a major racial group. However Levin insists that anyone with fewer than 75% of their ancestors originating from the same broad geographic region should be considered multiracial:

Hybrid populations with multiple lines of descent are to be characterized in just those terms: as of multiple descent. Thus, American Negroids are individuals most of whose ancestors from 15 to 5000 generations ago were sub- Saharan African. Specifying 'most' more precisely in a way that captures ordinary usage may not be possible. '> 50%' seems too low a threshold; my sense is that ordinary attributions of race begin to stabilize at 75%. An individual, half of whose ancestors are East Asian and half Caucasian, is to be categorized as just that, of half northeast Asian and half Caucasian ancestry. Nothing in continental cladistics precludes mixed ancestry, any more than the concept of a breed of dog excludes mixtures.^[1]

Meanwhile the company DNAPrint Genomics analyzes DNA to determine the exact percentage of Indo-European, sub-Saharan, East Asian, and Native American heritage someone has and assigns the to the categories White, Black, East Asian, Native American, or mixed race accordingly. According to U.S. sociologist Troy Duster and ethicist Pilar Ossorio:

Some percentage of people who look white will possess genetic markers indicating that a significant majority of their recent ancestors were African. Some percentage of people who look black will possess genetic markers indicating the majority of their recent ancestors were European.^[2]

Words for this concept, including other languages used in English

Main article: Glossary of terms for multiraciality

Mulano and mestizo are used in Spanish and metis in French. "Half-breed" is a now old-fashioned and pejorative term used for people of partial Native American ancestry.

Place in society

Societal acceptance of interracial marriages and the children born from interracial relationhips varies widely from person to person and region to region, and over time. In Nazi Germany, harsh race laws were enacted to establish racial purity, although Nazi soldiers in Scandinavia (a few countries considered by the Nazis to have a mostly "Nordic" population) interbred with local women. Scandinavians and Anglo-saxons were considered to be almost equal to Germans in the Nazi racist worldview. In the United States, especially the South, marriage between African Americans and Whites have historically been looked down upon and legislated against through anti-miscegenation laws. These state laws were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. As recently as 2003, Taylor County High School in Taylor County, Georgia has held separate prom celebrations for black and white students; [4] however, some similar phenomena occur equally because of cultural differences and not specific prohibitions on marriage or dating. However, recent data suggests that multiracial marriages are becoming increasingly common in the United States, including the South.

Censuses notwithstanding, any count of numbers of mixed-race people is subject to dispute. People may identify themselves as members of one single racial category despite having (potentially many) ancestors belonging to other categories, for various reasons. For instance, genetic studies of Afro-Caribbean people show an ancestry that is on average 10% European and 90% African.^[3] Also, a considerable portion of the U.S. population identified as Black actually have some Native American or European American ancestry. Some of these categorization phenomena occur due to current or past cultural stereotyping or segregation; still, the amount of admixture in most people tends to get exaggerated. The average African-American for example is of 83% sub-Saharan descent, making him/her overwhelmingly black on the genetic level. Only 10% of Americans who self-identify as black are less than 50% sub-Saharan in ancestry, and thus can not be considered black at the genetic level.^[4]

Multiracial individuals are often stereotypically presumed to have struggles with identity crises, perhaps due to having a sense of identity that is very different than people who claim to be of just one race. Most multiracial people cannot or do not identify with just one group.

Latin America

Mestizo is the common word used to describe multiracial people in Latin America, especially people with and Amerindian and Spanish or other European ancestry. Mestizos make up a large portion of Latin Americans including a majority in some countries. ^[5]

In Latin America, racial mixture was officially acknowledged from colonial times, resulting in an official nomenclature for every conceivable mixture present in the various countries. Initially, this classification was used as a type of caste system, where rights and privileges were accorded depending on one's official racial classification. Official caste distinctions were abolished in many countries of the Spanish-speaking Americas as they became independent of Spain, but several have remained in common usage to this day.

Race and racial mixture have played a significant role in the politics of many Latin American countries. In some countries, notably Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Belize and Cuba, a majority of the population can be described as multiracial.

