After attending the Mixed Roots festival over the weekend, I sat in my hotel room in Downtown LA thinking what will I bring back to the UK and how has this trip enlightened me about the Mix-d: USA experience.
After speaking to many people it really hit home that the Mix-d: experience has similarities and differences regardless of generation and regardless of country. However, one surprising difference in the US is the persistent and very real emphasis and reliance on the one drop rule. This stood out to me so I asked many questions regarding why this is and received a variety of responses:
-Society will still class anyone with “black in them” as black, hence Barak Obama being the first “black President”
-It is easier for society to put people of colour under one umbrella term
-People outside of the family see mixed race a certain way so the individual will internalise external views
-Black is often the predominant race in the household so a mixed race child will identify as black
-Identifying as mixed is often perceived as rejecting the “black side” of you
-Identifying as mixed is often perceived to be implying that “mixed is better than black” due to the historical view that lighter is better
An evaluation and assessment of all these responses would require much grilling academic research. So instead of hitting the books, I reflected and reminded myself that the beauty of Mix-d: as an organisation is that we do not tell people how they should identify themselves; instead we encourage our young people to develop an understanding of their identity internally without having to tick a box or be judged. If you are comfortable identifying as mixed race then identify as mixed-race; if you’re comfortable identifying as black, then identify as black; or half-caste or Asian, Cablinasin, Jamindian, White… So long as you are comfortable and confident in yourself!
My reflection also put the project into perspective. We are addressing the fastest growing ethnic group! I repeat. The fastest growing ethnic group! And the project will only grow alongside the mixed-race population. Following this trip I further appreciate all that this project is doing and has done and see a great future for the project in reaching out to mixed-race people around the world to address Mix-d: experiences- globally.
So, overall my experience of LA has been insightful and enlightening. I have met some wonderful people, seen fantastic sights and had thoughtful conversations – all which have inspired me as a person and in terms of my contribution to the project: I have decided to write a book; I am eager to start the Mix-d: Parenting book; and I would eventually like to combine my love for the project with my aspirations in the law and one day become the Mix-d: Political and Legal Adviser! (The joys of travel!)
Alexandra Simon.
The American's have got it right and are well ahead of us on the topic of the one drop rule. Unlike here in the UK. The U.S. has a growing multiracial identity movement, reflective of the growing perception that mixed-race cultural heritage has been historically widely underreported (and still is so). What fathoms me is mixed race people who describe themselves as 'black' are unwittingly condoning the 'one drop rule' that was used during slavery times to racially catergorise those slaves who had a drop of black blood as 'black' or those slaves with a fairer skin as 'white'. Remember it is not so long ago apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994, and Miscegenation or interracial marriage between whites and blacks was deemed illegal in most states of American in the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th century. Our mixed race children maybe learning about the evils of the slave trade as part of the education curriculum but do not hear about the 'one drop rule' or 'miscegnenation laws' that continued to exist for many years after the slave trade was abolished and are embedded in our culture today. As you most probably know in California there existed similar miscegnenation laws to prohibit White-Asian American marriages until 1967 until the Loving V Virginia decision by the US Supreme Court) which overturned all remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the US.It is this overlap of the one drop rule as well as the racial stereotypes of 'blackness' that continues to condition many mixed race peoples 'thinking' on racial identity, to this very day. We still see our mixed race heroes simply described as 'black' when in actual fact they have a white mother or father, or another cultural mixed background - we have our own unique identity why allow it to be hidden away, when we should be embracing our own mixed race identity. Mixed Feelings: The Complex Lives of Mixed Race Britons (2001). London: Women's Press. ISBN 0-7043-4706-7 by Yasmin Ali- Brown outlines the concept of 'the one drop rule' very well - I recommend you read it. From Unite