Rejecting Color Lines?

On January 20, 2011, the New York Times posted an article titled: "Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above."  The personal experiences of many who self-identify as bi-racial or multi-racial are stretching traditional understandings of race and how we talk about racism. Though more focused on marriage and the growing trend to cross racial lines, The Pew research Center;s June 4, 2010 report "Marrying-Out" identifies that "mixed race" is the fastest growing demographic and predicts that this acceleration will continue. This poses significant challenges for educators who maintain an anti-racist stance. 

In a Facebook reply to Gale Yee who first shared this essay with me and others, Marranda Hassett commented "It's an interesting phenomenon, but not an unmixed blessing (so to speak). When I was teaching intro anth for a couple of years, 2003-2004ish, I found that some of the kids had an attitude of, "Everybody's mixed-race now, so why do We have to learn about racism?" I vividly remember one young woman of color telling me that a fashion photo of Naomi Campbell couldn't be an example of covert racism because Campbell is mixed race, not black."

I want to be clear - I am not suggesting that stop promoting an anti-racist stance or teaching with a critical lens that is anti-racist.... I want to balance the particularity of each and honoring the union of each in the expression of a whole. I want to highlight the ever expanding matrix of elements that form us and impact our engagement with others in the world.  I am eager to engage in critical dialogue about how paradigm shifts in almost every sector of life are also impacting our understanding of race and racism and nuancing our responses.