It’s a question we get our entire lives as mixed race people.
Identity is always complicated — and for multiracial folks who straddle many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be invigorating and rich to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity. KQED’s Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos sat down with a wide range of mixed Californians to talk about their experience, their families and how they identify.
Students From Mixed-Status Families: What Should You Know About FAFSA This Year?
Growing Up Mixed and Grappling With the Question 'What Are You?': Listeners Weigh In
Encore Broadcast: W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explores The Mixed-Race Experience
KQED Asked About Your Experiences Growing Up Mixed Race. Here's What You Told Us
‘1,000% Me’: How W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explored the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film
'I Can Be 100% of Both': A Mixed-Race Teen's Advice on Navigating Multiracial Identity
One Psychologist’s Tips for Raising Strong Multiracial Kids
Writer and Activist Cherríe Moraga on Her ‘Mixed Blood’ Chicana Heritage, Skin Privilege and Embracing Discomfort
Bay Area Teacher on Growing Up 'Multiracial Japanese American' — and Why Ethnic Studies Matters
'Can't You Be in the Black Struggle and Be Multiracial, Too?': Late UCSB Professor Challenges the One-Drop Rule
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"content": "\u003cp>Applying for student aid can be a stressful, fraught process at the best of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the past two years, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/fafsa\">FAFSA\u003c/a>) has been a particular source of anxiety for mixed-status families — when the college applicant has a Social Security number, but one or both parents don’t, due to their immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to 2023 numbers from \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantdataca.org/indicators/mixed-status-families?breakdown=by-age-group\">the California Immigrant Data Portal\u003c/a>, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after this group faced the challenge of a glitch in the 2024-25 FAFSA that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979367/fafsa-2024-the-big-error-affecting-mixed-status-families-and-what-to-do-if-youre-an-affected-student\">locked many students from mixed-status families out of their applications\u003c/a> entirely, a new concern has emerged for this year’s applicants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration crackdown\u003c/a> and news of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035735/what-we-now-know-about-the-irs-ice-tax-data-deal\">an agreement\u003c/a> between the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">mixed-status students are concerned\u003c/a> that filling out the FAFSA can put their family members at risk of deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2020-2021/appendices/appx-g-higher-education-act-1965-table-contents-august-26-2020\">Higher Education Act\u003c/a> prohibits the use of data for any purposes other than financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration showing a pair of hands holding a yellow sheet of paper that reads FAFSA. In the background, a number of figures representing family members talk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Completing FAFSA nearly always means involving your family in discussions about finances. For many students, that’s far from a simple conversation. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the network warned students and their families that it can no longer “assure” them that data submitted through the FAFSA “will continue to be protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has confirmed that ED has not and will not share information that breaks the law, we understand many families’ confidence in this statement may not be as certain under the current administration,” the network’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">guidance reads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Education did not respond to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priority application deadline for most colleges and institutions is just a few months away, on March 2, 2026. Keep reading to see what guidance is available for mixed-status families — while bearing in mind that this is not legal advice, and you should consult with an expert on your specific situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What advice do California officials have for mixed-status families about financial aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) maintains that students from mixed-status families, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/file-attachments/california_dream_act_application_1.pdf\">undocumented students\u003c/a>, can apply to the state-based \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">California DREAM Act\u003c/a> (CADAA). This application allows access to state aid but not federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We encourage all mixed-status families to use that application,” said Daisy Gonzales, the Executive Director of CSAC, during a Dec. 3 press conference. “That is California’s solution to access financial aid.”[aside postID=news_12059007 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/GettyImages-1403066184-1020x680.jpg']According to \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a>, “any information you provide on a CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) is only used to determine eligibility for state financial aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your information is never shared with the federal government or used for immigration enforcement,” the notice reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a mixed-status family chooses to complete the FAFSA, the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">emphasized\u003c/a> that they “should be prepared to provide consent to direct data exchange with the IRS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since “direct data exchange does not yet work for non-SSN contributors,” these applicants “will also be asked to manually enter their tax information from 2024,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a> explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What advice do advocates have for mixed-status families?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, there isn’t one simple answer for a student and a family, said Catherine Marroquín, senior director at \u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,” she said. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies — and identify what they have already shared in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-800x517.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1020x659.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1536x993.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to 2023 numbers from the California Immigrant Data Portal, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a student was born here, their parents are undocumented, but the parents have done taxes before or have an ITIN number, then the IRS already has their information,” Marroquín said. If families have never filed taxes or requested an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">Individual Taxpayer Identification Number\u003c/a>, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still possible to receive financial aid for college by only completing CADAA and not FAFSA, but students may need to put in extra work and look for private scholarships to make up for the loss in federal financial aid. In fact, Mission Graduates is even “encouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students — like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccsf.edu/free-city\">City College of San Francisco\u003c/a> — and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín said that programs like hers want to emphasize “power, not panic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we prepare our families?” she said. “For them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they’re making … this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Marroquín recommended consulting a spreadsheet of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EDEaggHiMvXk1Vdg-34T_Njwgfw9GzXzaklS_mgP0LE/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">aid available to mixed-status and undocumented families\u003c/a> created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising also has a list of \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resource/list-of-scholarships-and-fellowships/\">scholarships and fellowships\u003c/a> that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places you can find support include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://firstgenempower.org/advising-students-ca\">First Gen Empower\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">California Student Aid Commission’s guidance\u003c/a> for mixed-status families\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://contigoed.org/blog/supportingmixedstatusfamilies\">ContingoEd\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resources?_sft_topics=higher-education\">Immigrants Rising\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And after this group faced the challenge of a glitch in the 2024-25 FAFSA that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979367/fafsa-2024-the-big-error-affecting-mixed-status-families-and-what-to-do-if-youre-an-affected-student\">locked many students from mixed-status families out of their applications\u003c/a> entirely, a new concern has emerged for this year’s applicants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration crackdown\u003c/a> and news of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035735/what-we-now-know-about-the-irs-ice-tax-data-deal\">an agreement\u003c/a> between the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2025/07/financial-aid-immigration-deportation-fears/\">mixed-status students are concerned\u003c/a> that filling out the FAFSA can put their family members at risk of deportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://fsapartners.ed.gov/knowledge-center/fsa-handbook/2020-2021/appendices/appx-g-higher-education-act-1965-table-contents-august-26-2020\">Higher Education Act\u003c/a> prohibits the use of data for any purposes other than financial assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968720\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg\" alt=\"An illustration showing a pair of hands holding a yellow sheet of paper that reads FAFSA. In the background, a number of figures representing family members talk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1240\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/IMG_0524-1536x992.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Completing FAFSA nearly always means involving your family in discussions about finances. For many students, that’s far from a simple conversation. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the network warned students and their families that it can no longer “assure” them that data submitted through the FAFSA “will continue to be protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) has confirmed that ED has not and will not share information that breaks the law, we understand many families’ confidence in this statement may not be as certain under the current administration,” the network’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">guidance reads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Education did not respond to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The priority application deadline for most colleges and institutions is just a few months away, on March 2, 2026. Keep reading to see what guidance is available for mixed-status families — while bearing in mind that this is not legal advice, and you should consult with an expert on your specific situation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003ca href=\"#Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>What advice do California officials have for mixed-status families about financial aid?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) maintains that students from mixed-status families, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/default/files/file-attachments/california_dream_act_application_1.pdf\">undocumented students\u003c/a>, can apply to the state-based \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">California DREAM Act\u003c/a> (CADAA). This application allows access to state aid but not federal aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We encourage all mixed-status families to use that application,” said Daisy Gonzales, the Executive Director of CSAC, during a Dec. 3 press conference. “That is California’s solution to access financial aid.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://dream.csac.ca.gov/landing\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a>, “any information you provide on a CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) is only used to determine eligibility for state financial aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Your information is never shared with the federal government or used for immigration enforcement,” the notice reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a mixed-status family chooses to complete the FAFSA, the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">emphasized\u003c/a> that they “should be prepared to provide consent to direct data exchange with the IRS.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since “direct data exchange does not yet work for non-SSN contributors,” these applicants “will also be asked to manually enter their tax information from 2024,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">the California Dream Act website\u003c/a> explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What advice do advocates have for mixed-status families?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, there isn’t one simple answer for a student and a family, said Catherine Marroquín, senior director at \u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,” she said. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies — and identify what they have already shared in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11987761\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11987761 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1241\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-800x517.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1020x659.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/image-6-1536x993.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to 2023 numbers from the California Immigrant Data Portal, 20% of Californians under 18 are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members. \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If a student was born here, their parents are undocumented, but the parents have done taxes before or have an ITIN number, then the IRS already has their information,” Marroquín said. If families have never filed taxes or requested an \u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/individual-taxpayer-identification-number-itin\">Individual Taxpayer Identification Number\u003c/a>, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s still possible to receive financial aid for college by only completing CADAA and not FAFSA, but students may need to put in extra work and look for private scholarships to make up for the loss in federal financial aid. In fact, Mission Graduates is even “encouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students — like \u003ca href=\"https://www.ccsf.edu/free-city\">City College of San Francisco\u003c/a> — and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín said that programs like hers want to emphasize “power, not panic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we prepare our families?” she said. “For them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they’re making … this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Wherecanmixedstatusfamiliesfindmoreinformationorsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Marroquín recommended consulting a spreadsheet of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EDEaggHiMvXk1Vdg-34T_Njwgfw9GzXzaklS_mgP0LE/edit?gid=0#gid=0\">aid available to mixed-status and undocumented families\u003c/a> created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising also has a list of \u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resource/list-of-scholarships-and-fellowships/\">scholarships and fellowships\u003c/a> that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other places you can find support include:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://firstgenempower.org/advising-students-ca\">First Gen Empower\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncan.org/news/713255/Updated-FAFSA-Guidance-for-Mixed-Status-Families.htm\">National College Attainment Network\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.csac.ca.gov/cadaa-msf\">California Student Aid Commission’s guidance\u003c/a> for mixed-status families\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://contigoed.org/blog/supportingmixedstatusfamilies\">ContingoEd\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://immigrantsrising.org/resources?_sft_topics=higher-education\">Immigrants Rising\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.missiongraduates.org/\">Mission Graduates\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "growing-up-mixed-and-grappling-with-the-question-what-are-you-listeners-weigh-in",
"title": "Growing Up Mixed and Grappling With the Question 'What Are You?': Listeners Weigh In",
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"headTitle": "Growing Up Mixed and Grappling With the Question ‘What Are You?’: Listeners Weigh In | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This post is part of a \u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">series of stories\u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> featured on The California Report Magazine about the experience of being mixed race.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated July 31, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kamala Harris’ candidacy for president is putting her under a microscope — not just her political career but everything about her background, including her mixed-race heritage as a Black and South Asian woman. \u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Her opponent, former President Donald Trump, only threw more of a spotlight on her racial identity on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/politics/donald-trump-kamala-harris-black-nabj/index.html\">when he falsely claimed\u003c/a> that she used to identify as an Indian woman but \u003c/i>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">“\u003c/i>\u003c/b>happened to turn Black.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Harris has always embraced her multiracial heritage. “I was raised with a deep sense of pride in my cultural background,” she told the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/asian-enough-kamala-harris/id1501446978?i=1000479213707\">Asian Enough\u003c/a>, in 2020. “\u003c/span>I’ve never had an identity crisis. I’m really comfortable in who I am.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Although Harris grew up mostly with her South Asian mother, she also strongly identified with her Black roots. “There were never any false choices,” Harris told Asian Enough. “We learned…that you can cook okra with mustard seeds or with dried shrimp and and spicy sausages.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Harris’ visibility as one of California’s most famous multiracial people inspired a \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/mixedrace\">series\u003c/a> on The California Report Magazine called Mixed!, originally published in the Spring of 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identity is always complicated, and for multiracial folks who straddle many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be invigorating and rich to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More From the California Report's 'Mixed' Series\" postID=\"news_11894797,news_11894597\"]The latest census shows we mixed-race people are a demographic to pay attention to: 2020 data reflects a 276% increase in people who identify as multiracial compared to 2010. Yet mixed-race folks are only beginning to find space for our stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Report Magazine’s host, Sasha Khokha and guest host, Marisa Lagos, delve into the mixed-race experience grounded in their own backgrounds. They talk with trailblazing artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">Kip Fulbeck\u003c/a>, whose photo projects are a platform for mixed-race folks to answer the question “What Are You?” in their own voices. We also listen in on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894797/what-does-it-mean-to-be-mixed-a-conversation-between-generations\">conversation between two listeners\u003c/a> who share a similar background (Black/Filipina) but straddle different generations, which informs how they understand their identities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To bring you, our audience, into this series, The California Report and KQED have been reaching out to listeners to ask, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894632/growing-up-mixed-and-grappling-with-the-question-what-are-you-listeners-weigh-in#anchor\">“What’s something only fellow mixed folks understand about growing up mixed?”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some of those responses, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947732/kqed-asked-about-your-experiences-growing-up-mixed-race-heres-what-you-told-us\">with more here\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Dianna K. Bautista, Berkeley\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894645 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial family stands together outside, with a copper-colored guardrail, trees and a forest in the background. The father is tall in a light blue hoodie, with an arm around the mother who is in a black jacket and smiling, with their daughter on the far left in a red hoodie and glasses, also smiling. They appear to be on a tourist trip. \" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-1020x572.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dianna K. Bautista, left, with her parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dianna K. Bautista)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I’m Filipino on my mom’s side, and my dad is mixed like me. He is Filipino, African American, Native American, French and Spanish. My dad would tell me what it was like for my grandmother as a Black woman of color growing up in Arkansas. We would dive back [into our family history] and see how my Native American ancestors were sold in slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I just check one box, I feel like it doesn’t fully represent who I am. But when I check multiple boxes, I’m always questioning if I have enough of that heritage, enough of that ethnicity to check that box. And you’re in the middle of having a mini-identity crisis because you’re not sure which box to check.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was reading about this mixed Iranian journalist who is saying how her mixed experience was like floating. It’s kind of cool because, yeah, ambiguous skin means that you’re accepted in different groups and different ethnicities and you get to experience that diversity. But there are also negatives to that because you’re ambiguous. People are going to assign stereotypes based on what they think you are and you don’t have control over that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Dylan Morimoto, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894644\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 448px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894644 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg\" alt=\"A family of three stands well-dressed in front of a few trees, outside on the grass. On the left, the mother is Jewish in a violet jacket and short gray hair, to the right is the father who is Japanese, sporting a brush-like mustache and in a suit and trenchcoat, with a slight smile that may be characterized as a smirk, and their son is in the center, well dressed in a suit with a close cropped haircut of his black hair, himself smirking.\" width=\"448\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg 448w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Morimoto, center, with his parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dylan Morimoto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My father is from Auburn, California, and he’s Japanese, and my mom was born in Germany. She’s Jewish. My father was incarcerated during World War II. My [dad’s whole] family was incarcerated or interned during World War II. And then my mom, you know, left Nazi Germany. You know, I don’t look Jewish. I don’t really think I look kind of Asian-ish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Trump administration, [it was] really upsetting, given my family’s history. It’s nice to see, for me personally, I was happy to see Kamala Harris get elected, and seeing her, you know an African American and Asian woman, was really, really cool. And a Jewish husband and a mixed family. I am in the same situation. I have two stepkids, so it’s nice to see that diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Sharon Ng, San Francisco\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894642\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894642 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial family, all decked out in mulitcolored Hawaiian style shirts. They're standing on a street with a similarly multi-colored mural behind them. The Argentinian father is bald, standing in the back on the left, with a bit of a serious look, the mother on the right, also in the back, is of multiracial Chinese and Latina descent, smiling with long earrings and shoulder-length black hair. Their two daughters stand in front of them, each sporting smiles and shoulder-length dark hair. