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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5432
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 03, 2007 - 09:22 pm: | 
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Fewer Americans call themselves multiracial
USA Today
May. 3, 2007 03:13 PM
The share of Americans who identify themselves as multiracial has shrunk this decade, a trend that defies expectations in an increasingly diverse nation.
Less than 2 percent of the U.S. population checked off more than one race in the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey (ACS). In two Census surveys in 2000, more than 2 percent did.
"There's no overall explanation" for the drop, says Reynolds Farley, research scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research who analyzed the trend.
The data show that the nation continues to wrestle with racial identity even in the face of growing diversity, he says. "We're a society where we still basically assume everyone is in one race," he says.
Multiracial groups fought that concept in the 1990s. The small but vocal movement gained momentum after golfer Tiger Woods proclaimed his race "Cablinasian," (Caucasian, Black, American Indian and Asian) in 1997. The spotlight hit other multiracial celebrities, including singer Mariah Carey, actress Halle Berry and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
Mixed-race Americans lobbied the government to stop requiring people to choose one race category on Census and other federal forms. The 2000 Census for the first time allowed people to check more than one race. About 2.4 percent did.
Demographers widely expected the numbers to rise as more children were born to mixed-race parents and multiracial organizations sprouted on college campuses. The opposite happened.
The annual ACS, which samples about 3 million households, shows a clear trend, Farley says. In the 2000 survey, 2.1 percent checked more than one race. In 2005, it slipped to 1.9 percent. "It's a slight decrease but statistically significant," Farley says.
Jungmiwha Bullock, president of the Association of MultiEthnic Americans, is not surprised. Some believe that identifying more than one race negates racial identity, she says. "To say you're Black and Asian doesn't mean you're not Black," she says. "I don't say I'm half-Black and half-Korean. I'm 100 percent Black, and I'm 100 percent Korean."
The Census numbers "clearly underestimate how many people are mixed race," says Daniel Lichter, professor at Cornell University who has studied intermarriages. "People aren't willing to define themselves as such."
Many multiracial people identify themselves as Black if they grew up in a Black neighborhood, he says.
"There's a lot of pressure from society to choose one race," says Sara Ferry, 28, a school psychologist in Philadelphia who has a Black father and a Chinese-American mother. "That's unfortunate."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0503multiracial0503-ON.html |
Latina_wi
Regular Poster
Username: Latina_wi
Post Number: 342
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007 - 01:02 pm: |
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Change cannot be immediate, it fluctuates as it rises or falls.
I always believe that people should be allowed to identify as they want. If a person who is mixed sees themselves as black and it makes them more comfortable then why not? Or if they are mixed and want to be called that - why should it affect anyone else's life? However, I don't believe people should be pushed by either side.
I think that they expected a lot more african-american identified people, a lot of whom have a multiracial heritage, to start identify themselves as multiracial because they were allowed to. But if you have viewed and accepted yourself as african-american - especially with america's past, then I can understand why you would find the change hard.
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Renata
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Renata
Post Number: 2139
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007 - 04:06 pm: |
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That would make sense if it were equally true for people of all races and if it were the choice of the person.
The fact is that this rule was not the choice of black people, but of white people. In America TODAY, a 50/50 black and white child can call themselves 100% black, or 50% black, but they could NEVER call themselves 100% white. In American TODAY, even a child who is 75% white and 25% black can call themselves 100% BLACK, but never 100% white.
People who are mixed with black and another non-white race tend to acknowledge both sides of their heritage more and more, which is really cool. But if you're half white and half other(or even just 25% other), as far as the US is concerned, you're 100% OTHER.
You have to consider also that this is a country where schools are STILL segregated. In Mississippi and some parts of Georgia, only the pure whites go to the "white school". Mixies and jews go to the "black school", along with white kids whose mothers are dating a black guy (and they hurry the hell out of there when they break up, LOL). I didn't pay much attention to the schools in Louisiana, Alabama, or Florida, but I can't see them being much different.
White people don't care what you call yourself, as long as you don't call yourself white. Do you REALLY believe that Mariah Carey has more black blood than white blood? Since it's apparent that she has more white blood, why is she still considered 100% black by American standards? |
Sese
Newbie Poster
Username: Sese
Post Number: 38
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007 - 09:21 pm: |
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1) One drop (Negro blood) theory.
2) Hypodescent |
Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 832
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 05, 2007 - 10:29 pm: |
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Sese --
"1) One drop (Negro blood) theory.
2) Hypodescent"
Been talking about those two for a long time. Eventually, the mainstream media will pick up on it and the tune will change. |
Latina_wi
Regular Poster
Username: Latina_wi
Post Number: 344
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2007 - 09:38 am: |
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RENETA:White people don't care what you call yourself, as long as you don't call yourself white. Do you REALLY believe that Mariah Carey has more black blood than white blood? Since it's apparent that she has more white blood, why is she still considered 100% black by American standards?
I have always wondered this, and so have a lot of people from my neck of the woods (including white people).
A lot of the mixies who were advocating their right to be acknowledged as multiracial were saying that many used the argument 'it doesn't matter if your mixed, you are still seen as black by the white man' to which they replied that they 'didn't care what white people think'. The need to tick the multiracial box was more about what they see themselves as as opposed to what other people think or feel.
I think people may be too nervous to take the step of calling themselves mixed because some, albeit wrongly, will think they are trying to be acknowledged as white. I think people just want the right to be seen as to what they feel they really are and there is nothing wrong with that.
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Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 838
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 07, 2007 - 01:42 am: |
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Latina_wi --
"why is she still considered 100% black by American standards"
One-drop and hypodescendency. Just the beginning of that explanation. |
Serenasailor
Veteran Poster
Username: Serenasailor
Post Number: 1581
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 - 03:02 pm: |
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Again it is really ignorant and you don't notice the devisivness of this article. Did you notice that the only ppl in which they chose to talk about as multiracials are the ones who were half Black. As if Black ppl(Black men in particular) are the only ones who are mixing.
They failed to mention the millions of half-White and Half-Asian mixed ppl. Which incidentally outnumber Black/White mixes 3to1. |
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