A few days ago The New York Times published an article, Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race. Who are the multiracials? Because of the history of black-white relations in the United States, and Barack Obama's own background, the term is often framed so that that dimension is front & center. But what do the numbers say? Census 2000 found that 2.4% of Americans selected more than one race; i.e., they identified as multiracial. The breakdowns were:
| Rank | Multiple Race Selection | % of Total Pop. | % of Multiracials |
| 1. | White × Some Other Race | 0.78% | 32.32% |
| 2. | White × American Indian | 0.38% | 15.86% |
| 3. | White × Asian | 0.31% | 12.72% |
| 4. | White × Black | 0.28% | 11.50% |
| 5. | Black × Some Other Race | 0.15% | 6.11% |
| 6. | Asian × Some Other Race | 0.09% | 3.65% |
| 7. | Black × American Indian | 0.06% | 2.67% |
| 8. | Asian × Hawaiian or Pac. Islander | 0.05% | 2.03% |
| 9. | White × Hawaiian or Pac. Islander | 0.04% | 1.65% |
| 10. | White × Black × American Indian | 0.04% | 1.64% |
"Some Other Race" usually means Hispanic or Latino (nearly half of Hispanics or Latinos identify as white, but 2/5ths identify as Some Other Race). When it comes to how race is lived in America the fact that the major media is based out of the east coast has a distortionary affect on the discourse. Granted, The New York Times piece profiled a woman of mixed Chinese & white heritage, but she was predictably tacked on after the primary focus on the new biracial America.
P.S. Did you know that Herbert Hoover's Vice President, Charles Curtis, was about 1/4th to 1/2th Native American (depending on which source you trust) and spent some of his youth on a reservation?
- Log in to post comments
If you look at the embedded video on the NYT site, you will note that it states that over 40% of people viewing themselves as multiracial were under 18 years old in the 2000 census.
I wonder if anyone thinks that this is really a shock. True race marriage laws ended in the 1960s, but the number of people marrying outside their "race" likely remains low, even today. This, logically, means that the number of mixed-race children are going to be lower than the overall population.
Similarly, multi-racial people have typically been expected to conform to their dominant racial phenotype (although tended to remain second-class citizens within that group). As a multi-racial person, I've had the 'privelidge' of experiencing some of these racial/cultural expectations.
With regard to how 'groundbreaking' this story is, Razib makes a very good point - "that the major media is based out of the east coast has a distortionary affect on the discourse". In certain parts of California and Washington (and much of Hawai'i), being someone like me (half East Asian/half white) is not anything special.
However, living as I do in Ann Arbor, MI, I am one of a very few that fits inside the East Asian/White "mix" group. That makes one wonder how much of a unifying trait "mixed heritage" really is between (and within) different ethnically mixed peoples. This is something Razib touched upon in an earlier post. (I have created my own personal identity not tied strongly to any one ethnic heritage or geographic location, but I realize that I am - among my colleagues - unique in the degree to which I have done so.)
I really liked that the NYT really did a good job on this piece. Although it isn't 'news' in certain parts of the US (CA, WA, HI), the fact that people marry outside their race (*gasp*) is something that I think most of America needs to come to understand as something happening, and something good.
Now if only the NYT did an article on mixed-heritage, multi-national, third culture kids born on military-dominated US territories to non-military families...
That makes one wonder how much of a unifying trait "mixed heritage" really is between (and within) different ethnically mixed peoples. This is something Razib touched upon in an earlier post
the biggest difference is between white-nonblack and white-black mixes. the latter are usually identified by society as black, while the former can often pass if the phenotype fits. halle berry is always going to be cast a a black woman, but keanu reeves is usually cast as white despite being of mixed white & asian ancestry (jennifer tilly & mark paul gosselaar are other examples of asian-white mixes who invariably get cast as white).
I disagree to a point. If it is the degree of one's skin "melanation" that allows one to "pass as white," then what about South Asian/White?
And why does this always have to be in comparison to "white"? What about comparing how "Asian" you are? (And what exactly is Asian, right?) I know the former happens to me all the time. (Especially when I'm in Japan.)
