The Affects of Being Biracial In America, Essay Example

Race and identity is a tenuous subject in society today. As more and more stories make the 10’o clock news on race relations, it will continue to be a hard topic to discuss adequately. As the United States continues to grow liberal, the idea of an interracial relationship in this country has advanced from a fantasy to a typical reality. The start of this development was seen in the landmark case of the 1967 Loving V. Virginia, which set a legitimate point of reference for interracial marriage. There has been an incredible gain in interracial relationships since this essential case. The acknowledgement of interracial relationships has developed across the nation through the years, yet setbacks and pessimism at the idea still exist. Nonetheless, interracial relationships confront a few obstructions that most individuals don’t have because they originate from the same race or community. When discussing race relationships, there is also the increasing trend of different races joining in interracial relationships in which bring about increased number of biracial or multiracial children. The increase in biracial has surged so significantly in the last decade that the U.S. officially placed an option for mixed race individuals to identify as such. (Townsend, Wilkins, Fryberg, Markus 2011)  While many people many see interracial relationships as a progressive step in the right direction, biracial children are affected in different ways as they must combat identity issues, and impact their social and emotional development.

Thanks in part to interracial relationships, biracial and multiracial children are a growing demographics in the United States. According to the U.S. Census, there is over a reported 10 million biracial people alone, in the United States. Many popular celebrities in the media that identify as biracial including, Tiger Woods, President Obama, Halle Barry, Derek Jeters, and several others, it has changed society’s perspective on biracial children. According to research, “Since the decriminalization of interracial marriage in 1967, the number of interracial unions and the number of mixed-race individuals grew substantially.” (Townsend, Wilkins, Fryberg, Markus 2011)  Within the United States, the number of interracial unions and biracial children is considered the fastest growing demographic. As the number continues to grow, it is perceived that people would be less likely to worry over the issues that impact biracial identification that leads to maladjustment, conflict, and confusion. Experts in early education are mindful of the association between a child’s prosperity and his or her racial/ethnic respect toward oneself. Personality is a rising idea for growing children. For bicultural or biracial children it is an evolving character, contingent upon the child’s environment and development. (Driscoll, Nagel 2010)  It will be essential for kids to process their mixture of identities, and early adolescence instructors will need to give backing to both families and children amid those times.

While there are some studies that claim that biracial and mixed raced children grow up to be the most well-adjusted with healthy identity (Shih and Sanchez 2005). There is many combative research that suggest, however that biracial children will face several issues growing up. “Mixed race adolescents engage in substantially more risky and anti-social behavior than either blacks or whites, especially outside of school.”(Fryer, Levitt, Kahn, Spenkuch 2010) This includes racism from society, crisis with self-identification, conflicts with grandparents, and impact from their family or siblings when they aren’t the same racial tone. Racism and categorization represents an issue to biracial children. “It has been argued that many of these perceptions are still present today but are subtle and inconspicuous, intentional and unintentional.” (Hud-Aleem, Countryman, Glillig, 2008) The individuals who view different races as a problem feel the need to classify each race they encountered. However, biracial children do not fit flawlessly into a particular class. From the outside, largely with biracial children that have a black parent, they are mainly classified as black, disregarding their other half of their DNA. This is seen primarily in the racial discussion of President Obama, who has a white mother, and an African father. He is especially identified as the first black president, although he is a product of an interracial marriage and is biracial. This attitude is, the same no matter what gender the black parent is, as long as the biracial child skin has darker melanin in their skin tone, they are classified as black by outsiders. This is mostly due to the one-drop implemented during the Jim Crow Era, in which those that had one drop of “African” blood was considered black. While this is very wrong, “in a racially stratified society, race functions as a master status, or a primary identification that subsumes all other types of identities.” (Rockquemore, Laszloffy 2005) In the opposite spectrum for biracial children that are the products of a black and white relationship, those that “pass” for full Caucasian, are treated much differently from those on the outside, as opposed to their siblings, or their black parent. Biracial children are sometimes treated by individuals more harshly, or with resentment, as they can draw large amounts of attention when race isn’t as easily identified by outsiders.