The Mexican philosopher and educator José Vasconcelos authored an essay on the subject, La Raza Cósmica, celebrating racial mixture. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who is himself of Spanish, indigenous and African ancestry, has made positive references to the mixed race ancestry of most Latin Americans from time to time.

Brazil

According to the 2000 official census, 38.5% of Brazilians identified themselves as parda skin color ^[6]. That option is normally marked by people that consider themselves multiracial (mestiço)^[7]. The term parda is formally used in the official census, but is not used by the population. In Brazilian society, most people that are multiracial call themselves moreno, light-moreno or dark-moreno. These terms are not considered offensive, and focus more on skin color than on ethnicity (it is considered more like the others human characteristics such as being tall or short).

The most common multiracial groups are between African and European (mulato), and Amerindian and European (caboclo or mameluco). But there are also African and Amerindian (cafuzo), and East-Asian (mostly Japanese) and European (ainocô). All groups are more or less found throughout the whole country. Most of the Brazilian multiracials, however, has three origins: Amerindian, European and African.

Since multiracial relations in Brazilian society have occurred for many generations, today, some people find it difficult to trace their own ethnic ancestry, and there is a high level of integration between all groups. However, there is a great social and economic difference between European descendants (found more among the upper and middle classes) and African, Amerindian and multiracial descendants (found more among the middle and lower classes).

South Africa

The old apartheid system divided people into whites, blacks, and coloureds. Into this last category fell many of the products of liaisons between the first two (as well as others, such as Asians). Today they form their own community.

United Kingdom

Main article: British Mixed

In 2000, The Sunday Times reported that "Britain has the highest rate of interracial relationships in the world".^[8] Apparently contradicting this, more recent census data shows the population of England (as a sub-section of the UK) to be 1.4% mixed-race (2001), compared with, for example, 1.4% in the U.S. (2002 estimates; see below). However, as most of the English population is of one race (white) — even more so than in the US — there are fewer opportunities for interracial relationships in England. In support of the report's conclusions, it can be calculated that 14.4% of English residents not identified as white are mixed-race, compared with 7.5% in the U.S.

In England many multi-racial people are from the British Caribbean and if they have some African ancestry they may be said to be Afro-Caribbean. Many people are partly Welsh or partly Italian or partly of Irish Descent but it is hard to tell how many.

Groups such as the Sheffield Multiple Heritage Service have been set up in the UK to address issues affecting multi-racial children.

Cities/ Regions with notable Multiracial/ Mixed Race populations

• West Midlands - 5.50%
• Nottingham - 3.70%
• Manchester - 3.23%
• London - 3.15%
  • Lambeth - 4.83%
• Slough - 3.00%
• Birmingham - 2.90%
• Wolverhampton - 2.70%
• Luton - 2.56%
• Leicester - 2.30%
• Coventry - 2.20%
• Liverpool - 2.20%
• Bristol - 2.08%
• Derby - 2.00%
• Cardiff - 1.99%
• Leeds - 1.80%
• Sheffield - 1.60%
• Southampton - 1.50%
• City of Bradford - 1.40%

Canada

The mixed race population of Canadians, at 1.2%, is the fourth largest group in the country, greater than the Filipino population.

United States

Increasingly, U.S. society is no longer willing to pigeon-hole multiracial people into just one race. For example, although Barack Obama self-identifies as African-American despite having a white mother, 55 percent of whites classified him as biracial instead of black after being told of his maternal descent and 61 percent of Hispanics did so as well. Blacks were less willing to acknowledge a mulitiracial category, with 66% considering him black. ^[9]

Multiracial children in the United States

The proportion of multiracial children in the United States is growing. Interracial partnerships are on the rise, as are transracial adoptions. In 1990, about 14% of 18- to 19-year-olds, 12% of 20- to 21-year-olds and 7% of 34- to 35-year-olds were involved in interracial relationships (Joyner and Kao, 2005) ^[10]. Given the variety of the familial and more general social environments in which multiracial children are raised, along with the diversity of their appearance (vis-a-vis their component races and their family members), it can be difficult to make generalizations about multiracial children's challenges or opportunities. The racial social identity of children and that of their parents in the same multiracial family may vary or be the same.^[11] Some multiracial children feel pressure from various sources to "choose" or to assimilate into a single racial identity, while others whose identity or lifestyle is perceived to be closer to some of their component races than others may feel pressure not to abandon one or more of their ethnicities. Still other children grow up without race being a significant issue in their lives.