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharon Ng, right, with her husband and daughters. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sharon Ng)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Our family is kind of China-Latina mashed up. I am Chinese Malaysian and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. My American husband’s family is Argentinian but he grew up in France. We met in New York. When people ask my daughter what her heritage is, she says, “I am half Chinese and half Brooklyn!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I am Chinese by blood, culturally I struggled as a child to understand my “Chineseness” because I did not grow up speaking Mandarin at home, nor did I have the benefit of an extended family of aunties and grandparents to provide context about how to be Chinese. With limited Chinese affirmation and sense of place, it was quite confusing because Vancouver was really white in the ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[My husband] Ian’s story is similar. He didn’t grow up speaking Spanish because the U.S. was all about assimilation back then. We feel that learning Spanish will help anchor our kids in part of their roots, which we don’t feel we really had (we know our parents tried their very best). Together we are creating new traditions of what is beautiful and delicious: turkey stuffed with sticky rice, with empanadas and chimichurri on the side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, we dream that our girls have a sense of belonging and experience affirmation of their multifaceted identities and cultural ways of being a “hyphenated” American. We feel really blessed to live in San Francisco, where we have lots of other friends who are raising mixed-race families. It really normalizes things for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Adrien Colón, Oakland\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894641\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 604px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894641 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg\" alt=\"A photo with an older, vintage camera look, inside a room with a Christmas tree on the left, white ceiling and wood paneling behind a family of three. The mother is White with brown straight hair, holding her son who is in what look like white and red trim pajamas with a Pac Man logo. The father on the right is Puerto Rican, sporting a bit of a serious face, with a dark brown beard and what the child in the middle, now grown up, described as an Afro. The father is in a striped beige polo, and the boy, who is looking down, has his arm around his neck \" width=\"604\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg 604w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon-160x128.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrien Colón as a toddler, with his parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Adrien Colón)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So my mom is white and my dad is Puerto Rican. And I think growing up as a kid, I never really questioned it. And it was not until I got a little older that I heard this story about my dad not being allowed in my great-grandparents’ home. They were very much against my mom marrying my dad, and they wouldn’t allow him in their home because of the way that he looked, because of the color of his skin, the Afro that he wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I continue to piece together my family tree, and seeing these people who come from all of these different places, and knowing that … if something had happened to any one of them, that I wouldn’t be here, which is a wild thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Stephen Zendejas, Tracy\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894640\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894640 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg\" alt=\"A family of five stand, well-dressed, against an ornate door. They're all smiling. From left to right: a woman in a black and white patterned top with her arms behind her back, an older woman (the mom) in a dark blue blouse with a black undershirt and white necklace, a taller man (the dad) in a light blue dress shirt and navy blue patterned tie (his hair has specks of gray), a shorter woman in a simple black dress and a necklace with a pendant, a young man in a suit and tie similar to the older man's. \" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Zendejas, right, with his parents and siblings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Stephen Zendajas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My dad is a third-generation Mexican American and my mom is an immigrant from the Philippines who is half Chinese. I would describe growing up as mixed race [as] kind of confusing and complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the concept of racial identity is sometimes still foreign and confusing to me because it’s more social than it is scientific. But it’s also not something that we can just completely ignore either.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>David Risher, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894639\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894639 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg\" alt=\"A bald man smiling, squinting a bit in the sun. He is multiracial, Black and white, standing in a paisley-patterned blue and white shirt against a background of trees that is slightly out of focus. \" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Risher. \u003ccite>(Courtesy fo David Risher)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[There are ] so many stories from my childhood in the ’70s. I can’t count the number of times someone cocked his or her head at me, paused, and asked, “I’ve got a question for you. What are you?” It was so uncomfortable. My answer at the time: “My mother is white, my father is Black. So I’m both.” Today, I just say I’m biracial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a story that sticks with me from my time attending summer camp as a kid. One day, just before parents’ weekend, I overheard a fellow camper say, “I don’t know about you, but I’d be ashamed if I were you about having a Black dad and a white mom.” In fact, I wasn’t the least ashamed. But hearing that made me wonder, “Should I be?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And [there’s] another story from my undergraduate years at Princeton. One evening, my well-meaning Black dorm mate brings me into her room and says, “David, at some point, you’re going to have to choose. If you don’t, others will for you, and they’ll make their decision based on who your girlfriend is.” I was shocked, but I got it. People are detectives looking for clues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, after years working at Microsoft and then as an executive at Amazon, I run a Bay Area nonprofit called Worldreader. We use technology and local books from all around the world to help children discover the joy of reading. We’ve helped 19 million children so far, and we’re just getting started. One thing that sets us apart: No matter where we operate — in Africa, India, South America, or the U.S. — we lead with books from local publishers, full of stories of doctors, astronauts, scientists and writers who look like our readers. I bet you see the connection: If you can’t see it, you can’t be it!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Ruben Villareal Halprin, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894638\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894638 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg\" alt='A father who \"Black Cuban\" sports close cropped hair and a mustache and a gray T-shirt, profiled from the side and looking at the camera. On his back is a smiling baby with lighter skin in a baby backpack, wearing a blue T-shirt. ' width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruben Villareal Halprin as a baby, with his father. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ruben Villareal Halprin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mom, a Jewish girl from Boston, met my father, a Black Cuban, while at medical school in Cuba in the late ’80s. They got married a couple of years later and I showed up shortly after that. I was the “white boy.” I was “Ruben the Cuban.” I was “blanquito.” It just depends on where I was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wonder, sometimes, if I looked a little more like my mom or a little more like my dad, how different my life would be. Mind you, that’s not if my life would be different, but just how different. I love being mixed. I love dancing between the lines of the binaries that this society has built up. … In a way, I represent the breaking of cultural and institutional barriers that exist or existed. But breaking down barriers may just be a poetic way of saying you’re being slammed into a wall. And that’s certainly what it sometimes felt like growing up mixed.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This post is part of a \u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">series of stories\u003c/i>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> featured on The California Report Magazine about the experience of being mixed race.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated July 31, 2024\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kamala Harris’ candidacy for president is putting her under a microscope — not just her political career but everything about her background, including her mixed-race heritage as a Black and South Asian woman. \u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Her opponent, former President Donald Trump, only threw more of a spotlight on her racial identity on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/31/politics/donald-trump-kamala-harris-black-nabj/index.html\">when he falsely claimed\u003c/a> that she used to identify as an Indian woman but \u003c/i>\u003cb data-stringify-type=\"bold\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">“\u003c/i>\u003c/b>happened to turn Black.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Harris has always embraced her multiracial heritage. “I was raised with a deep sense of pride in my cultural background,” she told the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/asian-enough-kamala-harris/id1501446978?i=1000479213707\">Asian Enough\u003c/a>, in 2020. “\u003c/span>I’ve never had an identity crisis. I’m really comfortable in who I am.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Although Harris grew up mostly with her South Asian mother, she also strongly identified with her Black roots. “There were never any false choices,” Harris told Asian Enough. “We learned…that you can cook okra with mustard seeds or with dried shrimp and and spicy sausages.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Harris’ visibility as one of California’s most famous multiracial people inspired a \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/mixedrace\">series\u003c/a> on The California Report Magazine called Mixed!, originally published in the Spring of 2023.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identity is always complicated, and for multiracial folks who straddle many identities, it can be isolating. It can also be invigorating and rich to belong to multiple communities and celebrate that complexity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The latest census shows we mixed-race people are a demographic to pay attention to: 2020 data reflects a 276% increase in people who identify as multiracial compared to 2010. Yet mixed-race folks are only beginning to find space for our stories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Report Magazine’s host, Sasha Khokha and guest host, Marisa Lagos, delve into the mixed-race experience grounded in their own backgrounds. They talk with trailblazing artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">Kip Fulbeck\u003c/a>, whose photo projects are a platform for mixed-race folks to answer the question “What Are You?” in their own voices. We also listen in on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894797/what-does-it-mean-to-be-mixed-a-conversation-between-generations\">conversation between two listeners\u003c/a> who share a similar background (Black/Filipina) but straddle different generations, which informs how they understand their identities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To bring you, our audience, into this series, The California Report and KQED have been reaching out to listeners to ask, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894632/growing-up-mixed-and-grappling-with-the-question-what-are-you-listeners-weigh-in#anchor\">“What’s something only fellow mixed folks understand about growing up mixed?”\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some of those responses, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947732/kqed-asked-about-your-experiences-growing-up-mixed-race-heres-what-you-told-us\">with more here\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Dianna K. Bautista, Berkeley\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894645\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894645 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial family stands together outside, with a copper-colored guardrail, trees and a forest in the background. The father is tall in a light blue hoodie, with an arm around the mother who is in a black jacket and smiling, with their daughter on the far left in a red hoodie and glasses, also smiling. They appear to be on a tourist trip. \" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-1020x572.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dianna-Bautista.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dianna K. Bautista, left, with her parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dianna K. Bautista)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I’m Filipino on my mom’s side, and my dad is mixed like me. He is Filipino, African American, Native American, French and Spanish. My dad would tell me what it was like for my grandmother as a Black woman of color growing up in Arkansas. We would dive back [into our family history] and see how my Native American ancestors were sold in slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I just check one box, I feel like it doesn’t fully represent who I am. But when I check multiple boxes, I’m always questioning if I have enough of that heritage, enough of that ethnicity to check that box. And you’re in the middle of having a mini-identity crisis because you’re not sure which box to check.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was reading about this mixed Iranian journalist who is saying how her mixed experience was like floating. It’s kind of cool because, yeah, ambiguous skin means that you’re accepted in different groups and different ethnicities and you get to experience that diversity. But there are also negatives to that because you’re ambiguous. People are going to assign stereotypes based on what they think you are and you don’t have control over that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Dylan Morimoto, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894644\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 448px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894644 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg\" alt=\"A family of three stands well-dressed in front of a few trees, outside on the grass. On the left, the mother is Jewish in a violet jacket and short gray hair, to the right is the father who is Japanese, sporting a brush-like mustache and in a suit and trenchcoat, with a slight smile that may be characterized as a smirk, and their son is in the center, well dressed in a suit with a close cropped haircut of his black hair, himself smirking.\" width=\"448\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto.jpg 448w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Dylan-Morimoto-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dylan Morimoto, center, with his parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dylan Morimoto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My father is from Auburn, California, and he’s Japanese, and my mom was born in Germany. She’s Jewish. My father was incarcerated during World War II. My [dad’s whole] family was incarcerated or interned during World War II. And then my mom, you know, left Nazi Germany. You know, I don’t look Jewish. I don’t really think I look kind of Asian-ish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the Trump administration, [it was] really upsetting, given my family’s history. It’s nice to see, for me personally, I was happy to see Kamala Harris get elected, and seeing her, you know an African American and Asian woman, was really, really cool. And a Jewish husband and a mixed family. I am in the same situation. I have two stepkids, so it’s nice to see that diversity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>Sharon Ng, San Francisco\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894642\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894642 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial family, all decked out in mulitcolored Hawaiian style shirts. They're standing on a street with a similarly multi-colored mural behind them. The Argentinian father is bald, standing in the back on the left, with a bit of a serious look, the mother on the right, also in the back, is of multiracial Chinese and Latina descent, smiling with long earrings and shoulder-length black hair. Their two daughters stand in front of them, each sporting smiles and shoulder-length dark hair. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Sharon-Ng.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharon Ng, right, with her husband and daughters. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Sharon Ng)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Our family is kind of China-Latina mashed up. I am Chinese Malaysian and grew up in Vancouver, Canada. My American husband’s family is Argentinian but he grew up in France. We met in New York. When people ask my daughter what her heritage is, she says, “I am half Chinese and half Brooklyn!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While I am Chinese by blood, culturally I struggled as a child to understand my “Chineseness” because I did not grow up speaking Mandarin at home, nor did I have the benefit of an extended family of aunties and grandparents to provide context about how to be Chinese. With limited Chinese affirmation and sense of place, it was quite confusing because Vancouver was really white in the ’70s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[My husband] Ian’s story is similar. He didn’t grow up speaking Spanish because the U.S. was all about assimilation back then. We feel that learning Spanish will help anchor our kids in part of their roots, which we don’t feel we really had (we know our parents tried their very best). Together we are creating new traditions of what is beautiful and delicious: turkey stuffed with sticky rice, with empanadas and chimichurri on the side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That said, we dream that our girls have a sense of belonging and experience affirmation of their multifaceted identities and cultural ways of being a “hyphenated” American. We feel really blessed to live in San Francisco, where we have lots of other friends who are raising mixed-race families. It really normalizes things for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Adrien Colón, Oakland\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894641\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 604px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894641 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg\" alt=\"A photo with an older, vintage camera look, inside a room with a Christmas tree on the left, white ceiling and wood paneling behind a family of three. The mother is White with brown straight hair, holding her son who is in what look like white and red trim pajamas with a Pac Man logo. The father on the right is Puerto Rican, sporting a bit of a serious face, with a dark brown beard and what the child in the middle, now grown up, described as an Afro. The father is in a striped beige polo, and the boy, who is looking down, has his arm around his neck \" width=\"604\" height=\"482\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon.jpg 604w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Adrien-Colon-160x128.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrien Colón as a toddler, with his parents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Adrien Colón)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So my mom is white and my dad is Puerto Rican. And I think growing up as a kid, I never really questioned it. And it was not until I got a little older that I heard this story about my dad not being allowed in my great-grandparents’ home. They were very much against my mom marrying my dad, and they wouldn’t allow him in their home because of the way that he looked, because of the color of his skin, the Afro that he wore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I continue to piece together my family tree, and seeing these people who come from all of these different places, and knowing that … if something had happened to any one of them, that I wouldn’t be here, which is a wild thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Stephen Zendejas, Tracy\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894640\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894640 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg\" alt=\"A family of five stand, well-dressed, against an ornate door. They're all smiling. From left to right: a woman in a black and white patterned top with her arms behind her back, an older woman (the mom) in a dark blue blouse with a black undershirt and white necklace, a taller man (the dad) in a light blue dress shirt and navy blue patterned tie (his hair has specks of gray), a shorter woman in a simple black dress and a necklace with a pendant, a young man in a suit and tie similar to the older man's. \" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Stephen-Zendajas-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Zendejas, right, with his parents and siblings. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Stephen Zendajas)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My dad is a third-generation Mexican American and my mom is an immigrant from the Philippines who is half Chinese. I would describe growing up as mixed race [as] kind of confusing and complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think the concept of racial identity is sometimes still foreign and confusing to me because it’s more social than it is scientific. But it’s also not something that we can just completely ignore either.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>David Risher, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894639\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894639 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg\" alt=\"A bald man smiling, squinting a bit in the sun. He is multiracial, Black and white, standing in a paisley-patterned blue and white shirt against a background of trees that is slightly out of focus. \" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/David-Risher-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Risher. \u003ccite>(Courtesy fo David Risher)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[There are ] so many stories from my childhood in the ’70s. I can’t count the number of times someone cocked his or her head at me, paused, and asked, “I’ve got a question for you. What are you?” It was so uncomfortable. My answer at the time: “My mother is white, my father is Black. So I’m both.” Today, I just say I’m biracial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a story that sticks with me from my time attending summer camp as a kid. One day, just before parents’ weekend, I overheard a fellow camper say, “I don’t know about you, but I’d be ashamed if I were you about having a Black dad and a white mom.” In fact, I wasn’t the least ashamed. But hearing that made me wonder, “Should I be?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And [there’s] another story from my undergraduate years at Princeton. One evening, my well-meaning Black dorm mate brings me into her room and says, “David, at some point, you’re going to have to choose. If you don’t, others will for you, and they’ll make their decision based on who your girlfriend is.” I was shocked, but I got it. People are detectives looking for clues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, after years working at Microsoft and then as an executive at Amazon, I run a Bay Area nonprofit called Worldreader. We use technology and local books from all around the world to help children discover the joy of reading. We’ve helped 19 million children so far, and we’re just getting started. One thing that sets us apart: No matter where we operate — in Africa, India, South America, or the U.S. — we lead with books from local publishers, full of stories of doctors, astronauts, scientists and writers who look like our readers. I bet you see the connection: If you can’t see it, you can’t be it!