What Race Am I?

By Jennifer Harding


The definition of biracial is “of, for, or consisting of members of two races, having parents of two different races.” Personally, I think that definition is straightforward, to the point, clear and I wouldn’t have any confusion or problems understanding this. But for so many people, this definition doesn’t sit well and just doesn’t seem to be enough. I discovered an article on CNN.com about being biracial or multiracial, and it caught my attention and intrigued me to look further into this topic for my organic post.

CNN Article

I then found an article called Passing as Black: How Biracial Americans Choose Identity, and it seemed to be very eye-opening. I am in fact biracial, which most people would never guess. I am black and white and do not identify with either black or white people. I have always been raised to see myself as both, because when it comes down to it, that’s what I am. But I understand why some mixed people feel the need to identify with one race. And according to the healthland.com article, biracial Americans are choosing to identify as black.

Healthland Article

More and more we see people who belong to two or more races all over the world. There has been a 32% increase since the year 2000 and right now 9 million people are biracial or multiracial. Socially, it is accepted much more now then every before, but there are still people who don’t want races mixing. Interracial marriage wasn’t even legal until 1967, so we as a country have come a long way, but we are still so far behind. In this video, you see a man who basically “disowns” his daughter, just because she gets married to a black man.

He says that he doesn’t believe he is racist, and that he is looking out for his daughter, against the racist people who will judge and refuse to accept her and her child. When in reality, he is the exact problem that he claims to be protecting her from. It’s sad to see just how quickly a father can turn on his child when it’s regarding interracial marriage and a biracial child. What also disturbed me were the comments underneath the video that ignorant, closed minded people left.

 In America, when we hear the word racist, generally we think white supremacists, black versus white, or something along those lines. But in all reality, it is everywhere, in every race, (Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) and even against those who are more than one race.

As a child I was always asked to choose a side, or to identify with one race, or told that I’m so light that I must be white. It is very confusing as to why our society can’t just accept that no one is going to fit into a perfect little box with the correct label. We should all realize that we are of one “race” and that is human. There are more important issues in the world, then to be so concerned about what race everyone is or isn’t.