Mixed Race Studies

Multiethnic Children, Youth, and Families: Emerging Challenges to the Behavioral Sciences and Public Policy

Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies
Volume 62, Issue 1 (February 2013) (Special Issue on Multiethnic Families)
pages 1–4
DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00760.x

Hamilton I. McCubbin
University of Hawaii, Manoa

Laurie “Lali” D. McCubbin, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology
Washington State University

Gina Samuels, Associate Professor
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago

Wei Zhang, Assistant Professor of Sociology
University of Hawaii, Manoa

Jason Sievers, Academic Coordinator
Washington State University

The nation’s minority population is now over 100 million, so that about one in three U.S. residents is a person of color. In the period from 1980 to 2000, the European American population in the United States grew in size by 8%. In this same time period, the African American population increased by 30%, the Latino/Latina populations by 143%, and the American Indian/Alaskan Native populations by 46%. In striking contrast, in this time period the Asian American population in the United States increased by 190%. This transformation of the U.S. population configuration was facilitated by an increase in interracial marriages, resulting in a substantial increase in persons with multiethnic ancestries. The diversity within ethnic groups as reflected in the 2000 U.S. Census was fostered by a change in policy allowing the Census to record the multiethnic nature of the U.S. population.

This special Issue of Family Relations, with its 18 articles, acknowledges the emerging and distinct importance of understanding children, youth, and families of multiethnic ancestries. As a framework for understanding this special issue, we believe it is important to place multiethnicity in a historical and social context to foster an appreciation of the salience of this social change within the U.S. population, if not in the world. In 1989, the United States’ adoption of what is known as “the hypodescent rule” suppressed the identification of multiethnic individuals and children in particular by requiring children to be classified as belonging to the race of the non-White parent. Interracial marriage between Whites and Blacks was deemed illegal in most states through the 20th century. California and western U.S. laws prohibited White-Asian American marriages until the 1950s. Since the 1967 Supreme Court decision, which ruled that antimiscegenation laws were unconstitutional, there has been a predictable increase in or reporting of the number of interracial couples and mixed-race children. The increase over the past 30 years has been dramatic when we consider the proportions of children living in families with interracial couples. The proportion of children living in interracial families increased from 1.5% in 1970 to 2.4% in 1980, 3.6% in 1990, and 6.4% in 2000. In the state of Hawaii, the proportion of children living in multiethnic families grew to over 31% in 2000. In comparison to the 6.4% nationally, one in three children is being socialized in multiethnic family environments in the state of Hawaii (Lee, 2010).

This collection of original work on multiethnic children, youth, and families begins with the Census Bureau report on race data collected in the 2000 Census and the 2010 Census. Jones and Bullock provide the two decennial censuses on the distributions of people reporting multiple races in response to the census. In identifying the concentrations of multiethnic individuals and families at the national level and with geographic comparisons, the spotlight is placed on the changing and complex racial and ethnic diversity in the United States. Trask addresses the growing number of multiethnic immigrant and transnational families in the United States and abroad. The continuity in and dynamic relationships that emerge as a result of immigrations and transnational migrations increases our demand for more knowledge about the individual culture and history of the procreated multiethnic family units…

Read the entire article here.

Note by Steven F. Riley: For a limited time, all of the articles in this special issue can be downloaded for free.

• INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE ON MULTIETHNIC FAMILIES
  • Multiethnic Children, Youth, and Families: Emerging Challenges to the Behavioral Sciences and Public Policy / Hamilton I. McCubbin, Laurie “Lali” D. McCubbin, Gina Samuels, Wei Zhang and Jason Sievers
• MULTIETHNIC FAMILIES: CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS
  • Understanding Who Reported Multiple Races in the U.S. Decennial Census: Results From Census 2000 and the 2010 Census / Nicholas A. Jones and Jungmiwha J. Bullock
  • Locating Multiethnic Families in a Globalizing World / Bahira Sherif Trask
• MULTIETHNIC FAMILY FORMATION
  • International Marriages Between Eastern European-Born Women and U.S.-Born Men / Polina Levchenko and Catherine Solheim
  • Race-Conscious Adoption Choices, Multiraciality, and Color-blind Racial Ideology / Kathryn A. Sweeney
  • U.S. Families’ Adoption of Chinese Daughters: A Narrative Analysis of Family Themes in Children’s Books / Jacki Fitzpatrick and Erin Kostina-Ritchey
  • Racial Socialization in Transracial Adoptive Families: Does It Help Adolescents Deal With Discrimination Stress? / Leigh A. Leslie, Jocelyn R. Smith, Katie M. Hrapczynski and Debbie Riley
• RACE AND MULTIETHNIC IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
  • Racial Identity, Phenotype, and Self-Esteem Among Biracial Polynesian/White Individuals / G. E. Kawika Allen, Patton O. Garriott, Carla J. Reyes and Catherine Hsieh
  • An Application of Ecological Theory to Ethnic Identity Formation Among Biethnic Adolescents /Melinda A. Gonzales-Backen
• PARENTING AND MULTIETHIC FAMILIES
  • “All Colors and Hues”: An Autoethnography of a Multiethnic Family’s Strategies for Bilingualism and Multiculturalism / Kimberley D. Kennedy and Harriett D. Romo
  • Parenting, Family Processes, Relationships, and Parental Support in Multiracial and Multiethnic Families: An Exploratory Study of Youth Perceptions / Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco, Cristina B. Bares and Jorge Delva
  • Racial Socialization of Biracial Youth: Maternal Messages and Approaches to Address Discrimination / Alethea Rollins and Andrea G. Hunter
  • The Importance of Family, Race, and Gender for Multiracial Adolescent Well-being / Sarah Schlabach
• RISK AND RESILIENCE IN MULTIETHNIC FAMILIES
  • Multiracial Children and Poverty: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners / Jenifer Bratter and Rachel Tolbert Kimbro
  • Microaggressions Within Families: Experiences of Multiracial People / Kevin L. Nadal, Julie Sriken, Kristin C. Davidoff, Yinglee Wong and Kathryn McLean
  • Intimate Partner Violence in Interracial and Monoracial Couples / Brittny A. Martin, Ming Cui, Koji Ueno and Frank D. Fincham
  • Mixed Resilience: A Study of Multiethnic Mexican American Stress and Coping in Arizona / Kelly F. Jackson, Thera Wolven and Kimberly Aguilera
  • Ethnic Variations in Factors Contributing to the Life Satisfaction of Migrant Wives in South Korea / Miai Sung, Meejung Chin, Jaerim Lee and Soyoung Lee
  • Using the Multicultural Family Support Centers and Adjustment Among Interethnic and Interracial Families in South Korea / Grace H. Chung and Joan P. Yoo

Understanding Who Reported Multiple Races in the U.S. Decennial Census: Results From Census 2000 and the 2010 Census

Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies
Volume 62, Issue 1 (February 2013) (Special Issue on Multiethnic Families)
pages 5-16
DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00759.x

Nicholas A. Jones, Chief, Racial Statistics Branch
Population Division
United States Census Bureau

Jungmiwha J. Bullock
United States Census Bureau

The United States’s collection of race data in Census 2000 and the 2010 Census provides a historical and landmark opportunity to compare results from two decennial censuses on the distributions of people reporting multiple races in response to the census. This research provides insights on the number of people who reported more than one race and details on various multiple-race combinations (e.g., White and Black or African American; White and Asian; White and American Indian and Alaska Native). This article presents analyses of the Two or More Races population and the largest multiple-race groups at the national and state level. The results inform data users and the public about an evolving portrait of the multiple-race population in the United States.

Read the entire article here.

“Multiracial” Discourse: Racial Classifications in an Era of Color-blind Jurisprudence

Maryland Law Review
Volume 57, Issue 1 (1998)
pages 97-173

Tanya Katerí Hernández, Professor of Law
Fordham University

• INTRODUCTION
• I. THE BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION OF THE MULTIRACIAL CATEGORY MOVEMENT
• II. THE ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF MULTIRACIAL DISCOURSE
  • A. The Reaffirmation of the Value of Whiteness in Racial Hierarchy
  • B. The Dissociation of a Racially Subordinated Buffer Class from Equality Efforts
  • C. The Continuation of the Color-Blind Jurisprudence Trajectory
    • 1. The Historical Meaning of Race Expelled from Analysis of Racial Discrimination
    • 2. Societal Discrimination Expelled from Analysis of Racial Discrimination
    • 3. The Judicial View of Race-Conscious Equality Measures as Harmful Stereotyping
    • 4. The Judicial Excision of Race from Racial Discrimination Discourse
  • D. Measurement of Racial Progress Hindered
• III. A RACE-CONSCIOUS RACIAL CLASSIFICATION PROPOSAL
• CONCLUSION

