A new study published in the journal, Social Psychology Quarterly, is causing a bit of a ruckus because it posits that biracial (black/white) folks are "passing as black" when they self-identify as black.
An article in The Root says: "What is surprising is that the researchers refer to this decision as 'passing for black.' As if not mentioning your white ancestry when asked to identify yourself is somehow akin to light-skinned blacks of the past having to completely reject -- sometimes forever -- their heritage and families in order to blend in to white society . . . Narrowing your complicated racial makeup down to 'black' when you're of mixed ancestry is not passing, any more than self-identifying as biracial is a rejection of your blackness . . .in America, you can't pass for something you already are."
A mixed writer and blogger rails against the study: "What i am sick of, however, is having the same batch of stereotyped projections being projected on myself-of me being benighted by my genealogy, all "whites" being beacons of liberal tolerance, all "blacks" ready and willin to throw me out the tribe and cook my momma in a pot, and the only thing for me to do is embrace my benightedness and prove that I am tolerant and post racial by...disowning and being intolerant of my "black" ancestry, ignoring the fluidity of human experience, and putting myself in a "black" free box that says "biracial". Forgive me if that box, like all boxes, seems like a prison."
NPR's The Takeaway is asking listeners to weigh in on the study's premise.
Me, I haven't read the study, but I think it's so interesting to see how impassioned the voices against the study are. And I would so much like to understand how the study relates to a Harvard study (published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) released last week that shows that Americans "still tend to see biracials not as equal members of both parent groups, but as belonging more to their minority parent group."
Are biracial people "passing for black" or just making other folks more comfortable with what they see?
The Harvard study's lead author, Arthur Ho says: “Our work challenges the interpretation of our first biracial president, and the growing number of mixed-race people in general, as signaling a color-blind America.”
If the young biracial people believed we lived in a color-blind society would they still identify as black? If others saw them as a product of two racial backgrounds rather than through the lens of the one-drop rule, would they be more likely to identify as biracial? Which comes first here with this chicken and egg scenario?
Me, I have no answers right now. Just wondering.
BTW: We interviewed Nikki Khanna, one of the study's authors on our award-winning weekly podcast, Mixed Chicks Chat. Listen in to what she has to say about her work. (You can also download the episode for free on itunes.)
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