\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Ruben Villareal Halprin, San Francisco\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11894638\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11894638 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg\" alt='A father who \"Black Cuban\" sports close cropped hair and a mustache and a gray T-shirt, profiled from the side and looking at the camera. On his back is a smiling baby with lighter skin in a baby backpack, wearing a blue T-shirt. ' width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/11/Ruben-Villareal-Halprin-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruben Villareal Halprin as a baby, with his father. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ruben Villareal Halprin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mom, a Jewish girl from Boston, met my father, a Black Cuban, while at medical school in Cuba in the late ’80s. They got married a couple of years later and I showed up shortly after that. I was the “white boy.” I was “Ruben the Cuban.” I was “blanquito.” It just depends on where I was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wonder, sometimes, if I looked a little more like my mom or a little more like my dad, how different my life would be. Mind you, that’s not if my life would be different, but just how different. I love being mixed. I love dancing between the lines of the binaries that this society has built up. … In a way, I represent the breaking of cultural and institutional barriers that exist or existed. But breaking down barriers may just be a poetic way of saying you’re being slammed into a wall. And that’s certainly what it sometimes felt like growing up mixed.\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947752/1000-me-how-w-kamau-bells-family-explored-the-mixed-race-experience-in-new-film\">‘1,000% Me’: How W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explored the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cdiv class=\"c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text\" data-qa=\"message-text\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-block_kit_renderer\" data-qa=\"block-kit-renderer\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-rich_text_block\" dir=\"auto\">\n\u003cp class=\"p-rich_text_section\">This week we reprise one of our favorites in our \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">eight-part series featuring the stories of mixed-race Californians\u003c/a>: A conversation with W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell. Kamau Bell has centered conversations about race in much of his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But when Kamau, who’s Black, and his wife Melissa, who’s white, had kids, they knew their experiences around race would be much different than their daughters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p-rich_text_section\">The Bells set out to make a film that centers the lives of other mixed-race kids like them. In a conversation with hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos, the Bells open up about how they talk about race in their own family and the conversations they hope their film, “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed” sparks in living rooms across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947752/1000-me-how-w-kamau-bells-family-explored-the-mixed-race-experience-in-new-film\">‘1,000% Me’: How W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explored the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cdiv class=\"c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text\" data-qa=\"message-text\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-block_kit_renderer\" data-qa=\"block-kit-renderer\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"p-rich_text_block\" dir=\"auto\">\n\u003cp class=\"p-rich_text_section\">This week we reprise one of our favorites in our \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">eight-part series featuring the stories of mixed-race Californians\u003c/a>: A conversation with W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell. Kamau Bell has centered conversations about race in much of his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But when Kamau, who’s Black, and his wife Melissa, who’s white, had kids, they knew their experiences around race would be much different than their daughters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p-rich_text_section\">The Bells set out to make a film that centers the lives of other mixed-race kids like them. In a conversation with hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos, the Bells open up about how they talk about race in their own family and the conversations they hope their film, “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed” sparks in living rooms across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the past eight weeks, the California Report Magazine has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\">featured the voices of a diverse array of mixed-race Californians\u003c/a>. Musicians, teachers, activists, parents and teenagers described the joy of belonging to multiple ethnic groups and their ability to bridge divides because of their identities. But, they also shared feelings of loneliness and isolation, of not “being enough.” Now, we hear from members of KQED’s audience about their experiences, focusing on the question: “What’s something only fellow mixed folks understand about growing up mixed?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Katie Andresen, San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I tend to start my story of being multiracial with my hair. Growing up, it was the thing that defined me. In contrast to my classmates, who possessed a mostly straight assortment of blonds, browns and black, my hair sprung from the base of my head outwards and had a mind of its own. It was difficult to manage and never really sat the same way (many tears were shed as my mother combed my hair), despite the exact same methodology of styling. Multiple friends told me that they could pick me out from across the playground by recognizing my halo of curls that stood out in the sea of straight hair. Still, as I would learn later, my hair was considered the “good” type of hair — not overly kinky or coily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947741\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947741\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen.jpg\" alt=\"A woman smiles from a gray sofa. She has long, curly brown hair and a friendly face. She wears a gold necklace and a black, sleeveless dress. A happy, green house plant is positioned behind her and the light shines brightly on her face.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Andresen is the host of the podcast Mixed Kid Chronicles. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Israel Alemu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It would take many years later to realize that my combination of curly hair and light skin was confounding to many. I learned how to navigate the question of “What are you?” as a lesson in geography. Most people in California hadn’t heard of the small island country my mom was from called Cabo Verde. My dad, a white Californian, had a less exciting origin story, but was still an important factor for people getting an answer to their initial question. Years later, I would realize that question wasn’t about me. It was a reflection of how race in the U.S. is constructed as a binary — you are this or that. There is no in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was too white for the Black folks and too Black for the white folks. Or rather — it took too much explanation to both groups with whom I was supposed to be part of that I did, indeed, belong. It didn’t help that I routinely got mistaken as Latina. A series of conversations with both multiracial friends and strangers got me thinking; we all had similar salient experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947742\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1152px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02.jpg\" alt=\"A family portrait of a father, mother and their two children: a son and a daughter, posing in front of a body of water. The photo looks old with a tan patina to it.\" width=\"1152\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Andresen (far right) with her parents and brother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Katie Andresen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We all had answered the question “What are you?” a million times. We all had people approach us, speaking another language because they assumed we had a different racial affiliation. Outside of these one-on-one conversations, I didn’t see a place for a wider discussion of these topics. I also didn’t see a place to have an honest conversation about how structures of race and racism shaped these perceptions. I started \u003ca href=\"https://www.mixedkidchronicles.com/\">Mixed Kid Chronicles\u003c/a> to create that space for conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Katie Andresen, San Francisco\"]‘I don’t want to be put in a box. I am multiracial. I am Black. I am a woman. I am from California. I am proud to be a product of the people and communities that have raised me.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through this dialogue, I’ve learned that white people are generally very uncomfortable discussing race, while people of color can’t escape it. I’ve learned in discussing race, you have to be comfortable making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. I’ve learned that race is different depending on which country you’re in. I’ve learned my power in bridging gaps because of my dual heritage. I also know I’ll never experience racism like my darker-skinned family members and individuals. Most of all, I’ve learned that no one’s experience is quite the same, and despite points of salience, we should allow room for those points of divergence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, I enjoy unpacking the messy, complex world of race. It is a construct built by structures of power to enforce a certain world order. Questioning it, stretching it and testing it is the only way to find yourself in this world. I don’t want to be put in a box. I am multiracial. I am Black. I am a woman. I am from California. I am proud to be a product of the people and communities that have raised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Andrew Jabara, Tustin\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m Chinese and Lebanese, born and raised in Orange County, California. I’m fond of saying that “my Chinese side is my American side” because we’ve been in California since the 1800s, making me a fifth-generation Chinese American (Mom, Grandpa and Great-Grandma were all born in California). My Lebanese side is my “immigrant” side — Baba moved from Beirut to California to finish med school and seek opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947739\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947739\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01.jpg\" alt=\"A cute baby is seen sitting barefoot on a white, leather sofa. He wears black and gold, traditional Lebanese garb.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Jabara as a baby in traditional Lebanese garb in 1997. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Andrew Jabara)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beside my younger brother, I didn’t know anyone quite like me growing up. Sure, I knew other Chinese American kids, but their parents emigrated from China in the 1990s, not the 1890s. Arab American identity at the turn of the 21st century meant defending pride in my heritage against a barrage of slurs and threats. English was my first language; I never learned Cantonese, and I barely knew any Levantine Arabic. At home, we made a variety of American staple dishes, but also folded pot stickers and wontons, cooked coosa rice and tabbouleh, turned leftover Thanksgiving turkey bones into jook, or packed a pita and lebni sandwich for lunch. We celebrated Chinese New Year and played Lebanese egg games on Easter. From a young age, even if I didn’t have the words to express it, my background made me aware of the wealth of cultures beyond homogeneous suburbia, how they were interwoven within me, and how they could intersect in the world at large.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sonia Dholakia, Atherton\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m Indian on my dad’s side and white on my mom’s. I remember going to Benihana’s with my mom when I was in elementary school and starting a conversation with the woman sitting adjacent to us. She turned to my mom and asked, “And your husband is … ,” trailing off and waiting for her to complete the sentence. In that moment, I realized that being mixed was not the norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947743\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947743\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling family of five sit on an outdoor planter with chubby, green bushes behind them. From left to right: A bald dad with glasses sits next to his daughter with long, brown hair and jeans. She, sits next to her brother who smiles holding a happy tan dog with floppy ears. He is seated next to his mother with blond hair and a gray, scoop-neck blouse.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Dholakia (center left) is a student at Menlo School in Atherton. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sonia Dholakia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since then, being mixed has become a crucial part of my identity. I’ve been able to celebrate two very different cultures, enjoying both Diwali and Christmas traditions, but I also faced rejection from both sides of my identity. I often feel too white for my Indian friends, but too Indian for my white friends. I used to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere, like I was living in the middle.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sonia Dholakia, Atherton\"]‘I often feel too white for my Indian friends, but too Indian for my white friends. I used to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere, like I was living in the middle.’[/pullquote]I knew there were other mixed kids at my school, but I didn’t have a place to share my experience and to learn from theirs. This upset me, and I created an affinity group for mixed students like myself. It has been so rewarding to have a place where I know I can be my true self and others can be theirs. At our first meeting, we all answered the question, “When did you first realize you were mixed?” Hearing everyone’s honest, vulnerable answers, I knew we had created that safe community I sought.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chanda Stacker-Chung, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As a mixed kid, you can always feel the stares. Eyes would travel from me to my mom, to my dad, and then back down to me when I’d walk alongside my mom and dad. To this day, “What are you?” remains the most popular question I receive from strangers and acquaintances alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947740\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1884px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947740\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01.jpg\" alt=\"A family is pictured sitting inside a restaurant setting. A grandmother, two parental figures, and their young daughter all smile for the camera. The daughter wears a royal blue college graduation sash around her shoulders.\" width=\"1884\" height=\"1250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01.jpg 1884w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-1536x1019.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1884px) 100vw, 1884px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chanda Stacker-Chung (far right) with her grandmother and parents celebrating her college graduation. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Chanda Stacker-Chung)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I was a child, I always answered by telling people that I was Black and Filipino. Somewhere down the line, I started answering that I was half Black and half Filipino. I never realized how my language in identifying myself (from saying I was Black and Filipino to saying I was half Black and half Filipino) was influenced by others around me. Perhaps it was an attempt to preemptively answer the clarifying questions that always seemed to follow: “Oh, so you’re half-and-half?”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Chanda Stacker-Chung, Oakland\"]‘To this day, ‘What are you?’ remains the most popular question I receive from strangers and acquaintances alike.’[/pullquote]At my father’s funeral in 2020, the hearse driver observed my blended family and was curious who he had the honor of driving to the service. “My dad,” I said. He followed up wanting to know more about my background. So I shared that I was half Black and half Filipino. He stopped me and said, “Now, wait a minute, you’re not half of anything.” I’ve been conscious of my language ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Leo Bersamina, North Bay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I grew up with a German/French mother and a Mexican/Filipino dad in the ’60s and ’70s. After my father left when I was 4 years old, my mom raised us kids on her own until the age of 8. Even growing up in liberal San Francisco, we would get a lot of looks as a family with my mom being white with five brown kids. This continued when my white stepdad married my mother, but as I got older, it mattered less to me. Eventually, a few other mixed-race families moved into our community, which made me feel more connected and confident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 768px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947764\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a bright, yellow, long-sleeved shirt smiles in front of a multicolored, funky-patterned mural. He stands with his hands on his hips.\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Leo Bersamina in front of his mural on the side of the Adobe Founders Tower in downtown San José. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Leo Bersamina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While it continues to be a confusing issue for me to choose an identity, I try to work through it in my art practice by celebrating all of my ancestral influences through the ideas I process visually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I recently created \u003ca href=\"https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/09/29/behind-the-brush-celebrating-art-community-leo-bersamina\">a large mural in San José for Adobe Inc.\u003c/a> that relates to the idea of being mixed. This project was a great way for me to convey what I have been feeling my whole life: that being mixed has been a rich experience.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Leo Bersamina, North Bay\"]‘Even growing up in liberal San Francisco, we would get a lot of looks as a family with my mom being white with five brown kids.’[/pullquote]One aggravating aspect of being mixed is that most of the government forms are too limiting. While some have gotten a little better in regard to me choosing an identity, it is still a pretty difficult issue for me, as the questions about identity are mostly heavy-handed with not enough nuance. I often find myself having to choose “other” as an answer, which doesn’t feel right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a college professor, being mixed has helped me make connections with many of my students, connections that may not have been available to me if I had not been of a mixed race. It has allowed me to have multidimensional perspectives that I can share with many students, creating a rich learning environment in my classes. Overall, it has been a blessing for me to have a mixed background. I feel comfortable with many types of people, and can relate to many types of perspectives. A bonus is that I often find myself at home whenever I travel to Latin America, Asia, Polynesia and Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Maya Sisneros, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m of Chinese and Mexican descent. I believe the mixed-race category is often romanticized and rendered unique, even though mixed-race people have been around since the early days of colonialism. It’s a complicated identity that, in pop discourse, we’ve often conflated with a fantasy of racial progress and multicultural harmony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947766\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947766\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01.jpg\" alt=\"Two sisters wear large, straw sun hats and smile for the camera.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maya Sisneros (left) with her sister. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Maya Sisneros)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One thing we don’t talk about enough that complicates the mixed-race umbrella is white privilege. Mixed-race people with a white parent get a significant amount of privilege because of their whiteness. Even if they don’t look white, they still benefit from other aspects of white privilege. People who are mixed minorities don’t have that same access to white privilege, and tend to have a very different lived experience.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Maya Sisneros, Oakland\"]‘I believe the mixed-race category is often romanticized and rendered unique, even though mixed-race people have been around since the early days of colonialism.’[/pullquote]What many mixed-race people do share are questions of belonging, and not being “x” enough. But are these shared experiences of “not belonging” or “belonging to both” substantial enough to characterize a unified identity? Maybe instead of an identity, it’s a shared orientation, a unique position to make more choices around your relationship to your racial and ethnic identity. I’m always interested in reforming the question “Who are you?” to asking instead, “What choices are you making around your identity?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d love to see KQED complicate the narrative around mixed-race people as unique, by exploring the limits of today’s pop discourse around mixed people or by exploring the history of how the mixed-race identity became popularized and how this affects the distribution of race-based resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Alexa Senter, Contra Costa County\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One thing that sticks out from growing up mixed is that look from random elders. I grew up with a lot of narratives about my family’s identities. On my mom’s side, I heard about her maternal grandmother’s hidden Native American roots and my grandpa’s strict German uncles who didn’t approve of children playing when they could be working. On my dad’s side, the narrative was always “somos españoles” because one distant grandfather arrived in California with the first wave of colonizers and missionaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While my grandma, who quietly claimed “Indian” heritage, looked much different than the rest of our family, I came to believe that she likely appropriated Native identity to establish some kind of belonging and ownership in the American West after migrating to Washington from Tennessee during WWI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947762\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01.jpg\" alt=\"A family of three is pictured inside a clothing store with T-shirts hanging in the background. To the left, a father wears a black bicycle helmet with tropical shirt. In the center, an older daughter wears an army green hat with blue tank top as she smiles. To her right, her mother wears a black tank top and smiles hugging her daughter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-1020x768.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-1536x1156.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alexa Senter with her parents, Art and Carol. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alexa Senter)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since my family is small and most of my elders have passed, I have always gotten so excited when strangers (usually older women) share a sly smile and speak to me in Spanish. And, while that excitement is usually quickly replaced by panic about my mediocre language skills, the joy of being seen helps balance out the “What are you?” and “Why do you talk like a white girl?” questions that I generally got from my peers. My first job here in the Bay Area had me doing a lot of promotional events in the South Bay. On multiple occasions, older South Asian aunties would approach me with incredible warmth and sometimes even ask me about my Indian heritage. I’d respond with happiness from just feeling included and say something along the lines of, “Oh, I am kind of a mutt but I am not South Asian, as far as I know.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Alexa Senter, Contra Costa County\"]‘Since my family is small and most of my elders have passed, I have always gotten so excited when strangers (usually older women) share a sly smile and speak to me in Spanish.’[/pullquote]Since losing both my parents, I have spent a lot of my 30s digging deeper into the family archives and even exploring genetic testing to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Family trees and genetic testing confirmed that my dad’s Spanish identity was, in reality, mostly Indigenous Mexican heritage. I also now know that those aunties I met in San José were on to something that none of my family realized. That grandma who claimed to be Indian? It turns out she was indeed Indian … just not the American kind. The aunties always know.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ariane Li, San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Being mixed gives you the benefit of being able to engage with multiple cultures as part of your heritage. I’m Karen on my mom’s side (ethnic group from Myanmar) and Chinese/white on my dad’s side. I get to celebrate all the Western holidays like Christmas, Easter, etc., as well as Eastern holidays like Lunar New Year. I feel particularly lucky because all sides of my family like each other and enjoy celebrating with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1440px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01.jpg\" alt=\"A family of eight stand smiling outside of a house. There are two males and six females pictured.\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ariane Li (far right) and her cousins at Thanksgiving. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ariane Li)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nobody can tell you what you are or are not. If and when you do get bullied or put down by other people for being mixed, it’s not just white people who do this, other people of color will absolutely put you down for being mixed, probably because it makes them feel better and more secure about their own identities. But people will judge you for engaging in a culture you’re part of if you don’t look (Asian, Latino, Black, etc.) enough to belong. Mixed people tend to get caught in the crossfire of calling out cultural appropriation, especially if they’re white passing. I think most mixed people have learned to give others the benefit of the doubt before calling out cultural appropriation because that other person wearing a kimono or using cultural slang might also be mixed.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ariane Li, San Francisco\"]‘Talking about growing up mixed is an easy way for mixed people to relate to each other, especially when they know the other person isn’t going to judge them for it.’[/pullquote]You also learn to recognize other mixed people really quickly. Talking about growing up mixed is an easy way for mixed people to relate to each other, especially when they know the other person isn’t going to judge them for it. I’ve been able to turn my mixed-ness into a fun guessing game when meeting new people because they always want to know what you are, but, being part of a minority ethnic group from a semi-obscure country in Southeast Asia, most people don’t know to guess “Karen.” I think if some people grow up with more connection to one culture early in life, they’ll try to reconnect with other parts of their identity when they’re older. For me, personally, I grew up surrounded mostly by the white side of my family. Now that I’m an adult, I try to connect more with the Chinese/Southeast Asian side by incorporating things from those cultures into my creative projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Maria T. Allocco, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I never saw myself reflected in the world: this is something mixed-race people know. To never read a children’s book written for someone like you. To never see yourself in any school material. To never watch a film with actors who look like you. I never saw myself reflected in the collective reality. As a mixed-race Korean and Italian writer, I learned to trust and represent my own experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947765\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947765\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01.jpg\" alt=\"Two grandparents stand with their young granddaughter amid green trees and a pond of water. A ceramic statue of a saint is also in the background. The photo is old and has a classic patina to it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Allocco with her grandparents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Maria Allocco)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first time I felt what I imagine monoracial people may feel in the presence of other monoracial people like themselves was in a room full of only other mixed-race people at Oakland’s East Bay Meditation Center. In 2012, Michele Benzamin-Miki facilitated an all mixed-race meditation workshop.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Maria Allocco, Oakland\"]‘The love mixed-race people have for our parents and extended families inspires and often requires multiple understandings. We carry them with us throughout our lives.’[/pullquote]My body received a mutual understanding. We shared a foundation of experiences and affirmed them for one another. Afterwards, I co-founded a mixed-race meditation group at the EBMC with four other mixed-race people. My wish was for others to also experience conscious community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The love mixed-race people have for our parents and extended families inspires and often requires multiple understandings. We carry them with us throughout our lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the past eight weeks, the California Report Magazine has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\">featured the voices of a diverse array of mixed-race Californians\u003c/a>. Musicians, teachers, activists, parents and teenagers described the joy of belonging to multiple ethnic groups and their ability to bridge divides because of their identities. But, they also shared feelings of loneliness and isolation, of not “being enough.” Now, we hear from members of KQED’s audience about their experiences, focusing on the question: “What’s something only fellow mixed folks understand about growing up mixed?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Katie Andresen, San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I tend to start my story of being multiracial with my hair. Growing up, it was the thing that defined me. In contrast to my classmates, who possessed a mostly straight assortment of blonds, browns and black, my hair sprung from the base of my head outwards and had a mind of its own. It was difficult to manage and never really sat the same way (many tears were shed as my mother combed my hair), despite the exact same methodology of styling. Multiple friends told me that they could pick me out from across the playground by recognizing my halo of curls that stood out in the sea of straight hair. Still, as I would learn later, my hair was considered the “good” type of hair — not overly kinky or coily.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947741\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947741\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen.jpg\" alt=\"A woman smiles from a gray sofa. She has long, curly brown hair and a friendly face. She wears a gold necklace and a black, sleeveless dress. A happy, green house plant is positioned behind her and the light shines brightly on her face.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Andresen is the host of the podcast Mixed Kid Chronicles. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Israel Alemu)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It would take many years later to realize that my combination of curly hair and light skin was confounding to many. I learned how to navigate the question of “What are you?” as a lesson in geography. Most people in California hadn’t heard of the small island country my mom was from called Cabo Verde. My dad, a white Californian, had a less exciting origin story, but was still an important factor for people getting an answer to their initial question. Years later, I would realize that question wasn’t about me. It was a reflection of how race in the U.S. is constructed as a binary — you are this or that. There is no in between.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was too white for the Black folks and too Black for the white folks. Or rather — it took too much explanation to both groups with whom I was supposed to be part of that I did, indeed, belong. It didn’t help that I routinely got mistaken as Latina. A series of conversations with both multiracial friends and strangers got me thinking; we all had similar salient experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947742\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1152px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947742\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02.jpg\" alt=\"A family portrait of a father, mother and their two children: a son and a daughter, posing in front of a body of water. The photo looks old with a tan patina to it.\" width=\"1152\" height=\"1152\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGKatieAndresen02-160x160.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1152px) 100vw, 1152px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Katie Andresen (far right) with her parents and brother. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Katie Andresen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>We all had answered the question “What are you?” a million times. We all had people approach us, speaking another language because they assumed we had a different racial affiliation. Outside of these one-on-one conversations, I didn’t see a place for a wider discussion of these topics. I also didn’t see a place to have an honest conversation about how structures of race and racism shaped these perceptions. I started \u003ca href=\"https://www.mixedkidchronicles.com/\">Mixed Kid Chronicles\u003c/a> to create that space for conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I don’t want to be put in a box. I am multiracial. I am Black. I am a woman. I am from California. I am proud to be a product of the people and communities that have raised me.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Through this dialogue, I’ve learned that white people are generally very uncomfortable discussing race, while people of color can’t escape it. I’ve learned in discussing race, you have to be comfortable making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. I’ve learned that race is different depending on which country you’re in. I’ve learned my power in bridging gaps because of my dual heritage. I also know I’ll never experience racism like my darker-skinned family members and individuals. Most of all, I’ve learned that no one’s experience is quite the same, and despite points of salience, we should allow room for those points of divergence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, I enjoy unpacking the messy, complex world of race. It is a construct built by structures of power to enforce a certain world order. Questioning it, stretching it and testing it is the only way to find yourself in this world. I don’t want to be put in a box. I am multiracial. I am Black. I am a woman. I am from California. I am proud to be a product of the people and communities that have raised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Andrew Jabara, Tustin\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m Chinese and Lebanese, born and raised in Orange County, California. I’m fond of saying that “my Chinese side is my American side” because we’ve been in California since the 1800s, making me a fifth-generation Chinese American (Mom, Grandpa and Great-Grandma were all born in California). My Lebanese side is my “immigrant” side — Baba moved from Beirut to California to finish med school and seek opportunity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947739\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947739\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01.jpg\" alt=\"A cute baby is seen sitting barefoot on a white, leather sofa. He wears black and gold, traditional Lebanese garb.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAndrewJabara01-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Jabara as a baby in traditional Lebanese garb in 1997. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Andrew Jabara)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Beside my younger brother, I didn’t know anyone quite like me growing up. Sure, I knew other Chinese American kids, but their parents emigrated from China in the 1990s, not the 1890s. Arab American identity at the turn of the 21st century meant defending pride in my heritage against a barrage of slurs and threats. English was my first language; I never learned Cantonese, and I barely knew any Levantine Arabic. At home, we made a variety of American staple dishes, but also folded pot stickers and wontons, cooked coosa rice and tabbouleh, turned leftover Thanksgiving turkey bones into jook, or packed a pita and lebni sandwich for lunch. We celebrated Chinese New Year and played Lebanese egg games on Easter. From a young age, even if I didn’t have the words to express it, my background made me aware of the wealth of cultures beyond homogeneous suburbia, how they were interwoven within me, and how they could intersect in the world at large.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Sonia Dholakia, Atherton\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m Indian on my dad’s side and white on my mom’s. I remember going to Benihana’s with my mom when I was in elementary school and starting a conversation with the woman sitting adjacent to us. She turned to my mom and asked, “And your husband is … ,” trailing off and waiting for her to complete the sentence. In that moment, I realized that being mixed was not the norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947743\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947743\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling family of five sit on an outdoor planter with chubby, green bushes behind them. From left to right: A bald dad with glasses sits next to his daughter with long, brown hair and jeans. She, sits next to her brother who smiles holding a happy tan dog with floppy ears. He is seated next to his mother with blond hair and a gray, scoop-neck blouse.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGSoniaDholakia01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sonia Dholakia (center left) is a student at Menlo School in Atherton. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Sonia Dholakia)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since then, being mixed has become a crucial part of my identity. I’ve been able to celebrate two very different cultures, enjoying both Diwali and Christmas traditions, but I also faced rejection from both sides of my identity. I often feel too white for my Indian friends, but too Indian for my white friends. I used to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere, like I was living in the middle.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I knew there were other mixed kids at my school, but I didn’t have a place to share my experience and to learn from theirs. This upset me, and I created an affinity group for mixed students like myself. It has been so rewarding to have a place where I know I can be my true self and others can be theirs. At our first meeting, we all answered the question, “When did you first realize you were mixed?” Hearing everyone’s honest, vulnerable answers, I knew we had created that safe community I sought.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chanda Stacker-Chung, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As a mixed kid, you can always feel the stares. Eyes would travel from me to my mom, to my dad, and then back down to me when I’d walk alongside my mom and dad. To this day, “What are you?” remains the most popular question I receive from strangers and acquaintances alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947740\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1884px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947740\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01.jpg\" alt=\"A family is pictured sitting inside a restaurant setting. A grandmother, two parental figures, and their young daughter all smile for the camera. The daughter wears a royal blue college graduation sash around her shoulders.\" width=\"1884\" height=\"1250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01.jpg 1884w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGChandaStackerChung01-1536x1019.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1884px) 100vw, 1884px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chanda Stacker-Chung (far right) with her grandmother and parents celebrating her college graduation. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Chanda Stacker-Chung)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I was a child, I always answered by telling people that I was Black and Filipino. Somewhere down the line, I started answering that I was half Black and half Filipino. I never realized how my language in identifying myself (from saying I was Black and Filipino to saying I was half Black and half Filipino) was influenced by others around me. Perhaps it was an attempt to preemptively answer the clarifying questions that always seemed to follow: “Oh, so you’re half-and-half?”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘To this day, ‘What are you?’ remains the most popular question I receive from strangers and acquaintances alike.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At my father’s funeral in 2020, the hearse driver observed my blended family and was curious who he had the honor of driving to the service. “My dad,” I said. He followed up wanting to know more about my background. So I shared that I was half Black and half Filipino. He stopped me and said, “Now, wait a minute, you’re not half of anything.” I’ve been conscious of my language ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Leo Bersamina, North Bay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I grew up with a German/French mother and a Mexican/Filipino dad in the ’60s and ’70s. After my father left when I was 4 years old, my mom raised us kids on her own until the age of 8. Even growing up in liberal San Francisco, we would get a lot of looks as a family with my mom being white with five brown kids. This continued when my white stepdad married my mother, but as I got older, it mattered less to me. Eventually, a few other mixed-race families moved into our community, which made me feel more connected and confident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 768px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947764\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a bright, yellow, long-sleeved shirt smiles in front of a multicolored, funky-patterned mural. He stands with his hands on his hips.\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGLeoBersamina01-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist Leo Bersamina in front of his mural on the side of the Adobe Founders Tower in downtown San José. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Leo Bersamina)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While it continues to be a confusing issue for me to choose an identity, I try to work through it in my art practice by celebrating all of my ancestral influences through the ideas I process visually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I recently created \u003ca href=\"https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/09/29/behind-the-brush-celebrating-art-community-leo-bersamina\">a large mural in San José for Adobe Inc.\u003c/a> that relates to the idea of being mixed. This project was a great way for me to convey what I have been feeling my whole life: that being mixed has been a rich experience.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Even growing up in liberal San Francisco, we would get a lot of looks as a family with my mom being white with five brown kids.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>One aggravating aspect of being mixed is that most of the government forms are too limiting. While some have gotten a little better in regard to me choosing an identity, it is still a pretty difficult issue for me, as the questions about identity are mostly heavy-handed with not enough nuance. I often find myself having to choose “other” as an answer, which doesn’t feel right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a college professor, being mixed has helped me make connections with many of my students, connections that may not have been available to me if I had not been of a mixed race. It has allowed me to have multidimensional perspectives that I can share with many students, creating a rich learning environment in my classes. Overall, it has been a blessing for me to have a mixed background. I feel comfortable with many types of people, and can relate to many types of perspectives. A bonus is that I often find myself at home whenever I travel to Latin America, Asia, Polynesia and Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Maya Sisneros, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I’m of Chinese and Mexican descent. I believe the mixed-race category is often romanticized and rendered unique, even though mixed-race people have been around since the early days of colonialism. It’s a complicated identity that, in pop discourse, we’ve often conflated with a fantasy of racial progress and multicultural harmony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947766\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947766\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01.jpg\" alt=\"Two sisters wear large, straw sun hats and smile for the camera.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMayaSisneros01-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maya Sisneros (left) with her sister. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Maya Sisneros)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One thing we don’t talk about enough that complicates the mixed-race umbrella is white privilege. Mixed-race people with a white parent get a significant amount of privilege because of their whiteness. Even if they don’t look white, they still benefit from other aspects of white privilege. People who are mixed minorities don’t have that same access to white privilege, and tend to have a very different lived experience.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>What many mixed-race people do share are questions of belonging, and not being “x” enough. But are these shared experiences of “not belonging” or “belonging to both” substantial enough to characterize a unified identity? Maybe instead of an identity, it’s a shared orientation, a unique position to make more choices around your relationship to your racial and ethnic identity. I’m always interested in reforming the question “Who are you?” to asking instead, “What choices are you making around your identity?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’d love to see KQED complicate the narrative around mixed-race people as unique, by exploring the limits of today’s pop discourse around mixed people or by exploring the history of how the mixed-race identity became popularized and how this affects the distribution of race-based resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Alexa Senter, Contra Costa County\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One thing that sticks out from growing up mixed is that look from random elders. I grew up with a lot of narratives about my family’s identities. On my mom’s side, I heard about her maternal grandmother’s hidden Native American roots and my grandpa’s strict German uncles who didn’t approve of children playing when they could be working. On my dad’s side, the narrative was always “somos españoles” because one distant grandfather arrived in California with the first wave of colonizers and missionaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While my grandma, who quietly claimed “Indian” heritage, looked much different than the rest of our family, I came to believe that she likely appropriated Native identity to establish some kind of belonging and ownership in the American West after migrating to Washington from Tennessee during WWI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947762\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01.jpg\" alt=\"A family of three is pictured inside a clothing store with T-shirts hanging in the background. To the left, a father wears a black bicycle helmet with tropical shirt. In the center, an older daughter wears an army green hat with blue tank top as she smiles. To her right, her mother wears a black tank top and smiles hugging her daughter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-1020x768.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGAlexaSenter01-1536x1156.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alexa Senter with her parents, Art and Carol. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Alexa Senter)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since my family is small and most of my elders have passed, I have always gotten so excited when strangers (usually older women) share a sly smile and speak to me in Spanish. And, while that excitement is usually quickly replaced by panic about my mediocre language skills, the joy of being seen helps balance out the “What are you?” and “Why do you talk like a white girl?” questions that I generally got from my peers. My first job here in the Bay Area had me doing a lot of promotional events in the South Bay. On multiple occasions, older South Asian aunties would approach me with incredible warmth and sometimes even ask me about my Indian heritage. I’d respond with happiness from just feeling included and say something along the lines of, “Oh, I am kind of a mutt but I am not South Asian, as far as I know.