Introduction

The debate, in short, is really not so much about a multiracial box as it is about what race means-and what it will come to mean as the society approaches the millennium.
—Ellis Close

For the past several years, there has been a Multiracial Category Movement (MCM) promoted by some biracial persons’ and their parents for the addition of a “multiracial” race category on the decennial census. The stated aim of such a new category is to obtain a more specific count of the number of mixed-race persons in the United States and to have that tallying of mixed-race persons act as a barometer and promoter of racial harmony. As proposed, a respondent could choose the “multiracial” box in lieu of the presently listed racial classifications of American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, White, or Other. The census schedule also includes a separate Hispanic Origin ethnicity question. On October 29, 1997, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) adopted a federal Interagency Committee recommendation to reject the multiracial category in favor of allowing individuals to check more than one racial category. Some MCM proponents are not satisfied with the OMB’s decision, because multiple box checking does not directly promote a distinct multiracial identity.  These MCM proponents are committed to continue lobbying for a multiracial category on the 2010 census. Further, an OMB official has indicated that the issue of a multiracial category might be reconsidered with an increase in mixed-race persons. Yet, the significance of the MCM extends beyond the actual decision of whether and how mixed-race persons should be counted.

The discourse surrounding the advocacy for a census count of mixed-race persons has social and legal ramifications apart from the limited context of revising a census form. The principle underlying this Article is that the law should be understood in terms of its social consequences. From a legal-realist perspective, it is important to scrutinize the neutral discourse characteristic among those proposing a legally mandated mixed-race census count. Such analysis exposes its moral and political significance and ramifications. “[L]anguage… can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony, and dismissive ‘othering’ of people.” The power of discourse arises from its ability to construct a public narrative and
then obstruct counter-explanations for social reality.

Multiracial discourse contends that a mixed-race census count is necessary because race has become too fluid to monitor. The theory posits that the inability to identify psychologically with just one racial category is inherent to mixed-race persons alone and that the growing number of mixed-race persons demonstrates the futility of racial categorization as a practice. For instance, MCM proponents often refer to the growing numbers of persons who choose the “Other Race” category to support the premise that the racial categories are inadequate for mixed-race persons. The multiracial narrative of modern race being more fluid than in the past corresponds with and reinforces the color-blind jurisprudence presentation of race as devoid of meaning. Thus, “multiracial discourse” has an immediate meaning as the rhetoric deployed in the campaign for a specific count of mixed-race persons, and a more expansive meaning as the approach to race that views the increasing diversity of society as deconstructing and transcending race. Multiracial discourse misconstrues the meaning of race used in the group measurement of racial disparity, with an individual focused assessment of fluid cultural identity. Such a view of race negates its sociopolitical meaning26 and thereby undermines effective legal mechanisms to ameliorate racial discrimination. In fact, the MCM can be viewed as a metonym for the more general colorblind approach to race evident in recent Supreme Court cases.

Both the immediate and expansive meanings of “multiracial discourse” are interrelated and involve a highly politicized discourse. Accordingly, this Article shall question the assumptions that underlie both levels of meaning in order to assess the continuing significance of the racial classifications that multiracial discourse challenges. This analysis reveals that although multiracial discourse may seem benign and appealing on a humanitarian level, its implementation will produce counter-egalitarian results in the struggle for racial equality. The MCM’s campaign for color-blind treatment of racial hierarchy cloaks the racial significance of ostensibly race-neutral laws, as the Supreme Court’s recent movement toward color-blind anti-discrimination jurisprudence has done.