How society primarily views biracial and bicultural children is that they are standardized a great deal choose between one culture over the other. In the meantime, the children that identify that with biracial is mindful of the qualities, observations, and regular practices of the two social frameworks. Right on time in these kids’ lives, they get to be mindful of being diverse. Whether it be in a daycare or preschool or the same racial group, biracial children may encounter the social weight that is frequently administered to somebody who is nondistinctive. When people mainly see biracial children are the product of one black parent, their reactions change fundamentally. Those reactions show their instability about the dual cultures or their demoralization with pressures from society. The variety in individuals’ reactions is one evidence of the push that is accomplished by groups that are biracial or come from different cultures. Children that are biracial seem to encounter the inclination of not “fitting in” anyplace amid their youth, and it turns into a genuine clash for some biracial youths with other children their age. (Driscoll, Nagel 2010)

There have been many cases of mistreatment towards interracial families, this can be seen as present as this year, with the Cheerios advertisement that featured an interracial family, the mother white, the father black, and the biracial child. The ad received many negative and racist remarks on the popular video sharing site YouTube so much that Cheerios hit back to inform that they will continue to show families that represent the changing demographic. (Joseph 2013) This type of impact experienced from an adolescence to adulthood could affect the development of biracial children. Studies have indicated, however that growing up in an interracial home does not do any harm to their social development. (Brunsma 2005) Other studies have indicated that biracial or multiracial people are the most beautiful in the world, and they grow up with healthy self-esteem, and have shown to increase in academic settings. (Bonner, Faye, Marbley, Howard-Halmiton 2011)

Biracial children while they may face struggles with identity. Instances of racism from outsiders that will try to classify them into one face, and issues with family and friends biracial children largely grow up to be well-adjusted individuals that developed successfully with the support of their family and friends. Studies have shown that with the support of their parents, biracial children will grow up to be more socially developed compared to their other counterparts. (Csizmadia, Ispa 2013) This information is largely based on situated factors such as socio-economic, environmental, and region. As such, biracial children will continue to grow, and society will eventually adjust.

References

Bonner, Fred A., Marbley, Aretha Faye, Howard-Hamilton, Mary F. (2013). Diverse Millennial Students in College: Implications for Faculty and Student Affairs. Steerling; Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Brunsma, David L. (2005). Interracial Families and the Racial Identification of Mixed- Race Children: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Social Forces 84 (2): 1131-1157.

Csizmadia, A. and Ispa, J. M. (2014), Black-White Biracial Children’s Social Development from Kindergarten to Fifth Grade.Links with Racial Identification, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status. Social Development, 23: 157–177.

Driscoll, Al, Nagel, N.G. (2010). Interracial Marriages and Biracial Children. Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/interracial-marriages-biracial-children/

Fryer, Ronald G., Levitt, Steven D., Kahn, Lisa, Spenkuch, Jorg L. (2010). The Plight of Mixed Race Adolescents. Munich Personal RePec Archive. Retrieved from http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/23099/1/MR_KIDS.pdf

Hud-Aleem, Raushanah, Countryman, Jacqueline, Gillig, Paulette. (2008). Biracial Identity Development and Recommendations in Therapy. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 5(11): 37-44. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695719/

Joseph, Ralina L. (2013). Guest: The fury over a Cheerios ad and an interracial family. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2021263203_ralinajosephopedxml.html

Rockquemore, Kerry, Laszloffy, Tracey A. (2005). Raising Biracial Children. Lanham; Rowman Altamira.

Townsend, Sarah S.M., Fryberg, Stephanie, Wilkins, Clara L., Markus, Hazel Rose. (2012). Being Mixed: Who Claims a Biracial Identity? Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Vol 18, No 1. 91-96. Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/group/mcslab/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/91.pdf