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Since my family is small and most of my elders have passed, I have always gotten so excited when strangers (usually older women) share a sly smile and speak to me in Spanish.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since losing both my parents, I have spent a lot of my 30s digging deeper into the family archives and even exploring genetic testing to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. Family trees and genetic testing confirmed that my dad’s Spanish identity was, in reality, mostly Indigenous Mexican heritage. I also now know that those aunties I met in San José were on to something that none of my family realized. That grandma who claimed to be Indian? It turns out she was indeed Indian … just not the American kind. The aunties always know.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ariane Li, San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Being mixed gives you the benefit of being able to engage with multiple cultures as part of your heritage. I’m Karen on my mom’s side (ethnic group from Myanmar) and Chinese/white on my dad’s side. I get to celebrate all the Western holidays like Christmas, Easter, etc., as well as Eastern holidays like Lunar New Year. I feel particularly lucky because all sides of my family like each other and enjoy celebrating with each other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1440px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947763\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01.jpg\" alt=\"A family of eight stand smiling outside of a house. There are two males and six females pictured.\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGArianeLi01-160x120.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ariane Li (far right) and her cousins at Thanksgiving. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Ariane Li)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nobody can tell you what you are or are not. If and when you do get bullied or put down by other people for being mixed, it’s not just white people who do this, other people of color will absolutely put you down for being mixed, probably because it makes them feel better and more secure about their own identities. But people will judge you for engaging in a culture you’re part of if you don’t look (Asian, Latino, Black, etc.) enough to belong. Mixed people tend to get caught in the crossfire of calling out cultural appropriation, especially if they’re white passing. I think most mixed people have learned to give others the benefit of the doubt before calling out cultural appropriation because that other person wearing a kimono or using cultural slang might also be mixed.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Talking about growing up mixed is an easy way for mixed people to relate to each other, especially when they know the other person isn’t going to judge them for it.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>You also learn to recognize other mixed people really quickly. Talking about growing up mixed is an easy way for mixed people to relate to each other, especially when they know the other person isn’t going to judge them for it. I’ve been able to turn my mixed-ness into a fun guessing game when meeting new people because they always want to know what you are, but, being part of a minority ethnic group from a semi-obscure country in Southeast Asia, most people don’t know to guess “Karen.” I think if some people grow up with more connection to one culture early in life, they’ll try to reconnect with other parts of their identity when they’re older. For me, personally, I grew up surrounded mostly by the white side of my family. Now that I’m an adult, I try to connect more with the Chinese/Southeast Asian side by incorporating things from those cultures into my creative projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Maria T. Allocco, Oakland\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I never saw myself reflected in the world: this is something mixed-race people know. To never read a children’s book written for someone like you. To never see yourself in any school material. To never watch a film with actors who look like you. I never saw myself reflected in the collective reality. As a mixed-race Korean and Italian writer, I learned to trust and represent my own experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947765\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947765\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01.jpg\" alt=\"Two grandparents stand with their young granddaughter amid green trees and a pond of water. A ceramic statue of a saint is also in the background. The photo is old and has a classic patina to it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/TCRMAGMariaAllocco01-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maria Allocco with her grandparents. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Maria Allocco)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first time I felt what I imagine monoracial people may feel in the presence of other monoracial people like themselves was in a room full of only other mixed-race people at Oakland’s East Bay Meditation Center. In 2012, Michele Benzamin-Miki facilitated an all mixed-race meditation workshop.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The love mixed-race people have for our parents and extended families inspires and often requires multiple understandings. We carry them with us throughout our lives.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>My body received a mutual understanding. We shared a foundation of experiences and affirmed them for one another. Afterwards, I co-founded a mixed-race meditation group at the EBMC with four other mixed-race people. My wish was for others to also experience conscious community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The love mixed-race people have for our parents and extended families inspires and often requires multiple understandings. We carry them with us throughout our lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "1000-me-how-w-kamau-bells-family-explored-the-mixed-race-experience-in-new-film",
"title": "‘1,000% Me’: How W. Kamau Bell’s Family Explored the Mixed-Race Experience in New Film",
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"content": "\u003cp>W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell didn’t think it would be a big deal to either of their families when they began dating two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bell, who’s Black, and Hudson Bell, who’s white, had dated people of different races before. But it was obvious to everyone that this relationship was serious, and that realization seemed to bring out a side of Hudson Bell’s Italian American grandfather she’d never seen before.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"W. Kamau Bell, comedian and host\"]‘I really hope [the film] can provide a service for mixed folks who feel like they don’t know where to go to have these conversations. And then I think it’s also bigger than that, just a service for folks who are afraid of these conversations, which is most of this country.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He claimed — and felt in his heart — that he was open to all people. And then when we started dating seriously, we found out that the little caveat for him was that those people, though, shouldn’t be dating and shouldn’t be in relationship with one another,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hudson Bell, who grew up close to her grandfather, described that realization as “a sort of shock wave through the family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That very blatant racism had been buried in this kind of language about openness — and then there was this very clear dividing line for him, that our relationship was not acceptable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a long process, she said, to both “navigate the obligation that I still felt to my family,” and to Kamau.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do I incorporate this person who means so much to me into that? And how can I honor his experiences and make sure that he is supported and respected without, you know, abandoning my family or creating some sort of big scene?” she said. “So it was a lot and it was a long, long process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bells have since married and had three daughters — kids who are featured alongside a number of other mixed-race young people in the couple’s new HBO documentary, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hbo.com/movies/1000-percent-me-growing-up-mixed\">1,000% Me: Growing Up Mixed\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 564px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg\" alt=\"A still image showing nine different grows up of people of different ages with multiracial backgrounds.\" width=\"564\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg 564w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed-160x90.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Still photos from the film ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the California Report Magazine series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>,” the film is both a celebration of being multiracial and a look at its challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bell and Hudson Bell said in a recent interview that they knew raising kids who didn’t look entirely like either of them would pose challenges — and they started having conversations about raising mixed kids early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they didn’t know how much kids can also act as healing agents — starting with their oldest daughter, Sami, whose birth changed Hudson Bell’s grandfather’s entire affect toward their small family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11947776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-800x1067.jpeg\" alt='A Black man wearing glasses and a green suit with a black bow tie has his hand over the shoulder of a white woman wearing a dark blue dress while he holds a baby in a sling with a patch that reads \"Families Belong Together.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Hudson Bell (left), W. Kamau Bell and their daughter Sami. \u003ccite>(Courtesy W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was something about the presence of this child and a sort of recognition of the continuation of his family line through this child. And, you know, these weren’t conversations that we ever got to have with him directly,” she said. “But I would say certainly his affect towards Kamau, his understanding of our relationship and sort of respect for us as parents, changed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end, said Bell, “We were buddies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell has centered conversations about race in pretty much all his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But kids are rarely asked to weigh in on the question. So he and Hudson Bell — a dancer, choreographer and teacher — chose to center mixed-race kids in their new film.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On having mixed kids\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> You start talking about kids and you’re like, Well, what are they going to look like? And we don’t know. If you’re Black in America, there’s already a certain level of mixture, especially if you’ve had family that goes back to the days of enslavement. Every Black person in America goes to a family reunion with some super-light-skinned Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947778\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11947778 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A tall Black man with bushy, salt-and-pepper hair and goatee, black-framed glasses, and a big smile, wearing a long-sleeved red jersey shirt and black jeans, stands beside a shorter white woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a button-up light pink blouse. Grouped in front of them are three little girls, the tallest almost as tall as her mom with a long Afro, the shortest in a pink dress and dark pink tights, and the middle daughter with long brown hair pulled back and a pastel-colored sundress. They stand smiling in a sunny backyard on a green lawn, beneath trees and in front of a wooden fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Hudson Bell and W. Kamau Bell stand with their daughters (left to right) Sami, Asha and Juno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So for me I was more aware of the fact that we have no idea what these kids are going to look like. DNA is a weird thing. Also, if we have multiple kids, that doesn’t mean they’re all going to look the same. And then there is a sense of, “Will the kids look like me? Will I be able to see myself in my kids?” We talked about that stuff a lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On raising kids who look different from you\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> (I remember) the moment when I felt, for the first time concretely, the separation of Sami’s experience from mine as a white person. You know, you’re so close to these kids, you know them in and out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were folks coming to Berkeley from the alt-right and they were protesting the Black Lives Matter movement. And we lived in downtown Berkeley at the time. So these protests were going down the street that we could see out our bedroom window. And the helicopters were zooming overhead all the time and we felt compelled to action. And we wanted the kids to feel empowered and to understand what was going on. So we went to a teach-in specifically designed for children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"mixed-race\" label=\"Related Posts\"]Sami was maybe 5 or 6 at the time and heard — as she’s sitting in my lap — that the people who are coming here, to our town, are coming because they think white people are better than other people. And they’re coming here and they’re in our streets. And we need to tell them that what they believe is not right and that these are our streets, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I remember sitting with this kid, and these tears in my eyes, and she’s turning back to look at me like, “Wait, hold up. You, white mom. Can we check in about this for a second? You’re white. But I’m not just white.” And I really saw her coming to a new understanding, as a 6-year-old, of the separation that would always exist between the two of us. And it broke my heart — that I could follow her or protect her or be there with her or understand her or mentor her, and always only to a certain extent. That there would always be things about her lived experience that I as a white person would never understand. And it was such a powerful gathering and such a meaningful moment for me and for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think about it, how some of these differences, we can’t talk our way into dissolving them. They just exist concretely. And we have to build our love around those differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On protecting your mixed kids in the world\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> I think as Black people in this country — and this could be true for people from other races but certainly Black people — you don’t want to give white supremacy an obvious target. And so you’re thinking about all the things you can do, all the things you can sort of try, because you’re going to get targeted anyway, but you do not want to give white supremacy an easy target.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it’s deodorant. I don’t want anybody saying, “That Black girl is stinky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> I have tried to educate myself about doing the girls’ hair. That’s a big thing for me as the white mom, and on more than one occasion, you know, people will comment, “Oh, you braid so well, how did you learn to do braids like this?” And I was like, “Well, I went and did a lot of research because I can’t be that white mom who doesn’t know how to make their daughters feel beautiful through these kinds of braids and hairstyles, who isn’t able to help them feel like their very best selves through whatever hairstyles they want to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On their hopes for the ‘1000% Me’ film\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> It was always intended to be something that families could watch together. Something that a whole family could sit down and maybe the little kids aren’t going to pick up all of it. But it is going to be a thing that you can all have a discussion afterwards. And so for me, it’s about the discussions that come out of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 564px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11947779 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg\" alt=\"A still image of a Black man and an Asian woman sitting on a couch.\" width=\"564\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg 564w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan-160x90.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still image of parents Bryant and Jidan from ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I really hope it can provide a service for mixed folks who feel like they don’t know where to go to have these conversations. And then I think it’s also bigger than that, just a service for folks who are afraid of these conversations, which is most of this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> A friend of mine teaches in Florida, where programs at her school are getting canceled because they have decided that there’s too much critical race theory being taught and things like this. And so she’s fighting a battle there to be able to teach students in the way that she feels is right. And she came to see the film and she sent us a message afterwards saying, “What a gift to give to the folks who I work with, who live in this place where we’re being told that these conversations are dangerous and these conversations are causing problems — for them to see these young people who are being taught in a different way and to understand how powerful that can be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think I was so excited for our community to see what we’d made, you know, and feeling so proud and really focused on how it would feel for the folks who live around here to see themselves represented or for mixed folks in particular to see themselves represented, that I had forgotten to think about the people who really might have opposing views to what we’re presenting in the film and how it could potentially be that sort of spark of change for folks, to feel different or to consider different perspectives through these kids.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Comedian W. Kamau Bell and his wife, Melissa Hudson Bell, open up about why they made their new HBO documentary and their own experiences as parents of mixed-race kids.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell didn’t think it would be a big deal to either of their families when they began dating two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bell, who’s Black, and Hudson Bell, who’s white, had dated people of different races before. But it was obvious to everyone that this relationship was serious, and that realization seemed to bring out a side of Hudson Bell’s Italian American grandfather she’d never seen before.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I really hope [the film] can provide a service for mixed folks who feel like they don’t know where to go to have these conversations. And then I think it’s also bigger than that, just a service for folks who are afraid of these conversations, which is most of this country.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He claimed — and felt in his heart — that he was open to all people. And then when we started dating seriously, we found out that the little caveat for him was that those people, though, shouldn’t be dating and shouldn’t be in relationship with one another,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hudson Bell, who grew up close to her grandfather, described that realization as “a sort of shock wave through the family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That very blatant racism had been buried in this kind of language about openness — and then there was this very clear dividing line for him, that our relationship was not acceptable,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a long process, she said, to both “navigate the obligation that I still felt to my family,” and to Kamau.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do I incorporate this person who means so much to me into that? And how can I honor his experiences and make sure that he is supported and respected without, you know, abandoning my family or creating some sort of big scene?” she said. “So it was a lot and it was a long, long process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bells have since married and had three daughters — kids who are featured alongside a number of other mixed-race young people in the couple’s new HBO documentary, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hbo.com/movies/1000-percent-me-growing-up-mixed\">1,000% Me: Growing Up Mixed\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947777\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 564px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg\" alt=\"A still image showing nine different grows up of people of different ages with multiracial backgrounds.\" width=\"564\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed.jpeg 564w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/families-from-1000-me-growing-up-mixed-160x90.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Still photos from the film ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Like much of the California Report Magazine series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mixedrace\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>,” the film is both a celebration of being multiracial and a look at its challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Bell and Hudson Bell said in a recent interview that they knew raising kids who didn’t look entirely like either of them would pose challenges — and they started having conversations about raising mixed kids early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But they didn’t know how much kids can also act as healing agents — starting with their oldest daughter, Sami, whose birth changed Hudson Bell’s grandfather’s entire affect toward their small family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947776\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11947776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-800x1067.jpeg\" alt='A Black man wearing glasses and a green suit with a black bow tie has his hand over the shoulder of a white woman wearing a dark blue dress while he holds a baby in a sling with a patch that reads \"Families Belong Together.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Dmtdo7JUwAAufLT.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Hudson Bell (left), W. Kamau Bell and their daughter Sami. \u003ccite>(Courtesy W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There was something about the presence of this child and a sort of recognition of the continuation of his family line through this child. And, you know, these weren’t conversations that we ever got to have with him directly,” she said. “But I would say certainly his affect towards Kamau, his understanding of our relationship and sort of respect for us as parents, changed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end, said Bell, “We were buddies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bell has centered conversations about race in pretty much all his work as a comedian, author and TV host. But kids are rarely asked to weigh in on the question. So he and Hudson Bell — a dancer, choreographer and teacher — chose to center mixed-race kids in their new film.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On having mixed kids\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> You start talking about kids and you’re like, Well, what are they going to look like? And we don’t know. If you’re Black in America, there’s already a certain level of mixture, especially if you’ve had family that goes back to the days of enslavement. Every Black person in America goes to a family reunion with some super-light-skinned Black people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947778\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11947778 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A tall Black man with bushy, salt-and-pepper hair and goatee, black-framed glasses, and a big smile, wearing a long-sleeved red jersey shirt and black jeans, stands beside a shorter white woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a button-up light pink blouse. Grouped in front of them are three little girls, the tallest almost as tall as her mom with a long Afro, the shortest in a pink dress and dark pink tights, and the middle daughter with long brown hair pulled back and a pastel-colored sundress. They stand smiling in a sunny backyard on a green lawn, beneath trees and in front of a wooden fence.