Because of the manner in which the census context highlights the dangers of multiracial discourse to racial justice efforts, this Article will focus upon the census as a well-known paradigm for the way racial classifications function. In particular, to demonstrate the folly of color-blind approaches to race issues, the author enlists the debate centered on the demand for a census count of mixed-race persons. Because the census is the cornerstone of the federal statistical system, the battle over the reform of the census racial classifications is significant and far-reaching.The census reflects in large measure the nation’s struggle over how human beings will be known politically in a racially stratified society.  The debate over a multiracial category reveals an intriguing aspect about how we conceptualize race. An examination of multiracial discourse reveals that multiracial-category proponents misperceive the meaning of race relevant to the census inquiry by conflating a cultural approach to race with a sociopolitical approach to race. Therefore, this Article analyzes the widespread legal ramifications of the MCM and assesses whether the MCM’s proposal effectively advances its stated goal of promoting racial equality. After analyzing the legal import of multiracial discourse, the Article determines that the MCM misperception of race and its fluidity inadvertently furthers the progression of color-blind jurisprudence in direct contravention of the MCM goal of promoting racial equality. Part I provides background and identifies the motivating forces behind the MCM as a color-blind movement. Part II critiques the MCM for its adverse effects upon racial justice efforts in furthering the manner in which color-blind jurisprudence disregards actual experiences of racial discrimination in the promotion of White supremacy. Part III proposes a race-conscious classification system, which reflects the sociopolitical nature of race, to monitor racial discrimination more effectively and to dislodge the force of multiracial discourse…

Read the entire article here.

UWI lecturer on 2011 census: Mixed-race figures can change voting pattern in T&T

Guardian Media
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian Online
2013-02-22

Raphael John-Lall

The view that there is race-based voting in T&T is a mere “illusion,” says Dr Fuad Khan, Minister of Health and UNC MP for the Barataria/San Juan constituency. “We do not have race-based voting in T&T. We have political party voting. The illusion of race voting comes from the fact that the large ethnic groups historically support either political party. But race is not a huge factor, it is less that five per cent,” Khan told the T&T Guardian on Wednesday.
 
In the 2011 Population and Housing Census Demographic Report results released on Tuesday, the latest statistics show almost a quarter of T&T is racially mixed, giving rise to the phenomenon of T&T as a country of “minority races.” According to the census, 22.8 per cent or approximately 302,788 people in T&T are racially mixed. East Indians comprise 35.4 per cent of the population while people of African descent form 34.2 per cent.
 
Of the “mixed” category, 7.7 per cent refer to themselves as Douglas and 15.1 per cent are mixed but not Indian/African. All other ethnic groups totalled 1.4 per cent while 6.2 per cent of the population did not declare an ethnicity. University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer and economist Hayden Blades said the census results should now be used as a platform to determine voting patterns in the future…

Read the entire article here.

US stopping use of term ‘Negro’ for census surveys

The Associated Press
2013-02-25

Hope Yen

WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than a century, the Census Bureau is dropping its use of the word “Negro” to describe black Americans in surveys.
 
Instead of the term that came into use during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, census forms will use the more modern labels “black” or “African-American”.
 
The change will take effect next year when the Census Bureau distributes its annual American Community Survey to more than 3.5 million U.S. households, Nicholas Jones, chief of the bureau’s racial statistics branch, said in an interview…

Read the entire article here.

Trend 6: Who Am I? The Rise of Multiple Identities

Profiles in Diversity Journal
2013-02-08

Mary-Frances Winters, CEO
The Winters Group, Inc.

“I am Latina, Muslim, millennial, mother and I want you to understand all of me.” The check the one box identity answer is a thing of the past. Diversity and inclusion practitioners will have to understand the multi-dimensional intersections of identities that employees want acknowledged, valued and respected.

Andres Tapia, President of Diversity Best Practices, and I co-authored a paper in 2011 entitled Who Am I? Who Are We- Really? which explores the multiple identities of individuals, organizations, and nations. We posited that a one dimensional view of diversity was a fundamental flaw in the current models of diversity work.

We all have multiple identities. No one is uni-dimensional. I identify as an African American woman, a baby boomer, a widow, a mother, a liberal with parents of Canadian heritage.

President Barack Obama exemplifies the conundrum of intersection of multiple identities well. His father is from Kenya and his mother was white American, officially making him bi-racial. He lived in Indonesia and Hawaii during his formative years, making him what anthropologists call a “Third Culture kid. However he is most often identified in a uni-dimensional way as “African American”.

Consider these statistics:…

Read the entire article here.

