Mixed Race Studies

Both men said [Trevor] Noah distinguished himself from other comics by resisting labels and “genre-based comedy.” [Schalk] Bezuidenhout noted that Noah always identified himself as a mixed-race South African raised in straitened circumstances in Soweto without “using it as a crutch.” Contemporaries who have shared the stage with him say he’s unusually attuned to the audience, shifting direction based on the feel in the room, and Bezuidenhout has seen Noah drop chunks of material based on the city he’s performing in. This was a quality that a number of immigrants in South Africa had already mentioned to me. Omega Chembhere, a waiter, told me that when he had arrived from Zimbabwe 10 years earlier, much of South African pop culture had seemed inaccessible. “Trevor’s different, so good at it,” he said. “His strength is that everything springs from his experience in life, but you understand his reality because he makes an effort to explain.”

Douglas Foster, “Trevor Noah’s World,” The Atlantic, April 5, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/trevor-noah-world-south-africa-comedy/389697.

“People that look like me that break windows, flip cars, and light things on fire are protected by infantilizing comments that state: “boys will be boys,” absolving them of any responsibility. Whereas people that look like my father are shot in the back as they run away, choked to death, or have their necks broken.”

Maliq Hunsberger, “The Blue Eyes of a Black Nationalist,” Meduim, The Secret History of America: Writings and Revelations from an American Studies Seminar at UC Berkeley, May 6, 2015. https://medium.com/the-secret-history-of-america/the-blue-eyes-of-a-black-nationalist-a04ef17e394e.

“I was born in this country and I grew up here, and I could only speak Japanese. This is my home country; it’s not a matter of ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes,’ ” she said simply. “Since my dad is an American, I look like a foreigner, so I used to think, ‘It’s cool having U.S. citizenship,’ and so I went there. But in America I couldn’t understand the culture, and it was then that I realized, ‘Without a doubt, I’m Japanese.’”…

…“There are lots of people from all kinds of countries (in America), so I felt relaxed,” she said. “My family is all black, so I felt relieved. I was like, ‘Wow, these people are the same color as me!’ Over there, I definitely felt a sense of peace — it was easy to live there.”

“I’d like Japan to be an easier place to live,” she added, “but Japan has some fundamental problems that it still hasn’t solved, in my opinion. These problems need to be dealt with right now. One thing is that the Japanese population is shrinking, and if foreigners come and aren’t accepted, I’d be concerned about what will happen to Japan, and so I’d like to see Japan adopt a more global outlook…” —Ariana Miyamoto

Bay McNeil, “Meeting Miss Universe Japan, the ‘half’ who has it all,” The Japan Times, (April 19, 2015). http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2015/04/19/general/meeting-miss-universe-japan-half.

Racial identity is not merely a matter of appearance or genetics, but is one factor combined with social and cultural experiences that have shaped each person’s racial experience. Policing how multiracial people chose to identify neglects our right to understand the experiences that we feel best reflect ourselves.

Audrey Majors, “Redefining — by not defining — biracialism,” The Daily Illini, (March 31, 2015). http://www.dailyillini.com/opinion/columns/article_6ff729b4-d711-11e4-9575-0f53ae9eeb99.html.

“Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant. It is subversive to social peace. It is destructive of moral supremacy, and ultimately this slavery to black beasts will bring this nation to a fatal conflict” —Representative Seaborn Roddenberry of Georgia (January 1913)

Gilmore, Al-Tony, Bad Nigger! The national impact of Jack Johnson, (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1975). 108.

Do you identify as Black, mixed — how do you see yourself?

I’m both. Everything and nothing.

Clay Cane, “Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes: “I Don’t Think About Color”,” Black Entertainment Television, (June 25, 2013). http://www.bet.com/news/music/2013/06/25/brittany-howard-of-the-alabama-shakes-i-don-t-think-about-color.html.

As a biracial gentleman, it has been blatantly clear to me my entire movie-going existence that my distinct mixed race experience must be just some fairytale figment of my imagination to those shining the greenlight in Hollywood. Characters of multiple ethnicities typically find their stories swept under the dirty rug to give the red carpet treatment to the “more relatable” struggles of the interracial couples that give birth to us instead.

Scott Myer, “Great Character: Sam White (“Dear White People”),” Go Into the Story, (March 13, 2015). http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2015/03/great-character-sam-white-dear-white-people.html.

“If you’re passing due to white privilege, then you’re white in a societal way,”… “Now, does that build a different set of issues inside somebody who knows they’re not white, but they know that they’re passing as white? Yeah, sure. Who the fuck am I to sit here and act like I can speak for black people? I can’t even speak for white people. I can’t speak for nobody. And I felt weird about that. So I took my racial makeup and just stuck it in the back corner for a long time.” —Slug (Sean Michael Daley)

Killian Young, “Once Upon a Time in Minneapolis: 20 Years of Rhymesayers,” Consequence of Sound, (March 12, 2015). http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/once-upon-a-time-in-minneapolis-20-years-of-rhymesayers/.

I’m mixed with the bravery of a soldier and the passion of activists. I’m mixed with the rage of a victim and the hope of a survivor. I’m mixed with brilliance of a polymath and the swag of a “hood boy.” I’m mixed with the past and present and my future is as bright as my skin. I’m mixed, because I’m both spiritual and human and my life is both joyous and challenging. I’m mixed with big ideas and the skills to execute them. What am I mixed with you ask? I mixed with great thought and measured action, which is helping to create a world where one day people will ask “How are you doing?” before asking “What are you mixed with?

Christopher “Flood the Drummer^®” Norris, “The Question I’m Often Asked as a ‘High Yellow’ Black Man,” The Good Men Project, (February 21, 2015). http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/cnorris-the-question-im-often-asked-as-a-high-yellow-black-man/.

The Two or More Races population is projected to be the fastest growing over the next 46 years (see Table 2), with its population expected to triple in size (an increase of 226 percent). This group is projected to increase from 8 million to 26 million between 2014 and 2060. Its share of the total population is projected to increase from 2.5 percent.

Sandra L. Colby and Jennifer M. Ortman, “Projections of the Size and Composition of the U.S. Population: 2014 to 2060: Population Estimates and Projections [P25-1143],” United States Census Bureau, Washington, D.C. (March 3, 2015). 9. http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf.