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More Oregon students than ever are choosing to identify themselves as multi-ethnic, according to the state’s education department. But many of these same students say the issue of race is not that important in their lives.
Fourteen year-old Samara Rodarte is Vietnamese and Hispanic. She will be a sophomore next fall at the Renaissance Arts Academy at Marshall High. She says race is mostly about "appearance" and she asks why we’re not talking about having black hair versus having red hair. She says it doesn’t make a bit of difference because ultimately we’re all the same; we're all human.
Dalton Miller-Jones is black studies professor at Portland State University. He says it's important to talk about racial issues, even though he says the word "race" brings "a lot of baggage." But he’s not a fan of the "multi-ethnic" category used by the Oregon Department of Education either. He says:
It doesn't help us, it's like checking Asian. That includes so many disparate and different cultures, that it's not a meaningful category at this point.
Are you multi-ethnic or mixed race? How do you identify yourself? Have you found your racial background makes a difference in your everyday life? Did the election of a mixed-race president have any effect on how you see yourself in the world?
- Dalton Miller-Jones: professor of Developmental Psychology and chair of the Black Studies Department at Portland State University
- Diamond McWoods: 14-year-old sophomore at the Pauling Academy of Integrated Sciences
- Samara Rodarte: 14-year-old student at Renaissance Arts Academy
- Desmond Miller: 15-year-old student at Renaissance Arts Academy
Tagged as: race
Photo credit: Rah Photography / Flickr / Creative Commons
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I was born in England and now live in the US. When I meet people, they often ask where I am from. I say "I'm English". Many folks then claim to be English, despite never having been to England. I am confused by how folks claim to be English, yet are so proud to be American? It seems to me folks are confused about what and who they are- maybe because this is such a (relatively) young country?
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I'm a little blown away that the mixed race kid said Black people act annoying and he doesn't want to be percieved that way and no one has challenged that damaging stereotype.
That's a dangerous precedent and it needs to be further discussed.
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If that is how he feels then what is to challenge? That he is wrong? It is a hard thing to prove one way or the other, considering it is essentially a matter of opinion. A stereotype is a stereotype, there is nothing inherently wrong with a stereotype, if you use it correctly. I think popular white, black and every other culture is annoying. I don't want to identify with any of them. Is it better to hate everyone rather then single out a group that seems more annoying to you then another? I'm not sure. I'm gay and I could honestly say I find most mainstream gay culture incredibly annoying and I don't want to identify with it, does that make me a bigot?
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Race is uninteresting, besides the fact there is no basis for it. I don't care what, why, how, or who anyone identifies themselves with, what I do care about is whether they make it a point to strongly identify with some category and are militant about it. Because people who do so are part of the problem. Anyone making it a point to be, or who is proud to be an alleged member of a race is a charlatan. Unfortunately the alleged solutions to racism often become problems in there own right.
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When I've applied for jobs at "ethnically challenged" firms I have clicked the "black" tab hoping the employer is using the data to diversify its work force. In the past 10 years I've stopped checking ethnicity boxes as a protest against being meaninglessly (to me) categorized. What has my ethnicity to do with my ability to perform a specific job?
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The reason for the jump in "mixed race" registrations may be as simple as the fact that it has become an option on many ethnicity forms. For many years, I had to debate whether to check "Caucasian," which I mostly am by blood, or "Native American," which I am by place of origin and heritage.
I carry the name of a g-g-g-grandfather who died on the Trail of Tears and was raised in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, so I always checked Native American before. Besides, our Cherokee Principle Chief at the time of the Trail of Tears, John Ross, was 1/8 Cherokee by blood. So was Sequoyah. To the world, they were "Cherokee;" it was enough to force the Cherokees off their land into concentration camps and on the forced march to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, in good old American ethnic cleansing.
And being only 1/8 black has been quite enough to get people lynched in the not-so-distant past.
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I THINK THE CONFUSION IS CAUSED BY RACE AS DEFINED BY APPEARANCE RATHER THEN CULTURE. rACE AS DEFINED BY HAIR AND SKIN COLOUR IS BECOMING LESS IMPORTANT. REALLY LIKE HAVING A PREJUDICED AGAINST HAIR COLOR RATHER THEN HAVING A PREFERENCE FOR CERTAIN COLORS. wHEN we can do some that will easier change skin color, this will obvious.
People ask about race cause they are lookibng for similarity and indenity actually the want to know about your culure....the question is are you like me ? People tend to fear dsifference and to seek similarity. As we open ourself up to enjoy differnces, we see how appearances are not very imporant. ALL OF US HAD A BLACK MOITHER WHEN YOU GO FAR ENOUGH BACK IN HISTORY !
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I am Black and my wife is Asian...but drilling down into ethnicity becomes more complex when you consider Asian ethnicity...Ethnically my wife is Chinese...Hokkien specifically. Our kids look black, but because they speak Mandarin they move easily within their mother's community even while self identifying as Black...race is an issue that is shifting along economic and class lines where divisions in America will define us to a greeater degree than race.