Categorization and censuses

A young Eurasian boy.

Some multiracial individuals feel marginalized by U.S. society. For example, when applying to schools or for a job, or when taking standardized tests, Americans are sometimes asked to check boxes corresponding to race or ethnicity. Typically, about five race choices are given with the instruction to "check only one." Many other such surveys include an additional "other" box, but this unfortunately groups together individuals of many different multiracial types (ex: European Americans/African-Americans are grouped with Asian/Native American Indians).

There remain many circumstances in which biracial individuals are left with no real response when asked for demographic data. But multiracial people won a victory of sorts after years of effort when in 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) changed the federal regulation of racial categories to permit multiple responses, resulting in a new format for the 2000 United States Census, which allowed participants to select more than one of the six available categories, which were, in brief: "White", "Black or African American", "Asian", "American Indian or Alaskan Native", "Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander", and "Other." Further details are given in the article: Race (US Census). The OMB made its directive mandatory for all government forms by 2003.

In contrast, the United Kingdom Census 2001 offered specific mixed-race categories: "Mixed White and Black Caribbean", "Mixed White and Black African", "Mixed White and (South) Asian", and "Other Mixed", as well as "Other ethnic group".

Formal recognition of legitimacy

Anti-miscegenation laws in the U.S. not only applied to African Americans and Caucasians, but also to Asian Americans, and less often to American Indians. Hispanics of white, African, and/or Native American descent were also legally forbidden to marry whites in a few states. In December 1912, an amendment to the Constitution was unsuccessfully introduced to abolish racial intermarriage: "Intermarriage between negros or persons of color and Caucasians . . . within the United States . . . is forever prohibited." These anti-miscegenation laws were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, in Loving v. Virginia. However, it was not until 2000 that the last remaining state law (that of Alabama) was overturned; though it must be noted that after the Loving v. Virginia decision, this law and all other state laws against miscegenation had no legal force.

Cultural differences

Many Latino immigrants in America discover they're considered Black when they enter the U.S. While back home they are considered as mulatto.

See also

References

• MULTIRACIAL CHILDREN
• Joyner, Kara and Grace Kao. 2005. “Interracial Relationships and the Transition to Adulthood.” American Sociological Review 70(4):563-582.
• Freyre, Gilberto. "The masters and the slaves: a study in the development of Brazilian civilization". Translated by Samuel Putnam. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1946.

External links

• [5] a podcast about being racially and culturally Mixed
• Multiethnic Education Program offering resources and strategies (including videos, publications & trainings) to support mixed race children in educational settings.
• Swirl Inc., a mixed community.
• MAVIN Foundation, an organization advocating for mixed heritage people and families.
• MOSAIC UK, a UK-based organisation for mixed race families.
• White Racial Identity, Racial Mixture, and the "One Drop Rule" by A. D. Powell.
• Brazilian Multiracial Movement, the first Brazilian mixed-race organization, founded in 2001.
• ProjectRACE, an organization leading the movement for a multiracial classification.
• INTERMIX, An on-line community for mixed-race individuals, families and carers, racially mixed couples and transracial adoptees and adopters.
• The Association of MultiEthnic Americans, Inc., founded 1988
• Mixedfolks.com
• The Multiracial Activist: an online activist publication registered with the Library of Congress, focused on multiracial individuals and interracial families since 1997
• People in Harmony UKsupport,information and advice for mixed race people and families, founded in 1972
• The Rise of the Mixed Race Majority, Essay by Graham Brown-Martin from the book "Transculturalism"

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