What does Martin Luther King mean to Latinos today?

Bentley IMPACT – The Power of Ideas
Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts
2013-01-17

Donna Maria Blancero, Associate Professor of Management

“I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2013, we must ask ourselves the question: has his dream become a reality for Latinos?

We know that Dr. King inspired many Latinos, including Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Latinos, just like other Americans, consider Dr. King a great leader of the civil rights movement. If he were alive today, he likely would be working side by side with Latinos to address issues of inequality.

But what does his legacy mean for us today? Has his dream been achieved?…

…When I ask participants in my research to self-identify their race (they all self-identify as Latino), I am typically met with a range of responses. Some are angry at me and state that they are Mexican American or Puerto Rican and that I shouldn’t be asking about race—their race, they say, is Latino! Others have written in comments, such as “I checked off ‘white’ but don’t tell my family, they would be angry at me.” Many Latinos have mixed backgrounds that don’t easily fit into a box. More importantly, many of us don’t want to be put in a box, even if it is “multi-racial.’”…

Read the entire article here.

Hafu: The Film

Hafu: The Film
2013-01-30

Megumi Nishikura, Director, Producer and Cinematographer

Lara Perez Takagi, Director, Producer and Cinematographer

Marcia Yumi Lise, Thematic Advisor

Jilann Spitzmiller, Executive Producer

Aika Miyake, Editor

Winton White, Music

Dear Friends,

A belated happy new years to you! We have been quietly busy these past few months but have many great announcements to share with you.

Our first screening date has been set! On April 5th we will be screening at the Japan American National Museum in Los Angeles. Filmmakers Lara and Megumi will be present at the post-screening discussion afterwards. Seats are limited so RSVP your spot today.

The screening is part of the 5-day Hapa Japan Festival, which celebrates the stories of the growing number of mixed-Japanese in the US. For those in Los Angeles area this event is not to be missed!…

For more information, click here.

Bridging 1990 and 2000 census race data: Fractional assignment of multiracial populations

Population Research and Policy Review
Volume 20, Issue 6 (December 2001)
pages 513-533
DOI: 10.1023/A:1015666321798

James P. Allen, Emeritus Professor of Geography
California State University, Northridge

Eugene Turner, Professor of Geography
California State University, Northridge

In contrast to previous censuses, Census 2000 permitted individuals to mark more than one race. Because the new race tables include both single-race and mixed-race categories, measuring change during the 1990s requires some method of bridging between the two data sets.

To accomplish this bridging, we first identified biracial populations as of 1990 through the race and ancestry responses of individuals in the PUMS file. With race responses assumed to represent a person’s primary race identity, we then determined the percentage of each biracial group that preferred each race as the primary identity. The same percentages can be used to assign biracial persons from Census 2000 into single-race categories. We also provide fractional assignment percentages for selected states and for the larger specific nationality groups of mixed-race Asians.

Comparison of our 1990 estimates of the numbers in leading biracial groups with those reported in Census 2000 suggests that our fractional assignment values are reasonable for biracial groups other than those involving American Indians and Alaska Natives. For the latter biracial groups and for all groups representing three or more races, we recommend equal fractional assignment into the appropriate single-race categories.

Census Race Change For Hispanics Sparks Criticism

The Huffington Post
2013-01-09

Tony Castro

Some Latino civil rights groups are questioning the U.S. Census consideration of designating Hispanics a race of their own, fearing the loss of national original designations.

The change, making “Hispanic” a racial instead of an ethnic category, would eliminate the check-off boxes for national origins such as Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican.

“There is no unanimity on what any of this stuff means,” says Angelo Falcón, director of the National Institute for Latino Policy and co-chair of a coalition of Latino advocacy groups that recently met with Census officials.

“Right now, we’re very comfortable with having the Hispanic (origin) question… Hispanic as a race category? I don’t think there’s any consensus on that.”

Scholars oppose “Hispanic” being considered a race

Fordham University law professor Tanya Hernández, author of the new book Racial Subordination in Latin America, is among the scholars opposing the proposal to join race and ethnicity as a “Hispanic” category.

“Census data is used in very important ways, for example to monitor compliance regarding civil rights and racial disparities,” says Hernandez, who fears that eliminating existing racial categories would have a negative impact…

Read the entire article here.