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_9581-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Melissa Hudson Bell and W. Kamau Bell stand with their daughters (left to right) Sami, Asha and Juno. \u003ccite>(Courtesy W. Kamau Bell and Melissa Hudson Bell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So for me I was more aware of the fact that we have no idea what these kids are going to look like. DNA is a weird thing. Also, if we have multiple kids, that doesn’t mean they’re all going to look the same. And then there is a sense of, “Will the kids look like me? Will I be able to see myself in my kids?” We talked about that stuff a lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On raising kids who look different from you\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> (I remember) the moment when I felt, for the first time concretely, the separation of Sami’s experience from mine as a white person. You know, you’re so close to these kids, you know them in and out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There were folks coming to Berkeley from the alt-right and they were protesting the Black Lives Matter movement. And we lived in downtown Berkeley at the time. So these protests were going down the street that we could see out our bedroom window. And the helicopters were zooming overhead all the time and we felt compelled to action. And we wanted the kids to feel empowered and to understand what was going on. So we went to a teach-in specifically designed for children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sami was maybe 5 or 6 at the time and heard — as she’s sitting in my lap — that the people who are coming here, to our town, are coming because they think white people are better than other people. And they’re coming here and they’re in our streets. And we need to tell them that what they believe is not right and that these are our streets, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I remember sitting with this kid, and these tears in my eyes, and she’s turning back to look at me like, “Wait, hold up. You, white mom. Can we check in about this for a second? You’re white. But I’m not just white.” And I really saw her coming to a new understanding, as a 6-year-old, of the separation that would always exist between the two of us. And it broke my heart — that I could follow her or protect her or be there with her or understand her or mentor her, and always only to a certain extent. That there would always be things about her lived experience that I as a white person would never understand. And it was such a powerful gathering and such a meaningful moment for me and for her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think about it, how some of these differences, we can’t talk our way into dissolving them. They just exist concretely. And we have to build our love around those differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On protecting your mixed kids in the world\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> I think as Black people in this country — and this could be true for people from other races but certainly Black people — you don’t want to give white supremacy an obvious target. And so you’re thinking about all the things you can do, all the things you can sort of try, because you’re going to get targeted anyway, but you do not want to give white supremacy an easy target.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it’s deodorant. I don’t want anybody saying, “That Black girl is stinky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> I have tried to educate myself about doing the girls’ hair. That’s a big thing for me as the white mom, and on more than one occasion, you know, people will comment, “Oh, you braid so well, how did you learn to do braids like this?” And I was like, “Well, I went and did a lot of research because I can’t be that white mom who doesn’t know how to make their daughters feel beautiful through these kinds of braids and hairstyles, who isn’t able to help them feel like their very best selves through whatever hairstyles they want to have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On their hopes for the ‘1000% Me’ film\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamau:\u003c/strong> It was always intended to be something that families could watch together. Something that a whole family could sit down and maybe the little kids aren’t going to pick up all of it. But it is going to be a thing that you can all have a discussion afterwards. And so for me, it’s about the discussions that come out of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947779\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 564px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11947779 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg\" alt=\"A still image of a Black man and an Asian woman sitting on a couch.\" width=\"564\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan.jpeg 564w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/parents-bryant-and-jidan-160x90.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 564px) 100vw, 564px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still image of parents Bryant and Jidan from ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.’ \u003ccite>(Courtesy HBO)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I really hope it can provide a service for mixed folks who feel like they don’t know where to go to have these conversations. And then I think it’s also bigger than that, just a service for folks who are afraid of these conversations, which is most of this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Melissa:\u003c/strong> A friend of mine teaches in Florida, where programs at her school are getting canceled because they have decided that there’s too much critical race theory being taught and things like this. And so she’s fighting a battle there to be able to teach students in the way that she feels is right. And she came to see the film and she sent us a message afterwards saying, “What a gift to give to the folks who I work with, who live in this place where we’re being told that these conversations are dangerous and these conversations are causing problems — for them to see these young people who are being taught in a different way and to understand how powerful that can be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think I was so excited for our community to see what we’d made, you know, and feeling so proud and really focused on how it would feel for the folks who live around here to see themselves represented or for mixed folks in particular to see themselves represented, that I had forgotten to think about the people who really might have opposing views to what we’re presenting in the film and how it could potentially be that sort of spark of change for folks, to feel different or to consider different perspectives through these kids.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'I Can Be 100% of Both': A Mixed-Race Teen's Advice on Navigating Multiracial Identity",
"headTitle": "‘I Can Be 100% of Both’: A Mixed-Race Teen’s Advice on Navigating Multiracial Identity | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Brentwood School senior Rahul Yates recently attended a national conference for student leaders focused on diversity at their schools. One exercise involved dividing the students into groups based on race or ethnic identity. Yates was assigned to the white group despite the fact that he identifies as multiracial. People often think he’s Latino, or white, or Middle Eastern, based on what he calls his “racially ambiguous” presentation. He comes up against assumptions about his race all too often, and he doesn’t like it.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rahul Yates, high school senior\"]‘Figuring out at least a very basic, concise way of representing yourself, and a brief explanation, can then lead to further discussion.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yates grew up in Los Angeles with a South Asian mom and a white dad. He loves the vibrancy and excitement of his Indian heritage and gravitated toward activities like traditional Indian dance to better connect with that side of his identity. But when he was younger, he often felt like he didn’t have the same right to belong in those spaces as monoracial Indian people. He also never felt totally comfortable in majority-white spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took him many years to understand the power that comes with being mixed race and now he’s trying to open up conversation with his peers. He started \u003ca href=\"https://www.humsubglobalteen.com/\">HumSub Global Teen\u003c/a> to build community and offer resources to multiracial teens. He’s also host of the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://www.iheart.com/podcast/53-mixed-by-gen-z-103270911/\">Mixed by Gen Z\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694.jpg\" data-wp-editing=\"1\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11947068 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a mixed race teenager with his parents, a white man and South Asian woman wearing winter clothing outdoors with snow and buildings in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rahul Yates with his parents, Punita Khanna and John Yates. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rahul Yates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"mixed-race\" label=\"Related Posts\"]As part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californiareportmagazine\">California Report Magazine\u003c/a> series \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>, Yates shares some suggestions for parents raising mixed-race kids and advice for other young people.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Talk about race at home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s beneficial for kids to hear about how their parents think about and navigate their own racial identities, Yates said. Not only do such conversations give teens a chance to reflect on parallel experiences but they also normalize the experience of talking about race, which is still an uncomfortable topic for a lot of families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Build community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“A big part of the mixed experience is feeling like you’re alone in it,” Yates said. “Your parents can’t necessarily support you in the right way. A lot of it is really just walking this kind of awkward middle ground yourself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can really help to connect with other young people who have similar experiences, who know what it means to stand on that “awkward middle ground,” he said. That’s why Yates started HumSub Global Teen and the podcast — he sees these as ways to build community even if there aren’t a lot of other mixed-race kids at school or in a particular neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope to make it a little bit easier,” he said. “Whatever I say can resonate with somebody else, and then they can then feel like, ‘OK, I should share my voice.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Reframe your thinking\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a long time, Yates felt like his mixed-race identity meant that he wasn’t “enough” of either parts of his heritage. Thinking that way always made him feel left out, like he wasn’t “as Indian” as some of his cousins, but also that he didn’t quite fit in with his white family either. But over time, what felt like a deficit has shifted in his mind to become a strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947146\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg\" alt=\"A young mixed raced teenager along with several other people dressed in green attire with brownish stitching on the ends of their clothes perform a dance in a studio.\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg 512w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing-160x120.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rahul Yates performing in classical Indian dance. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rahul Yates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can relate to [multiple groups] and that’s actually something really special that so few people can do,” Yates said. “I should feel lucky, honored [to] be a part of many groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he thinks about his identity this way, Yates said being mixed feels like a superpower. He can understand the perspectives of multiple groups of people, fit in with them and build bridges across communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. Define yourself before others define you\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like it or not, people are often trying to figure out other people’s racial identities, Yates said. He’s found that coming up with a clear statement for himself about who he is allows him to retain the power of definition, which is his right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[If you] are fairly racially ambiguous like me, there always will be an explanatory element to your experience,” Yates said. “Figuring out at least a very basic, concise way of representing yourself, and a brief explanation, can then lead to further discussion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Figuring out that brief explanation can be tricky, so Yates recommends starting the conversation with parents, trusted friends and others who identify as mixed. Those conversations can build up confidence until being mixed race is a point of pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There [are] so many ways in which other people are trying to tell us how to identify,” said Yates. “And so just reclaiming that and being like, ‘Well, this is how I’m going to identify.’ If you set a firm answer down, then other people will back off and you can really own that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re raising a mixed-race child, you may also like to check out these tips from Jenn Noble, a clinical psychologist, professor and teen/parent coach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Brentwood School senior Rahul Yates recently attended a national conference for student leaders focused on diversity at their schools. One exercise involved dividing the students into groups based on race or ethnic identity. Yates was assigned to the white group despite the fact that he identifies as multiracial. People often think he’s Latino, or white, or Middle Eastern, based on what he calls his “racially ambiguous” presentation. He comes up against assumptions about his race all too often, and he doesn’t like it.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yates grew up in Los Angeles with a South Asian mom and a white dad. He loves the vibrancy and excitement of his Indian heritage and gravitated toward activities like traditional Indian dance to better connect with that side of his identity. But when he was younger, he often felt like he didn’t have the same right to belong in those spaces as monoracial Indian people. He also never felt totally comfortable in majority-white spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took him many years to understand the power that comes with being mixed race and now he’s trying to open up conversation with his peers. He started \u003ca href=\"https://www.humsubglobalteen.com/\">HumSub Global Teen\u003c/a> to build community and offer resources to multiracial teens. He’s also host of the podcast \u003ca href=\"https://www.iheart.com/podcast/53-mixed-by-gen-z-103270911/\">Mixed by Gen Z\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694.jpg\" data-wp-editing=\"1\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11947068 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a mixed race teenager with his parents, a white man and South Asian woman wearing winter clothing outdoors with snow and buildings in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/tempImageXfublV-scaled-e1681857588694-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rahul Yates with his parents, Punita Khanna and John Yates. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rahul Yates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californiareportmagazine\">California Report Magazine\u003c/a> series \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>, Yates shares some suggestions for parents raising mixed-race kids and advice for other young people.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Talk about race at home\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s beneficial for kids to hear about how their parents think about and navigate their own racial identities, Yates said. Not only do such conversations give teens a chance to reflect on parallel experiences but they also normalize the experience of talking about race, which is still an uncomfortable topic for a lot of families.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Build community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“A big part of the mixed experience is feeling like you’re alone in it,” Yates said. “Your parents can’t necessarily support you in the right way. A lot of it is really just walking this kind of awkward middle ground yourself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can really help to connect with other young people who have similar experiences, who know what it means to stand on that “awkward middle ground,” he said. That’s why Yates started HumSub Global Teen and the podcast — he sees these as ways to build community even if there aren’t a lot of other mixed-race kids at school or in a particular neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope to make it a little bit easier,” he said. “Whatever I say can resonate with somebody else, and then they can then feel like, ‘OK, I should share my voice.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Reframe your thinking\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a long time, Yates felt like his mixed-race identity meant that he wasn’t “enough” of either parts of his heritage. Thinking that way always made him feel left out, like he wasn’t “as Indian” as some of his cousins, but also that he didn’t quite fit in with his white family either. But over time, what felt like a deficit has shifted in his mind to become a strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947146\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947146\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg\" alt=\"A young mixed raced teenager along with several other people dressed in green attire with brownish stitching on the ends of their clothes perform a dance in a studio.\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing.jpeg 512w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Rahul-dancing-160x120.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rahul Yates performing in classical Indian dance. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Rahul Yates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I can relate to [multiple groups] and that’s actually something really special that so few people can do,” Yates said. “I should feel lucky, honored [to] be a part of many groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When he thinks about his identity this way, Yates said being mixed feels like a superpower. He can understand the perspectives of multiple groups of people, fit in with them and build bridges across communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. Define yourself before others define you\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Like it or not, people are often trying to figure out other people’s racial identities, Yates said. He’s found that coming up with a clear statement for himself about who he is allows him to retain the power of definition, which is his right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[If you] are fairly racially ambiguous like me, there always will be an explanatory element to your experience,” Yates said. “Figuring out at least a very basic, concise way of representing yourself, and a brief explanation, can then lead to further discussion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Figuring out that brief explanation can be tricky, so Yates recommends starting the conversation with parents, trusted friends and others who identify as mixed. Those conversations can build up confidence until being mixed race is a point of pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There [are] so many ways in which other people are trying to tell us how to identify,” said Yates. “And so just reclaiming that and being like, ‘Well, this is how I’m going to identify.’ If you set a firm answer down, then other people will back off and you can really own that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re raising a mixed-race child, you may also like to check out these tips from Jenn Noble, a clinical psychologist, professor and teen/parent coach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>More people are identifying as mixed race than ever before in the U.S. — the 2020 census showed a 256% jump in people identifying as multiracial over the previous 10 years. Mixed-race kids are a growing part of that demographic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Psychologist Jenn Noble has been helping mixed-race kids and their parents navigate issues of identity and belonging for over 15 years. Through the online community she’s created with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Mixed Life Academy\u003c/a>, she works to set kids up for success in a world that is often uncomfortable with liminality, and that prefers to put people in neat little boxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke with Noble about her tips for parents as part of the California Report Magazine series \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories from Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Don’t be afraid to talk about race with your child\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of parents are hesitant to address race directly with their young children out of a desire to protect them from the ugliness of the world. Instead, they may use phrases like, “There’s only one race — the human race.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is going to be more harmful, because the kid is like, No, I know something is different here. I see you, and I see my dad and I see the mirror and my friends are saying, ‘Why do I look like this?’” Noble said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As hard as it might be to talk about race, ignoring the conversation means kids will encounter questions about their racial identity for the first time not in the safety of their own family, but at school or on the playground, and often in ways that are scary or unpleasant.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Read books and watch films about mixed-race characters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of great books that introduce the idea of the mixed-race experience to a child,” Noble said. “You can do it as young as 3 and 4 years old. And sometimes, that allows the parents to find more words because if the parent is sitting there and reading the book, [they’ll realize], ‘Oh, is this what my kid is feeling or could be experiencing at some point? Or will their peers say this to them?’ I think that’s a great place to start.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noble also recommends families watching films and shows together that feature racially mixed families, like \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encanto\">Encanto\u003c/a>\u003c/em> or the Netflix series \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaba_Masaba\">Masaba Masaba\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noble said the best place for kids to learn to talk about race and identity is at home, with their parents. Then, when the child goes out into the world and someone asks, “What are you?,” that child will be less likely to be hurt or surprised. Rather, they’ll be ready with answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You protect them more by doing it this way,” Noble said. “Rather than, ‘Oh, let me go talk to that teacher. Let me go talk to that kid so they never say that to you again,’ the kid’s like, ‘No, just help me understand why they even said that, and then I’ll take it from here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Expose your kids to their cultural backgrounds\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Noble said she hears a lot of mixed-race kids saying that different parts of their identity are validated in different spaces, leaving them feeling fractured, like their entire self is never fully acknowledged. She says helping them to connect to the language, food and cultural practices of all their various heritages can help mitigate that feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic.jpg\" alt=\"A family with an older mother and father stand on a boat with their grown-up daughter as they pose barefoot making silly faces. The boat looks as though it's inside a cave-like environment on the water.\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, Noble’s dad, Noble and Noble’s mom pose for a silly photo together. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Noble)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Worlds are not split. I’m me everywhere I go. So, if I’m with one family and they’re saying, ‘You’re this,’ and I’m with another family and they’re saying, ‘You’re that,’ I’m still the same person in both environments. They may be acknowledging just one portion, but I’m always one person. And then stepping into that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. Be bold\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Noble says it’s easy for mixed-race kids to feel they don’t belong anywhere, when actually they are members of more communities than many other people. The trick is to boldly step into those spaces and own the right to be there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jenn Noble, psychologist\"]‘Worlds are not split. I’m me everywhere I go. So, if I’m with one family and they’re saying, ‘You’re this,’ and I’m with another family and they’re saying, ‘You’re that,’ I’m still the same person in both environments.