GRSJ224/discriminationagainstmixedchildren
Discrimination Against Mixed Individuals
To be considered a mixed race individual, the individual has to have parents or ancestors from different ethnic backgrounds (eg. having a Chinese mother and a Swedish father)[1]. Factors such as racism, fetishization, disapproval from extended family members, questioning self-identity and feeling out of place are all challenges mixed-race individuals may face.
Historical Example
Two generations ago, by California law, white people were prohibited from marrying people who were considered “Negroes, mulattos, or Mongolians.”[2] An example of this is Gus Pimental who was born in 1939, and had a Caucasian mother and a Filipino father who were illegally wed in California. Gus' maternal grandparents disowned their daughter for marrying an non-white man.[3]
Gus describes his experience growing up as difficult, as nobody would rent out their homes to a mixed family. Gus would have people would look at his mother and father when they all walked by and several Caucasian people would say, "poor children” aloud.[4]
Modern Day Example
Mixed race discrimination occurs today as well. Lou Jing, a blasian talent show contestant that competed on Go Oriental Angel, was repeatedly called “Chocolate Girl” and “Black Pearl” by Chinese viewers. These viewers initially sensationalized Lou Jing's race, but it turned for the worst when forum commenters starting to call her a "Lil Black Devil."[5] Colourism is a prevalent issue in Asia, with women bleaching their skin to become more pale in appearance, so Lou Jing's darker complexion became the source of many criticisms despite Lou Jing being half Chinese and born in China as well.
Fetishization
Mixed individuals are often fetishized as many consider them to be "exotic". Fetishizing multiracial people commonly stems from racism, as a single race (usually a minority race like Black or Asian) is not considered attractive, but when the individual is a minority mixed with Caucasian, they are now attractive. Only liking minorities when they mixed with Caucasian blood contributes to the issue of colourism.
It is also common for people to date someone of another race purely so they can have mixed babies. Western colonization of African and Asian countries has led people from those continents to value Western facial or body features more than their own.
Identity Challenges
Another challenge that multiracial individuals face is feeling out of place. The issue is stemmed from the fact that the multiracial individuals feel like they are not “whole.” Davison summarizes the notion of multiracial discrimination and how mixed-race people “are directly discriminated against because of their distinct mixed identity,” primarily based on quasi-scientific arguments about multiracial individuals’ inferiority due to “hybrid degeneracy” and “sociocultural rejection."[6] An example is if a person is biracial, like Japanese and Mexican, this person is technically two different “halves,” which can lead to judgement from both sides of their ethnicities and saying they are not a true Mexican or they do not understand what is it to be Japanese. This feeling is amplified when they look ethnically ambiguous.
Paksie Vernon is a woman who is British and Lesotho[7]. She was born in Wales, but didn’t live in the UK until 13. She said that, “Even for a mixed-race person I’m quite fair, so until I was 13 I thought of myself as white” but when she went to the UK she was told that she constantly told that she was black.
Being Misidentified
There is not only the issue of self-identity, there is also the issue of being misidentified in society. Not only just misidentified but also not valued the same as a mono-racial person. The media congratulated Bowen Yang for being the first Asian cast on the comedy show Saturday Night Live. This is not true as comedians Fred Armisen who is part Korean and Rob Schneider who is part Filipino have been cast on the show before. They both have asian ancestry and but do not get any acknowledgement for being the first Asians on the show thus dismissing multiracial people and treating these comedians as “lesser Asians”. This is because of wide-spread misidentification, if you are white-passing, you tend to be treated as a white person and your other ethnicities are not as valid. The treatment is the same as if you look like another of your ethnicities.
- ↑ "Mixed-Race | Definition of Mixed-Race by Lexico".
- ↑ Tashiro, Cathy J. (2016). Standing on Both Feet. New York: Routledge. p. 37.
- ↑ Tashiro, Cathy J. (2012). Standing on Both Feet. New York: Routledge. p. 38.
- ↑ Tashiro, Cathy J. (2012). Standing on Both Feet. New York: Routledge. p. 39.
- ↑ "NetEase Interview with Shanghai Black Girl Lou Jing".
- ↑ Leong, Nancy (2010). "Judicial Erasure of Mixed-Race Discrimination". American University Law Review. Vol. 59: pg. 524.
- ↑ "The mixed race experience there are times I feel like the odd one out".