I got a chance to read Dr. Nikki Khanna's complete article about biracial folks who choose to "pass as black." And I think some of the heat in the response to her study is the study's use of the word "passing"--(and maybe because the writers and bloggers responding haven't read the entire article).
Let me explain: The study is clear that "passing as black" is limited to the situation in which biracial (black-white) individuals who self-identify as biracial choose to "cover" or downplay or disguise their white background by changing their appearance--clothes or hair--or speech or through selective association.
Is that considered passing? Passing--originally thought of in the circumstance of African-Americans passing as white--has a heavy history. Passing was a means of getting beyond society's oppressive barriers, beyond unjust and humiliating Jim Crow laws, beyond laws that kept African-Americans oppressed. In the situation of the study participants who are "passing as black" the consequences are much less dire. So, maybe it is the choice of the word passing that has set-off so many commentators. If we use the word "covering" will you go along with the idea?
I think the most interesting part of the study is the discussion of stigmatized whiteness. Subjects who "passed as black" wanted to avoid the stigma associated with whiteness. This is an idea that is frankly very difficult to talk about because we still live in a society based in white privilege--and yet, at the same time, I've been in situations where I thought it would be "better" to identify myself as black and light-skinned rather than biracial with a multiracial/multicultural family. I chose to adhere to the one-drop rule.
The blogosphere continues to light up over this study. What do you say?
Time magazine did a pretty straight-forward article about the study.
The Root has published a few articles on the study thus far including "Passing for Black."
We're talking about the study on the Dec. 28 Mixed Chick Chat. Let us know what you think!
And NPR's The Takeaway did a piece you can hear here.
