Khana said that, "we [found] that biracial respondents pass as black to fit in with black peers in adolescence (especially since many claim that whites reject them), to avoid a white stigmatized identity, and, in the post–civil rights era of affirmative action, to obtain advantages and opportunities sometimes available to them if they are black (e.g., educational and employment opportunities, college financial aid/scholarships)". To read more, click here.
If I were to guess about which is more commonly the identified race, I would have thought biracial americans would identify white. America has been faced with civil rights and segregation, so I would want to identify as white because there are still some racial stereotypes out there. One Yale research study concluded that, "Media have divided the working class and stereotyped young African-American males as gangsters or drug dealers." As a result, the media has crushed youths' prospects for future employment and advancement. The media has focused on the negative aspects of the black community. Some examples are, engaging in drug use, criminal activity and welfare abuse.
What do you think? If you were biracial, who would you identify with? All comments are welcome
Such racial stereotypes as you noted could cause people to identify in such a way as to combat them, rather than avoid them. In affect, biracial Americans could be making the argument, "I'm an upstanding citizen, and a member of a much-slandered group. Ergo, you're stereotypes are WRONG." And there can be power in this tactic; counterexamples are, in logical arguments, a death blow to all-encompassing generalities.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm a tad surprised at the results, and suspect the survey may have been multiple choice, black or white. The anecdote that comes to mind is a line from a recent Mark Frost book. A biracial highschooler, when asked if he identifies as white or Hispanic, replies "Neither... I'm American." It seems to me that that would be how most people would see themselves, biracial or not.
Ya I agree with the American idea. But I know the questionnaire wasn't just multiple choice because they had to say why they chose the answer that they did.
ReplyDeleteAnd what were the reasons they gave? Did anything stand out?
DeleteI thought it was most interesting when they said that they identify as black to obtain educational and employment opportunities, college financial aid, and scholarships. what do you think?
ReplyDeleteHannah, Nice job blogging this term. The number and variety of your posts is impressive. This post is on an important topic. I like that your provide links to sources, but you really seem to rely on one source here that you summarize in your post. It'd be nice to put different voices into conversation with one another as you and Derek do in the exchange above. It'd be nice to offer some specifics here within the post: scholarships in dollars, by race, etc. Interestingly, Obama did not self identify as a man of color when he applied to college or law school. You might come back to this topic later when we examine the history of this topic.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that he didn't identify black for college or law school. That makes me really think about his campaign that he solely identified as black to get a larger voter turnout from the black community. I will examine this topic closer in the near future, thanks for that interesting information!
ReplyDelete