Interracial America | Introduction
Satra Wasserman faced more than the usual difficulties as a child growing up in New York City. The son of a black mother and Jewish father, Wasserman attended a predominantly white school during the first grade, where he endured racial taunts almost every day. Children called him a “black cupcake” and told him, “Maybe if you took a bath, you’d be like us.” In the fourth grade, after he had changed schools, he befriended a black classmate who invited him over to his house often. Wasserman relished this new friendship for about a year, until things suddenly changed: “Every time [my friend] asked his parents if I could come over, [their] answer was always no.” It turned out that his friend’s parents had discovered that Satra’s father was white, and they no longer wanted him around their son.
The eighth grade, however, was Satra’s most difficult year. While white students assumed he was black, his black peers teased him for being light-skinned and for having “Wasserman” as a last name. Since he did speak much of the slang that many of his black peers used, he was dubbed “Sir Oreo.” (“Oreo” is an epithet used to describe blacks who allegedly “act white” or are “white on the inside.”) To cope, Satra retreated into a world of baseball, video games, and comic books. Eventually, Satra claimed a biracial identity, realizing that “you just can’t please everybody:”
The biggest favor I did for myself was not trying to choose one race to be, which is a mistake most people in my situation make. The reason is that if I decided I was going to be black, first I’d be watching other people and imitating their image. Or, even worse, I would be watching TV or listening to music, trying to imitate the media’s idea of blackness. And the same thing went for trying to be white. . . . Now I just do my own thing. I dress, talk, look, say and do what I want, the way I want. . . . It feels like I’m rebelling against the demons of my own past by just being myself.
Satra’s experience reflects the lives of a growing number of youths in the United States. In the year 2000, marriages between people of different races and ethnicities numbered 1.3 million, and the estimated number of children born as a result of interracial relationships was three million and rising. In the past, many individuals who had parents of different races defined themselves monoracially, typically claiming to be the race of the darker-skinned parent. Today, however, an increasing number of mixed-race people are identifying themselves as multiracial.
In 1997, famous golfer Tiger Woods brought national attention to the issue of multiracial identity by revealing that he thought of himself as “Cablinasian”—a mixture of Caucasian, black, Indian, and Asian. Many African Americans initially disapproved of his claim to a mixed heritage, some arguing that he was trying to de-emphasize his blackness, others declaring that he was simply being naive. As one commentator quipped, “‘Cablinasian’ indeed. He’ll wake up when somebody calls him the ‘n’ word.”
This reaction to Woods’ statement on his identity is best understood in the context of America’s racial history—particularly black/white relations, which have dominated the legal and cultural battles surrounding race for much of the nation’s existence. During slavery and up to the present day, people have usually been defined as black if they had any visible African features or ancestors of African descent. Known as the “one drop” rule, this kind of racial classification arose early in the nation’s history to maintain a semblance of “separate” black and white races. In actuality, at least 70 percent of today’s African Americans have Caucasian and/or Native American ancestry. However, a majority identify themselves as black rather than multiracial, largely because they realize that society generally perceives them as black. As one mother of biracial children explains, “My mixed-race children [are] Black—on their own and at their own peril, on the street, in school, in America, as they [look] at American history and into the mirror at the faces they [show] to the world.” In addition, many African Americans affirm their blackness as an expression of solidarity and kinship with all those whom society defines as black.
Nevertheless, as America enters a new century, mixed-race people are gaining support in their affirmation of a multiracial identity. Some have called for the addition of a multiracial category on government, employment, and census forms that ask individuals to identify their race. In the opinion of multiracial activist G.L. Pettigrew, official recognition “paves the way for greater social and cultural acceptance of multiethnic people and interracial families. We highlight the absurdity of America’s preoccupation with racial pigeon-holing, and perhaps together we can move this country closer to the day when race is no longer the highest issue.” Organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, however, oppose such a category because they fear it could lead to an undercount of certain minority populations. As attorney Alan Jenkins argues, “Without reliable racial statistics, it would be virtually impossible for courts or agencies to detect institutional bias, and antidiscrimination laws would go unenforced.” In his opinion, traditional monoracial categories—though arbitrary—remain necessary as long as racial discrimination exists.
In the year 2000, U.S. census forms first began allowing respondents to check more than one category under race and ethnicity. Although most people selecting this option will still be counted as minorities, many believe that this “multiple box” alternative heralds a refreshing willingness among Americans to explore the complexities of color and ethnicity. Interracial America: Opposing Viewpoints offers several perspectives on such issues in the following chapters: Should America’s Racial Differences Be Emphasized? Will Immigration Lead to an Interracial Crisis? How Has Affirmative Action Affected Race Relations? How Should Society View Interracial Families? Representing various points on the political spectrum, the authors in this volume present compelling arguments on these culturally charged controversies.