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When your phenotype really doesn’t match one of the groups you belong to, you develop that skill of being like, ‘Well, I’m going to enter this space anyway and y’all are going to be all right and we’ll figure it out together,’” she said. “You should be there, and you should participate and you should feel comfortable to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Don’t use fractions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Parents have many opportunities to name their child’s multiple heritages and model the normalcy of that. If a nosy neighbor asks, “What’s your kid’s background?,” answer by naming all their racial identities, but not breaking them into fractions. “Ands” and commas will be your friends. For example, say, “My kid is Black and Filipino and Chinese,” not, “She’s a quarter Black, a quarter Chinese and half Filipino.”[aside label='More from the 'Mixed Series' tag='mixed']“The more you model that, your kid is going to hear you,” Noble said. “Because your little child could be standing there when you assert their identity to someone else and they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s right. I am all those things.’ [Modeling that] full embracing of identity is going to be helpful for that child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Remind your kids they are enough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s not a magic checklist of things that makes someone, for example, “Mexican enough,” “Black enough” or “Indian enough.” Chasing after one is exhausting and probably won’t work. Try to cultivate the mindset that you belong and don’t have to prove it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more resources, check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Noble’s website\u003c/a> and take her “\u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/take-the-quiz\">How ‘Woke’ is Your Mixed Race Parenting? quiz\u003c/a>.” And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Mixed Life Academy\u003c/a> is one model of a parent support group for working through some of the tricky issues that come up in this space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For tips and suggestions for mixed-race teens, check out our companion post featuring Rahul Yates, a high school senior from Los Angeles who hosts the \u003ca href=\"https://www.iheart.com/podcast/53-mixed-by-gen-z-103270911/\">Mixed by Gen Z podcast\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>More people are identifying as mixed race than ever before in the U.S. — the 2020 census showed a 256% jump in people identifying as multiracial over the previous 10 years. Mixed-race kids are a growing part of that demographic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Psychologist Jenn Noble has been helping mixed-race kids and their parents navigate issues of identity and belonging for over 15 years. Through the online community she’s created with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Mixed Life Academy\u003c/a>, she works to set kids up for success in a world that is often uncomfortable with liminality, and that prefers to put people in neat little boxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke with Noble about her tips for parents as part of the California Report Magazine series \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories from Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Don’t be afraid to talk about race with your child\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of parents are hesitant to address race directly with their young children out of a desire to protect them from the ugliness of the world. Instead, they may use phrases like, “There’s only one race — the human race.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is going to be more harmful, because the kid is like, No, I know something is different here. I see you, and I see my dad and I see the mirror and my friends are saying, ‘Why do I look like this?’” Noble said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As hard as it might be to talk about race, ignoring the conversation means kids will encounter questions about their racial identity for the first time not in the safety of their own family, but at school or on the playground, and often in ways that are scary or unpleasant.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>2. Read books and watch films about mixed-race characters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of great books that introduce the idea of the mixed-race experience to a child,” Noble said. “You can do it as young as 3 and 4 years old. And sometimes, that allows the parents to find more words because if the parent is sitting there and reading the book, [they’ll realize], ‘Oh, is this what my kid is feeling or could be experiencing at some point? Or will their peers say this to them?’ I think that’s a great place to start.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noble also recommends families watching films and shows together that feature racially mixed families, like \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encanto\">Encanto\u003c/a>\u003c/em> or the Netflix series \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaba_Masaba\">Masaba Masaba\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Noble said the best place for kids to learn to talk about race and identity is at home, with their parents. Then, when the child goes out into the world and someone asks, “What are you?,” that child will be less likely to be hurt or surprised. Rather, they’ll be ready with answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You protect them more by doing it this way,” Noble said. “Rather than, ‘Oh, let me go talk to that teacher. Let me go talk to that kid so they never say that to you again,’ the kid’s like, ‘No, just help me understand why they even said that, and then I’ll take it from here.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Expose your kids to their cultural backgrounds\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Noble said she hears a lot of mixed-race kids saying that different parts of their identity are validated in different spaces, leaving them feeling fractured, like their entire self is never fully acknowledged. She says helping them to connect to the language, food and cultural practices of all their various heritages can help mitigate that feeling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11947047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 720px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11947047\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic.jpg\" alt=\"A family with an older mother and father stand on a boat with their grown-up daughter as they pose barefoot making silly faces. The boat looks as though it's inside a cave-like environment on the water.\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic.jpg 720w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Parents-option-2-for-graphic-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, Noble’s dad, Noble and Noble’s mom pose for a silly photo together. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Jenn Noble)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Worlds are not split. I’m me everywhere I go. So, if I’m with one family and they’re saying, ‘You’re this,’ and I’m with another family and they’re saying, ‘You’re that,’ I’m still the same person in both environments. They may be acknowledging just one portion, but I’m always one person. And then stepping into that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>4. Be bold\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Noble says it’s easy for mixed-race kids to feel they don’t belong anywhere, when actually they are members of more communities than many other people. The trick is to boldly step into those spaces and own the right to be there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When your phenotype really doesn’t match one of the groups you belong to, you develop that skill of being like, ‘Well, I’m going to enter this space anyway and y’all are going to be all right and we’ll figure it out together,’” she said. “You should be there, and you should participate and you should feel comfortable to do so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Don’t use fractions\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Parents have many opportunities to name their child’s multiple heritages and model the normalcy of that. If a nosy neighbor asks, “What’s your kid’s background?,” answer by naming all their racial identities, but not breaking them into fractions. “Ands” and commas will be your friends. For example, say, “My kid is Black and Filipino and Chinese,” not, “She’s a quarter Black, a quarter Chinese and half Filipino.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The more you model that, your kid is going to hear you,” Noble said. “Because your little child could be standing there when you assert their identity to someone else and they’re going to be like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s right. I am all those things.’ [Modeling that] full embracing of identity is going to be helpful for that child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Remind your kids they are enough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There’s not a magic checklist of things that makes someone, for example, “Mexican enough,” “Black enough” or “Indian enough.” Chasing after one is exhausting and probably won’t work. Try to cultivate the mindset that you belong and don’t have to prove it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more resources, check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Noble’s website\u003c/a> and take her “\u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/take-the-quiz\">How ‘Woke’ is Your Mixed Race Parenting? quiz\u003c/a>.” And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.drjennpsych.com/\">Mixed Life Academy\u003c/a> is one model of a parent support group for working through some of the tricky issues that come up in this space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For tips and suggestions for mixed-race teens, check out our companion post featuring Rahul Yates, a high school senior from Los Angeles who hosts the \u003ca href=\"https://www.iheart.com/podcast/53-mixed-by-gen-z-103270911/\">Mixed by Gen Z podcast\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "writer-and-activist-cherrie-moraga-on-her-mixed-blood-chicana-heritage-skin-privilege-and-embracing-discomfort",
"title": "Writer and Activist Cherríe Moraga on Her ‘Mixed Blood’ Chicana Heritage, Skin Privilege and Embracing Discomfort",
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"content": "\u003cp>Half-and-half. Cream and coffee. Almost every mixed-race family develops their own — sometimes bizarre — metaphors to explain their kids to the outside world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chicana feminist, playwright, poet and author Cherríe Moraga prefers the term “mixed blood.” Her recent memoir, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://cherriemoraga.com/index.php/books-1/native-country\">Native Country of the Heart\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, is a tribute to her powerful and complicated Mexican mother, Elvira Moraga. It’s also a chronicle of her own evolution as a queer writer, activist and mixed-race teenager growing up in San Gabriel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946420\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage photo of three women standing in front of two men with trees and a building in the background.\" width=\"480\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg 480w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967-160x162.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga (far right, in brown coat) with her family in 1967. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Cherríe Moraga, author\"]‘How you look impacts how people perceive you, which then affects how you see yourself. Racism is real, and shade is real…But if you ask me how I feel? I feel like a Mexican.’[/pullquote]The memoir is a more seasoned reflection on the concepts she first explored when she co-edited the groundbreaking anthology \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/This-Bridge-Called-My-Back-Fourth-Edition\">This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color\u003c/a>\u003c/em> in 1981. Her essay “La Güera” focuses on straddling identities as a mixed-race queer woman who’s light-skinned — or güera in Spanish. Moraga says people sometimes perceive her as white, despite her deep ties to her Mexican culture and heritage. In the essay, she explores the privilege she experiences in the world because of her phenotype, but also her vulnerability as a working-class woman and as a lesbian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"mixed-race\" label=\"Related Posts\"]Moraga was born in Los Angeles, lived and wrote for decades in the Bay Area, is a professor at UC Santa Barbara and recently settled in Sacramento. California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha and KQED correspondent Marisa Lagos spoke to her at her home for the series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Khokha, the interview was a chance to talk with a writer she’d long admired. She read Moraga’s work as a mixed, light-skinned, queer teenager, and felt a door open as she saw parts of her own experience reflected in essays like “La Güera.” Lagos grew up in Southern California with a Mexican parent, and wanted to talk to Moraga about claiming her Chicana heritage and her mestizaje — and how her mixed-race identity intersects with her life as an artist and activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Excerpts from their interview are below, edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>On the words she uses to describe her identity\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Since the publication of \u003cem>This Bridge Called My Back\u003c/em>, I just call myself Chicana. And then if you open up the book and you read past the first paragraph, you’ll know I’m mixed blood. Mexican on my mother’s side. I was going to say Anglo on my father’s side. But, when I started doing all that ancestry stuff, I found out actually my father’s half Jewish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946418 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black-and-white photo of men, women and children sitting and standing in front of a table with a male child putting his hand in a cake.\" width=\"640\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959.-160x112.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga (center, front row) with her Mexican side of the family in 1959. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I’ve used a lot of terms: “mestiza\u003cem>,\u003c/em>” “mixed blood,” “half breed.” My sister, brother and I were the only mixed-blood kids in our big family. And they always just called us “half-and-half.” I’ve also referred to myself as the most like the “mestiza’s mestiza” because my mother is Mexican, and Mexicanos have a whole range of Indigenous blood. The Chicano movement brought up our understanding of being Indigenous as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946417\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 620px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946417 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a woman and man sitting down with the man's hand around the woman's arm.\" width=\"620\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg 620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s-160x124.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s parents, Elvira Moraga and Joseph Lawrence, in 1950. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On her relationship with her parents\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I love my father, but he did not know how to love. I always considered my father an orphan because his family really didn’t factor much in my life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946415 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black-and-white photo of a man and woman who is kneeling down holding three children.\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267.jpeg 480w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267-160x213.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s paternal grandmother, Hallie, with Moraga’s father, Joseph Lawrence, Moraga, her brother, James, and her sister, JoAnn. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mother was the person that made it home. She had that kind of warmth. She could cook great. She had opinions about everything. She was not an educated woman. She was a survivor on many, many levels. A farmworker when she was quite young, and then they moved to Tijuana during the Depression, and she began working [at] the Agua Caliente racetrack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every value I had and have was formed by who she was in our family. Her relationship to spirituality, her relationship to all the hard stuff like telling the truth and trying to be who you are, to be ethical and to have compassion. She was also really hard. She was a very impassioned woman. She used to beat the hell out of us, and that was acceptable [at the time]. She was also the great love of my life. She told stories. She taught me a certain compassion that I think has really impacted the way I became a writer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 636px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg\" alt=\"A photo of two women with the woman on the right with her arm over the other woman's shoulder while she is seated at a table with a cup in front of them.\" width=\"636\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg 636w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers-160x121.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga with her mother, Elvira Moraga, in 2004, after her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I am not the only one in the world to think like this, that you have a deeper identification with one side of your family by virtue of who loved you. I mean, who really loved you? For me, it was my mother’s family. My Mexican grandmother, who was born in 1888, lived next door to us for many, many years. That was a Spanish-speaking household. So even though we were kind of terrible Spanish speakers, talking with our hands, that was the cultura that I understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 619px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-%E2%80%94-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946419 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-%E2%80%94-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage color photo of several men and women standing and seated in front of each other.\" width=\"619\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-—-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg 619w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-—-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother.-160x124.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s aunts and uncles on the Moraga side. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On light-skinned mixed-race people, skin privilege and perceptions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You can say, well, she’s “white presenting,” right? You can go into a store and no one’s going to trip on you. How you look impacts how people perceive you, which then affects how you see yourself. Racism is real and shade is real. So [I’m] trying to talk about that and still say that if you ask me how I feel? I feel like a Mexican. Partly my relationship to that has to do with the fact that — and this is my theory — that my mother was the person of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re telling me that my road in this life is to be a white American, I’m not there. I don’t want it. You can keep it. Yes, it’s structural racism. So there’s a structural reason, but it’s deeply intimate as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it’s complicated. You have to be able to talk out of both sides of your mouth in an honest way. Yes, I have this so-called privilege. And it is a verifiable privilege, no question about that. It has saved my life. And it’s even saved the life of women of color I’ve been with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You are also named by who you run with. You’re perceived differently. If I’m with a bunch of Latinas, we’re all Latino or Chicano or whatever. If I’m with a white woman, it changes. With a Black woman, it changes. When I was in New York, with my partner at the time who was Black, they thought we were Puerto Rican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946416\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses, a necklace and gray sweater stands behind a fountain and outdoor garden.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga at her home in Sacramento in 2023. \u003ccite>(Marisa Lagos/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I do a lot of speaking engagements, [where] I’ll have a young person come up to me and say, “Oh, you know, I’m mixed-blood, too.” And I say, “What are you doing about it? [Are you] saying you’re biracial or mixed blood [with white ancestry], without any position in it?” I’m not being judgmental. I don’t want to close down hearts, but what I’m trying to say is that there is an accountability to what we know. If being mixed blood impacts what you know, and what you don’t know, you’re accountable to both of those sides of you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we’re asking people to be accountable because they’re white, then it’s the same principle if you have those [skin tone] privileges. But at the same time, you have a deep love and you know things, and you’ve also experienced prejudice, even if it was never recognizable to anybody but you, because of being mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do you bring yourself fully to bear on the situation? You look at where power is in the room, because there’s always a power play going on. Like when I’m doing a gig, and I know they’re homophobes, I’m going to come out. If I know that they’re racist, I’m going to be as brown as it gets. Whatever it takes, because that’s strategically intelligent. You don’t use your identity to belong. You walk in belonging. You walk in with knowledge that you have a right to be in the room. But you do not try to work your way into belonging or saying, “I got cred, too, because I am this and I’m half that.” If you’re a light-skinned woman, and most people in the room are not, you don’t do that. When you leave the room, you’re going to be destroyed if you do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So this is a delicate dance we’re talking about. Sometimes you really have to eat it. You just have to go home and say, “Man, that did not feel good.” I had to just take stuff that wasn’t mine to carry. It agitates, it disturbs, you’re not comfortable. What entitled people try to do is get comfortable really, really quick. So our job, when we’re uncomfortable, is not to be so quick to put the name on it, figure it out. Check out your discomfort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Writer and Activist Cherríe Moraga on Her ‘Mixed Blood’ Chicana Heritage, Skin Privilege and Embracing Discomfort | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Half-and-half. Cream and coffee. Almost every mixed-race family develops their own — sometimes bizarre — metaphors to explain their kids to the outside world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chicana feminist, playwright, poet and author Cherríe Moraga prefers the term “mixed blood.” Her recent memoir, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://cherriemoraga.com/index.php/books-1/native-country\">Native Country of the Heart\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, is a tribute to her powerful and complicated Mexican mother, Elvira Moraga. It’s also a chronicle of her own evolution as a queer writer, activist and mixed-race teenager growing up in San Gabriel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946420\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946420\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage photo of three women standing in front of two men with trees and a building in the background.\" width=\"480\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967.jpeg 480w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/The-familia-1967-160x162.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga (far right, in brown coat) with her family in 1967. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘How you look impacts how people perceive you, which then affects how you see yourself. Racism is real, and shade is real…But if you ask me how I feel? I feel like a Mexican.