According to a recent AP story, multiracial Americans have become the fastest growing group in the country. The story attributed the growth to the following:* Increase in social acceptance
* Slowing immigration
* High profiles of public figures such as President Barack Obama and Tiger Woods who are having a positive effect on those who might identify themselves as multiracial
If you would like to read the complete article, click here.
The part of the article that I found most educational was learning about the non-profit organization called Project RACE. Founded by Susan Graham and Chris Ashe in 1991, the organization's main goal is for a multiracial classification on all school, employment, state, federal, local, census and medical forms requiring racial data. Although some may consider this goal superficial, I beg to differ. For one thing, if I were multiracial, I wouldn't want to fill out a job application and have the "Other" classification be my only option for identifying my ethnicity. Most importantly, the lack of accurate racial designations increases the chance of health risks for multiracial people. In addition to running the risk of improper medical screening for diseases that affect certain racial groups, their is also the matter of bone marrow transplantation. As many of you know, when it comes to blood-related diseases, a patient's best chance of a bone marrow match is within the same genetic pool of potential donors.
I hope you can find the time to visit Project RACE. In addition to containing a wealth of news and information, there is also a Racial Experiences Study put together by a fourth year doctoral student of clinical-community psychology at the University of La Verne in California.
8 comments:
I'm glad that they are pushing for this, too. My daughter is caucasian from me, but my ex-husband is Hispanic, from Mexico, and he is a Mestizo, a mix of European and Native American ancestry, but there's also African American ancestry often mixed in with Mestizos, as well. I'm sure there's no way to know 100% what combination of races she actually is without genetic testing.
I never really thought about the racial mixtures until I had to register my daughter for school and I didn't know what to call her since we could only pick one. Now they've added "White Hispanic" to the list of choices, but she still never knows what to put down because my ex-husband does not consider himself white.
I don't know. I've told her to check what she considers herself to be and she uses the "White Hispanic" choice. I really don't know what she would check if she could check more than one box. That's very interesting to me.
Someone forgot to bullet-point "sex" as a factor lol
Race aside, American girls/women are getting pregnant at astonishing rates! If it weren't for abortion, we'd be pushing close to a billion.
I'm for doing away with the check boxes on applications anyway. If you have a little note on your driver's license/ID or something, that's fine. But race shouldn't matter for employment. The most qualified should always get the job.
As someone who works in civil rights- I will say that sometimes people ask about race (particularly in the gov't) in employment (although not mandatory) is so that we can track that we are hiring a diverse work force and making sure we hire a significant percentage of mixed race people that matches the percentage out in the "real world" is important as well. It won't make or break a person getting a job it just helps guide an employers proactive search for diversity (ie job fairs in certain areas/schools)
I think the on-going "browning" of the U.S. will eventually lead us to a place where "race" won't matter for unemployment. Hooray! And once there, I'm sure we'll find other ways to discriminate against one another (LOL).
Hi Malcolm (with two 'l's'), just dropping by to see your blog, I disagree with a lot and agree as well with some of your points here. I just wanted to say 'hi' first before I offered any debate.....you're blog is nice and you have apparently put quite a bit of work into it! I'll be back soon to offer up some of my arguments......
I can see this happening first hand. Families now include people of all races. My son has a biracial sister. If we get right down to it the majority of Americans actually fall in the multiracial category, if you get my drift. Those tauting the pureness of race need only to go back in their ancestry to find out some hard and sobering truths.
Hi there!
This is such an important issue that I am glad that you are writing about it!
I have found that this is a discussion that many black women who visit my blog forum just do not want to have.
I even had someone IGNORANT enough to say that Puerto Ricans are a separate race...as in black, white, Latino!
Oh geeeeesh.
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
Jessica: As I've said before, one of my favorite aspects of blogging is learning new things. I had never heard the term Mestizo until now. In case you didn't get a chance to visit Project RACE, there is also a junior organization called Teen Project RACE that might interest your daughter. Here is the link:
http://www.projectrace.com/teenprojectrace/
Josh: My thoughts regarding check boxes on employment applications was that it was done for the reasons CC cited in her comments. However, I wasn't sure until she confirmed it.
CC: Thanks for stopping by and explaining why the race inquiry comes up in relation to employment. I think it's important that companies have a diverse pool from which to choose when it comes to hiring.
Lori: I hope you are right about your first sentence. I fear you are right about the second one. :-)
LCR: Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to you joining in with thoughtful commentary on the discussions here.
Pjazzy: As you probably remember, my girlfriend from a few years ago had a biracial daughter. Although I had a good relationship with her daughter, I wished that I had talked to her about how she felt being biracial.
I know exactly what you mean about many Americans being multi-racial. If some people knew about the true roots of their family tree, they'd try to chop it down.
Lisa: Thank you! It's a shame that some people are in denial when it comes to the growth of multiracial people in this country. I'll definitely be checking out your blog.
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