Thread: Race issues
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Old 11-05-2005, 11:19 AM   #36 (permalink)
alansmithee
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ktspktsp
Ah DAMMIT, EDIT AGAIN, THIS IS ABAYA POSTING: Once again Abaya is taking over her boyfriend, ktspktsp's, account by accident... I am staying at his place and keep forgetting to log him out. Damn, I apologize. So the following is NOT posted by ktspktsp, but by Abaya.

I realize this was a typo, but what did you mean to say?... which parent is which ethnicity?
Fixed the typo, father is black, mother white.

Quote:
I understand that you feel like an outsider. But for me personally, I just feel like saying, so what? Why would I *want* to assimilate into one of my parent's cultures? Why not be happy with what I have and who I am, without having to become part of one grand ethnic group or the other.

I wouldn't like belonging to one ethnic group; I find it restricting. As it is, whenever I am around Thai or Icelandic people, I know they probably don't think of me as "their own," and I've become quite fine with that. I am happy to just be an American who is half-whatever to them. If they don't see me as a whole person, that's their problem. Like I said, I think it's way cooler to be heterogeneous than homogeneous. Hybrid vigor, baby.
Again, it doesn't have to do with how you youself feel, it's more a problem with how others will recieve you. People need to label things, so you will be instantly labelled into one group or the other. But that group won't fully accept you either, because you are different. Unless you can fully pass for one, and keep secret your multiracial identity.

Quote:
Personally, I think it's great that my parents were open enough to each other that they didn't worry so much about how I would be received. I feel the same way about my kids; whatever people might say about them doesn't matter, because I know they would be whole human beings, not halves or quarters based on their parents' ethnicity.
In an ideal world that would be enough, but this world is far from ideal. You will not always be able to protect your children from the outside world-they will have to interact with others and will face these problems. It's unfortunate, but true. And any interracial couple should also consider what thier children will have to deal with. It's no different than parents who have genes that can pass on harmful effects to their children-these people also have to weigh the positives and negatives of having a child because of the risk of defect. And in the case of an interracial couple, the "defect" isn't one that is innate, but one placed upon multiracial people by society.

Again, a lot of this will also depend on where you live. There are a lot of places that are more tolerant of racial integration, and aren't overly hung up on race. But these places are few and far between.
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