Book reviews -- Racially Mixed People in America edited by Maria P. P. Root

People of all races and ethnic origins might profit by reading this book. It is about Americans whose mixed racial inheritance places them between the boundaries of rigid racial categories. The editor, Maria Root, notes that a "biracial baby boom" began in the United States approximately 25 years ago, after the last state law on miscegenation was struck down. Although a recognized baby boom may have followed the demise of those discriminatory laws, racial mixing has been a fact of life in this nation since the continent was peopled from Europe and elsewhere, and the African slave trade was established.

Many Americans, regardless of their skin color and physical appearance, are descended from persons of different races who loved and bonded in spite of society's reproach. As noted in the book, many are proud of their diverse heritage, though they may have difficulty finding readily available terms for referring to themselves. The very subject of racial mixing, however, remains sullied by prejudices, taboos, and lack of common acceptance.

Thus, part of the strength of this book is that it broaches a topic that is rarely mentioned, or, if mentioned at all, is portrayed as a problem or a quandary. The editor and other contributors address conceptual and social issues that accompany America's markedly limited racial classification system. Noting that the United States persists in acknowledging only a few categories, within which most people must fit themselves (including the dichotomous categories of white/nonwhite or white/person of color), the contributors discuss the problems resulting from being in the margins of those categories. Such forced and limited racial identities are oppressive, the contributors note, and place irrational constraints on individual identity.

Among the topics discussed in the book are the process of developing identity in black-white biracial children, trait characteristics, and racial ambiguity. Regarding the latter, contributors note the influence of racism on how identity is ascribed or determined and the phenomenon of "passing." When racial heritage is mixed or ambiguous, the mixed person must "pass" as a person of one race or another while concealing or denying his or her mixed heritage. Such persons also face personal issues of belonging and acceptability, ambiguous physical characteristics, and uncertain feedback from others in spite of their self-defined identity.

Contributors discuss issues unique to persons of native American and other racial mixes, Vietnamese Amerasian experience, cross-race marriages in Hawaii, interracial Japanese Americans, other Asian mixes, the mixed racial ancestry) of many Hispanic cultures, and African American and white mixes. In all of these diverse discussions, a common thread is woven: issues of identity and legitimacy.

Of importance to practitioners are various references to the ways in which racially mixed persons develop a biracial and/or bicultural identity. In developing this identity, people often deal with feelings of being different, need acceptance and understanding from others, and develop self-acceptance and comfort while asserting their biracial identity. The process of accepting this identity is ongoing. The contributors note that the development of a biracial identity involves the integration of different heritages, social histories, and social messages, and the integration of feedback about one's own self as being someone whose identity is between races rather than within them. To the extent that persons in the helping professions can recognize and promote the social acceptance and social identity of the growing number of people who do not fit neatly into our racial classification system, and can help persons of mixed ancestry acquire a strong self-concept, the discussion of this topic will be constructive.

Some other countries have multiple categories for identification of persons of mixed parentage; Such countries seemingly make it easier for racially mixed persons to have a distinct identity. But, although these countries apparently have a greater acceptance of racial mixing, the contributors also note a caveat about that acceptance. Officially acknowledged racially mixed groups can serve as a buffer between the dominant racial and social groups and those at the bottom. Rather than alleviating the racial inequities and discrimination in such societies, the added classifications for mixed groups merely provide buffers between those who have and those who do not. Although recognition of mixed racial heritage is an important step in the growth of our culture, the diminution of racism and discrimination remains a concern of those whose heritage includes members of differing races.

This book fills an important yet largely vacant niche in our professional literature. The various contributions are well written, cohere to the central topic, and make excellent points for interested readers.

William E. Powell Social Work Department University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Whitewater, Wisconsin

Copyright Family Service America Mar 1994
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