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I know this is a little off the topic but honestly, you should help these young people understand that when they use the word "like" multiple times in every sentence, it's difficult to take them seriously.
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Bravo!
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As the mother of a redhead, I seem to collect redhead stories...
In LA I worked with an attorney (of Persian extraction) whose wife (also Persian) gave birth to fraternal twins. Both babies had the same features -- cheeks, eyes, nose, curly hair -- but their coloring was very different. The daughter had what I would call traditional Persian coloring: olive skin, dark eyes, black hair. Her twin brother had pale skin, blue eyes, and flaming red hair.
A long-time family friend (hispanic, with what I would call "dark" latina coloring) married a man with what I would call Welsh coloring -- pale skin, sky blue eyes, black hair. Their first daughter got dad's pale skin and, from somewhere, flaming red hair. I'm never offended when strangers ask me where my son got his red hair. But, for my latina friend, strangers would assume she was the nanny.
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A couple ideas have come to me as to why people may be asking what race one is. One, we travel more, and thus meeting someone of a race from the country they've travelled to, it may make them more comfortable as to what they might share in common.
Two, people are more aware of what different Asian groups they can identify. By asking, it may, or may not, confirm that they're right.
I'd be interested to hear what you feel about their hypotheses.
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Portland is a diverse place, being mixed race is a different experience now. Growing up half Japanese and half white in Midwest in the 50's and 60's was rough. If you were not all white you weren't right and I experienced a lot of hostility, discrimination and fights because of how I looked. Inside I felt like my white friends but I never quite fit in because of how I looked.The young people on the program say it doesn't matter your ethnicity but when you go to a job interview or try to get a promotion at work it plays a subtle role.
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How can u listen to these utterly inarticulate boobs? I had to change the station because I couldn't bear listening to the word "like" every third word with "kinda" mixed in every other!
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klazmon and melovell,
They are teenagers (14 & 15) sharing their opinions and experiences on a difficult topic on live radio. I'm glad they were willing to share their views with us, regardless of the perceived quality of the delivery.
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Being inarticulate boobs is not their fault. Putting them on the radio, and forcing us to listen to them is the fault of the show and the station!
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The year 2000 Census form allowed you to check multiple race/ethnic identifiers. It did not have a "multi-ethnic" checkbox. There is wisdom in that approach.
One of the troubling aspects of the interview is the students' lack of ethnic/cultural identification. In the earlier parts of the 20th century, there was a government-sponsored initiative to destroy Native cultures -- specifically Native Hawaiian and Native American cultures -- by assimilating them into the dominant white culture. Native American children were forcibly taken from their parents and placed in white boarding schools, to be raised in the white culture. The speaking of the Hawaiian language in Hawaii was outlawed. Assimilation of non-whites into the mainstream white culture appears to have been largely successful in overwhelmingly white Portland, as evinced by multi-racial/ethnic students who no longer identify with their culture of origin.Hawaii, in contrast to Portland, is a pluralistic society, where only 1/5th of the population is white, cultural identity is very important, and individuals celebrate their cultural differences. No one identifies himself or herself as "Asian". Each is Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese-Vietnamese, etc. But not Asian. And Hawaiians are Hawaiian. Or Hawaiian-Chinese. Or hapa-haole (Hawaian-white). But there is no "multi-ethnic" identity or culture.
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Why should the students or anyone have a strong ethnic/cultural identity? I personally think it is fantastic they don't. It's modern and it's intelligent. I don't know if that is their motivation (of course)---but it seems like a great way to be. Culture seems superficial and is often a prison. How can you identify strongly with something without favoring it? Why should you favor your inherited culture? It is one thing if you find a culture that seems to fit well with your personality, philosophy or aesthetics, but it seems like another just to favor it, because you came from it. Isn't favoring culture or identifying strongly with culture what motivated folks like Hitler.
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I watched an interview of a Chinese Mauritian living in an African island nation called Mauritius. He said the diversity experience in Mauritius is like a fruit salad, with each ingredient having its own unique and wonderful flavor enhancing the overall product. The U.S. melting pot theory isn’t working so well because it’s like taking that fruit salad and making a puree, the overall product dominated by the strongest flavor. In the U.S., it’s difficult to live as all I am instead of living focused on the ‘dominant flavor.’ I understand completely what I need to do or how I need to behave to contribute positively to the community I live in. At the same time, I speak both Japanese and English, I can dress myself in my own kimono, I cook many different Japanese foods, I read Japanese news and I communicate regularly with other half Japanese people, some in other countries, to stay in touch with issues I think are unique only to us. This is embracing all that I am, not separating myself from others. I believe this is much healthier than disappearing into the ‘dominant flavor’ by ignoring my racial background.
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Comments are now closed.
I'm considered by others to be multi-something but I'm learning not to think of myself in those terms -- except for conversational purposes.
As I age I spend more time being what I want to be instead of worrying about how others label or perceive me.
My family vigorously discussed that ethnicity is a state of mind which has little to do with appearance. How you act, speak, think, and who you hang out with are a more meaningful barometer of "group identity".
Today, the intent and action of people is more important than their ethnicity.