Thursday, June 05, 2008

The mixed count

Recently I've come across a couple of interesting media offerings that look at what it means to be mixed race. The topic has re-emerged in conversation partly because of the way the Census Bureau started counting people in 2000 and because of Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. (Interestingly, he continually is referred to as the first black contender from a major party.)

An MSNBC report looks at the rise in number of people who identify as multiracial. There obviously will be some growth just because the feds now are paying attention.

Being of mixed race myself, I always like to hear what people think about the subject. Does how you look make you identify more with one of your parents' families than the other? What do people say when they find out you are mixed? Do they ask?

It is particularly interesting here in northwest Louisiana where a common question is "Are they black or white?" Obviously, that excludes quite a few other races.

Read the report and watch The New York Times video below and tell us your thoughts.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you mean being "mixed raise"?

Adam Kealoha Causey said...

Anonymous, I think you mean "mixed race." And as for me specifically, that would be white and Hawaiian.

Anonymous said...

He asked about "mixed raise" because that's how you have it written in your first sentence.

mahogani (the media diva) said...

i hate the terms mixed and multi-racial ... but if that's what people want to be called, so be it. Because I see it as an option on a lot of dating sites, I know it will be an option on job applications soon.

my opinion is that everyone is mixed ... if your mom is irish and your dad is italian you're mixed to me ....

i'm not completely African-American (which is another term i dislike) ... I'm black-creole-native american but to the general population i'm black ...

mixed seems to be only a term used to identify those who are half or part white ... which should be called bi-racial ... b8t people go by what they want to go by.

i just hate MIXED because we sound like a breed of dog and not a human race.

even with my "mixed" background, i'm a black American. period.

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree with you on this one Mahogani