I've found that white people tend to classify me minimally as "not white", but tending toward "Asian American," whereas APIAs classify me as "not Asian". I've also had some Native Americans ask if I, too, was Native American - that's happened in northern AZ as well as in norther MI.
If it is the degree of one's skin "melanation" that allows one to "pass as white," then what about South Asian/White?
it isn't just melanin. americans are "cued" toward african features (both white and black). whether a person of mixed south asian & white ancestry can "pass" is usually just a function of how brown (or not) they are. i had some friends when i was a kid who were half irish and half bengali. everyone assumed one was puerto rican when he went to columbia. his brother, everyone would assume he was white until his name (which was arab) was mentioned. norah jones has a rather dark-skinned father, so she's probably a good example of the central tendency.
And why does this always have to be in comparison to "white"? What about comparing how "Asian" you are? (And what exactly is Asian, right?) I know the former happens to me all the time. (Especially when I'm in Japan.)
in the united states white is mainstream. of course it is different elsewhere. someone who is the "non-white" person in the USA based on their non-white parent can turn into a "white person" in other contexts.
btw, re: someone like norah jones, i don't recall assuming she was of part-brown extraction before i knew the identity of her dad. but once i knew that her south asian features are pretty "obvious." this is like the jason kidd effect.
Did you know that Herbert Hoover's Vice President, Charles Curtis, was about 1/4th to 1/2th Native American
I did! I did! And I do find it remarkable that it should have happened at a time when racism in America was quite overt towards other groups. I don't know very much about racism towards Indians in the 19th century; I would think it would have been difficult for White Americans to justify fighting them without a good dose of animosity thrown in; I wonder if those feelings dissipated when the Indians were finally defeated.
Who Are We? New Dialogue on Mixed Race
"Meet the new dialogue, same as the old dialogue"
With apologies to Pete Townshend and The Who.
Did you know that Herbert Hoover's Vice President, Charles Curtis, was about 1/4th to 1/2th Native American
Often times, claiming "Native American blood" was/is a mask for black admixture.
Mark Paul Gosselaar was mentioned, and since I've mentioned The Who, I will add the Van Halen boys - Eddie and Alex, who also have Indonesian "blood".
I'm sorry but I have to disagree with Razib a bit.
I grew up in a military family and I have seen a lot of biracial/multiracial people especially Caucasian/Asian...mostly Korean, Japanese, and Filipino.
South Asians are different, on average they tend to have fairly Caucasoid facial features with dark skin and hair (maybe thick black or curly hair) so it is not shocking that they might tend to come out looking more "off white" and passing if people don't know their ancestry. In my experience most Mongoloid/whites can not.
Most of them (in my experience) look like Devon Aioki, Maggie Q., China Chow, Mike Shinoda...etc
http://www.mixedasians.com/celeb.php?name=Mike.Shinoda&num=4
Most of those kids don't look "white". They are often assumed to be Hispanic or Asian (by whites). Most of them don't look like Meg Tilly or Keanue Reeves, those are a minority.
I do agree with him that Americans are hypersensative to black West African phenotypes and pick up on "black features", but I find a lot of it has to do with nose and hair.
If the biracial person does not have a wide nose and their hair is wavy or strait (also skin is tan to pale) they are usually thought to be white or Hispanic. Such as Vin Diesel...the Rock also. There is also Rashida Jones (father Quincy Jones (black) and Peggy Lippton (Ashkenazi) mother).
I noticed that when "The Rock" (I know he is half Polynesian) has an Afro he looks "black" without it he looks ambiguous and most people I know didn't even know his father was a black-Canadian.
Oh this is "The Rock" with an afro.
http://imagecache2.allposters.com/IMAGES/mmpo/503369.jpg
haha, from the movie "Be Cool"...if I saw him on the street I would not question he was African American. If he was bald, I would likely not assume he was African American unless he looked at me and nodded or something or he had a "black accent".
Yeah. When I saw Colin Powell on TV for the first time, I had to look three times to find out why he was called "black".