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The memoir is a more seasoned reflection on the concepts she first explored when she co-edited the groundbreaking anthology \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/This-Bridge-Called-My-Back-Fourth-Edition\">This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color\u003c/a>\u003c/em> in 1981. Her essay “La Güera” focuses on straddling identities as a mixed-race queer woman who’s light-skinned — or güera in Spanish. Moraga says people sometimes perceive her as white, despite her deep ties to her Mexican culture and heritage. In the essay, she explores the privilege she experiences in the world because of her phenotype, but also her vulnerability as a working-class woman and as a lesbian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Moraga was born in Los Angeles, lived and wrote for decades in the Bay Area, is a professor at UC Santa Barbara and recently settled in Sacramento. California Report Magazine host Sasha Khokha and KQED correspondent Marisa Lagos spoke to her at her home for the series “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Khokha, the interview was a chance to talk with a writer she’d long admired. She read Moraga’s work as a mixed, light-skinned, queer teenager, and felt a door open as she saw parts of her own experience reflected in essays like “La Güera.” Lagos grew up in Southern California with a Mexican parent, and wanted to talk to Moraga about claiming her Chicana heritage and her mestizaje — and how her mixed-race identity intersects with her life as an artist and activist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Excerpts from their interview are below, edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>On the words she uses to describe her identity\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Since the publication of \u003cem>This Bridge Called My Back\u003c/em>, I just call myself Chicana. And then if you open up the book and you read past the first paragraph, you’ll know I’m mixed blood. Mexican on my mother’s side. I was going to say Anglo on my father’s side. But, when I started doing all that ancestry stuff, I found out actually my father’s half Jewish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946418\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946418 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black-and-white photo of men, women and children sitting and standing in front of a table with a male child putting his hand in a cake.\" width=\"640\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959..jpeg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/My-familia-me-center-1959.-160x112.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga (center, front row) with her Mexican side of the family in 1959. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I’ve used a lot of terms: “mestiza\u003cem>,\u003c/em>” “mixed blood,” “half breed.” My sister, brother and I were the only mixed-blood kids in our big family. And they always just called us “half-and-half.” I’ve also referred to myself as the most like the “mestiza’s mestiza” because my mother is Mexican, and Mexicanos have a whole range of Indigenous blood. The Chicano movement brought up our understanding of being Indigenous as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946417\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 620px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946417 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a woman and man sitting down with the man's hand around the woman's arm.\" width=\"620\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s.jpeg 620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Mom-and-Dad-1950s-160x124.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s parents, Elvira Moraga and Joseph Lawrence, in 1950. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On her relationship with her parents\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>I love my father, but he did not know how to love. I always considered my father an orphan because his family really didn’t factor much in my life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946415\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 480px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946415 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black-and-white photo of a man and woman who is kneeling down holding three children.\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267.jpeg 480w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Grandmother-Hallie-fathers-side-with-Dad-and-us-kids.-Maybe-1954.-e1681325786267-160x213.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s paternal grandmother, Hallie, with Moraga’s father, Joseph Lawrence, Moraga, her brother, James, and her sister, JoAnn. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My mother was the person that made it home. She had that kind of warmth. She could cook great. She had opinions about everything. She was not an educated woman. She was a survivor on many, many levels. A farmworker when she was quite young, and then they moved to Tijuana during the Depression, and she began working [at] the Agua Caliente racetrack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every value I had and have was formed by who she was in our family. Her relationship to spirituality, her relationship to all the hard stuff like telling the truth and trying to be who you are, to be ethical and to have compassion. She was also really hard. She was a very impassioned woman. She used to beat the hell out of us, and that was acceptable [at the time]. She was also the great love of my life. She told stories. She taught me a certain compassion that I think has really impacted the way I became a writer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 636px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946413\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg\" alt=\"A photo of two women with the woman on the right with her arm over the other woman's shoulder while she is seated at a table with a cup in front of them.\" width=\"636\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers.jpeg 636w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/2004.-My-mom-already-with-Alzheimers-160x121.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga with her mother, Elvira Moraga, in 2004, after her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I am not the only one in the world to think like this, that you have a deeper identification with one side of your family by virtue of who loved you. I mean, who really loved you? For me, it was my mother’s family. My Mexican grandmother, who was born in 1888, lived next door to us for many, many years. That was a Spanish-speaking household. So even though we were kind of terrible Spanish speakers, talking with our hands, that was the cultura that I understood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946419\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 619px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-%E2%80%94-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11946419 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-%E2%80%94-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage color photo of several men and women standing and seated in front of each other.\" width=\"619\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-—-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother..jpeg 619w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Some-of-my-aunts-and-uncles-all-Moragas-—-my-mom-second-from-left-front-row-early1960s.-Grandmother-Dolores-just-above-my-mother.-160x124.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 619px) 100vw, 619px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moraga’s aunts and uncles on the Moraga side. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cherríe Moraga)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>On light-skinned mixed-race people, skin privilege and perceptions\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You can say, well, she’s “white presenting,” right? You can go into a store and no one’s going to trip on you. How you look impacts how people perceive you, which then affects how you see yourself. Racism is real and shade is real. So [I’m] trying to talk about that and still say that if you ask me how I feel? I feel like a Mexican. Partly my relationship to that has to do with the fact that — and this is my theory — that my mother was the person of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re telling me that my road in this life is to be a white American, I’m not there. I don’t want it. You can keep it. Yes, it’s structural racism. So there’s a structural reason, but it’s deeply intimate as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For me, it’s complicated. You have to be able to talk out of both sides of your mouth in an honest way. Yes, I have this so-called privilege. And it is a verifiable privilege, no question about that. It has saved my life. And it’s even saved the life of women of color I’ve been with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You are also named by who you run with. You’re perceived differently. If I’m with a bunch of Latinas, we’re all Latino or Chicano or whatever. If I’m with a white woman, it changes. With a Black woman, it changes. When I was in New York, with my partner at the time who was Black, they thought we were Puerto Rican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11946416\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-800x600.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing glasses, a necklace and gray sweater stands behind a fountain and outdoor garden.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-800x600.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1020x765.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_6583-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cherríe Moraga at her home in Sacramento in 2023. \u003ccite>(Marisa Lagos/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I do a lot of speaking engagements, [where] I’ll have a young person come up to me and say, “Oh, you know, I’m mixed-blood, too.” And I say, “What are you doing about it? [Are you] saying you’re biracial or mixed blood [with white ancestry], without any position in it?” I’m not being judgmental. I don’t want to close down hearts, but what I’m trying to say is that there is an accountability to what we know. If being mixed blood impacts what you know, and what you don’t know, you’re accountable to both of those sides of you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we’re asking people to be accountable because they’re white, then it’s the same principle if you have those [skin tone] privileges. But at the same time, you have a deep love and you know things, and you’ve also experienced prejudice, even if it was never recognizable to anybody but you, because of being mixed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How do you bring yourself fully to bear on the situation? You look at where power is in the room, because there’s always a power play going on. Like when I’m doing a gig, and I know they’re homophobes, I’m going to come out. If I know that they’re racist, I’m going to be as brown as it gets. Whatever it takes, because that’s strategically intelligent. You don’t use your identity to belong. You walk in belonging. You walk in with knowledge that you have a right to be in the room. But you do not try to work your way into belonging or saying, “I got cred, too, because I am this and I’m half that.” If you’re a light-skinned woman, and most people in the room are not, you don’t do that. When you leave the room, you’re going to be destroyed if you do that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So this is a delicate dance we’re talking about. Sometimes you really have to eat it. You just have to go home and say, “Man, that did not feel good.” I had to just take stuff that wasn’t mine to carry. It agitates, it disturbs, you’re not comfortable. What entitled people try to do is get comfortable really, really quick. So our job, when we’re uncomfortable, is not to be so quick to put the name on it, figure it out. Check out your discomfort.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Bay Area Teacher on Growing Up 'Multiracial Japanese American' — and Why Ethnic Studies Matters",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Teacher on Growing Up ‘Multiracial Japanese American’ — and Why Ethnic Studies Matters | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>“Woman. Daughter Adoptee. AIDS Orphan. Hapa. Japanese-American. Asian. Asian-American. Queer Musician. Writer. Martial Artist. Alive.” Those are the words a 21-year-old Joemy Ito-Gates wrote below a photograph of her taken by artist Kip Fulbeck as part of his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">photography project documenting mixed-race people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some 20 years later, Ito-Gates says many of those words still describe her. She’s also now a mother, an ethnic studies teacher and an advocate against cultural appropriation in fashion. And she’s changed the words she uses to describe her racial background to “multiracial Japanese American.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-800x1005.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a headshot of a multiracial woman with text underneath.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-800x1005.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-160x201.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates.jpg 955w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of Joemy Ito-Gates by artist Kip Fulbeck, who has documented hundreds of mixed-race Americans. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kip Fulbeck)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the series “Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians,” hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Ito-Gates about growing up as a multiracial adoptee, the loss of her parents to AIDS, and the ways she’s reclaiming Japanese heritage garments. Here are some excerpts from that conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945721 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x618.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a white man and an Asian woman sitting next to each other, both smiling happily and wearing short-sleeved shirts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x618.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1020x788.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-160x124.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1536x1187.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-2048x1583.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1920x1484.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joemy Ito-Gates’ parents, Allen and Yoko, as a young couple. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On growing up with a Japanese mother and a white father\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We didn’t talk about what it meant for me to be a multiracial kid, to be Asian-presenting, to have two parents who were of different races and very different cultures and backgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Joemy Ito-Gates\"]‘When we bring people who’ve been pushed to the margins to the center, that is an act of love and community care. That’s what our students, what our children, deserve.’[/pullquote]There was just a lot of silence. I did experience a tremendous amount of racism as a child. And I was quiet about it. I didn’t tell anyone about it. So it wasn’t until I was, I would say, in my teens that I really started grappling with, who am I? What does my identity mean to me?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On both her parents dying from AIDS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Part of my story is that my father was — I don’t know how he self-identified, but he was queer. That’s how I talk about his identity. And in the ’80s, he was having affairs outside of the marriage with my mother. And he did contract HIV, passed [it] on to my mother. And so she also had HIV. You know, of course, at that time in the ’80s, it turned into AIDS and she died when I was 8. And then my father died when I was 10. They had made arrangements for me to move in with friends of theirs, a white family [in the Bay Area]. So when I was 10 years old, I moved in with these family friends and was raised by them. And living in a white family was culture shock because I was not only navigating the grief of losing my parents, but not having my mother. And [not having] that cultural foundation in my life was pretty devastating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945718 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of an Asian woman wearing a kimono and her little girl, wearing a white blouse with a butterfly collar and a dark pinafore, sitting on her lap. The woman is smiling, close-lipped, and the little girl is looking down and to the left, away from the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates’ mother and grandmother in Japan. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the rise of violence against the AAPI community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"mixed-race\" label=\"Related Posts\"]I think like so many people in the AAPI community, I’ve been in this cycle of grief for the past few years, not only because I find the pandemic really triggering as an AIDS orphan, but also just as a multiracial Asian American woman. It’s been devastating to see my community under attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[The way] I’ve been able to bring a semblance of balance to the past two years, around this issue in particular, is to show up with my daughter to protest events, taking action in the community, to speak our truths, to be with the larger community, saying, “This is not OK. We are here. Our pain is real. Our pain matters and I’m taking action.” So that has been healing to be able to do that, especially with my own child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945717\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a hat, face mask, black shirt with a logo and jeans holding a sign next to a small child wearing a hat, face mask, and skirt holding a sign outside with people walking in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates and her daughter at a protest for racial justice. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For me and my family, we really focus on, for example, role models like Yuri Kochiyama, who is such a bridge builder and brought communities of color together, particularly Asian and Black. And then making sure that we’re part of this movement of Japanese American folks who are showing up in solidarity with the Black community to fight against anti-Black racism and to fight for Black American reparations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On why she’s advocating for ethnic studies for all K–12 students\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its heart, I believe that ethnic studies is about telling the truth, and it’s about love and it’s about being curious. It’s telling the truth about historically marginalized communities of color and bringing them to the center of the conversation in the curriculum. When we do that, everyone wins. When we bring people who’ve been pushed to the margins to the center, that is an act of love and community care. That’s what our students, what our children, deserve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I believe ethnic studies is for everyone. It’s a place where we can show up and be whole people and be fully seen. And it’s about being curious about the world around us, about each other, and really questioning, why are things like this? Why doesn’t it feel good? And questioning structural racism, power dynamics, patterns in history. We are celebrating people in our communities of color who are often hidden, who are invisible-ized. And so to me, ethnic studies is also an act of joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945719\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945719 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x1138.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial woman standing in a red, white, pink and blue kimono with a yellow garment around her midsection while holding a white bag behind a mural.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1138\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x1138.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-1020x1450.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-160x228.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-1080x1536.jpg 1080w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC.jpg 1441w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates poses in her kimono. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the appropriation of Japanese textiles in fashion\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So often we see sacred, ceremonial, deeply meaningful garments and cultural pieces appropriated, misused and commodified and stripped of the meaning and the significance and the ties to the people of the origin culture that those items and garments are coming from. To me, that’s ultimately dehumanizing. There is this historical context to these kinds of items that I think it’s really important to understand and learn about. It’s connected to why I feel passionate about ethnic studies, about our young people learning our true histories of what has happened to people of color in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945716\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-800x1005.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a dress shirt, dark pants and shoes sits to the left of a small child in a dress standing in the middle and woman in a red kimono seated to the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-800x1005.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-1020x1281.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-160x201.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-1223x1536.jpg 1223w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053.jpg 1631w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates and her child wearing ceremonial garments with her husband at an Obon festival in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I do feel strongly that if you’re someone who’s multiracial and you’re on this journey to come home to yourself, it’s a wonderful and important thing to connect with heritage garments. When I wear my kimono and my yukata and my haori, I feel the generations wrapped around me. Even if it’s not a piece that’s been handed down in my family, I feel this cultural hug when I’m wearing these garments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“Woman. Daughter Adoptee. AIDS Orphan. Hapa. Japanese-American. Asian. Asian-American. Queer Musician. Writer. Martial Artist. Alive.” Those are the words a 21-year-old Joemy Ito-Gates wrote below a photograph of her taken by artist Kip Fulbeck as part of his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">photography project documenting mixed-race people\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some 20 years later, Ito-Gates says many of those words still describe her. She’s also now a mother, an ethnic studies teacher and an advocate against cultural appropriation in fashion. And she’s changed the words she uses to describe her racial background to “multiracial Japanese American.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945715\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945715\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-800x1005.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a headshot of a multiracial woman with text underneath.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-800x1005.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates-160x201.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Fulbeck_Hapa_Project_Ito-Gates.jpg 955w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of Joemy Ito-Gates by artist Kip Fulbeck, who has documented hundreds of mixed-race Americans. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kip Fulbeck)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the series “Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians,” hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Ito-Gates about growing up as a multiracial adoptee, the loss of her parents to AIDS, and the ways she’s reclaiming Japanese heritage garments. Here are some excerpts from that conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945721 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x618.jpeg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a white man and an Asian woman sitting next to each other, both smiling happily and wearing short-sleeved shirts.\" width=\"800\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x618.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1020x788.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-160x124.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1536x1187.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-2048x1583.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemys-parents-Yoko-and-Allen-FOR-GRAPHIC-1920x1484.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joemy Ito-Gates’ parents, Allen and Yoko, as a young couple. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On growing up with a Japanese mother and a white father\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We didn’t talk about what it meant for me to be a multiracial kid, to be Asian-presenting, to have two parents who were of different races and very different cultures and backgrounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>There was just a lot of silence. I did experience a tremendous amount of racism as a child. And I was quiet about it. I didn’t tell anyone about it. So it wasn’t until I was, I would say, in my teens that I really started grappling with, who am I? What does my identity mean to me?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On both her parents dying from AIDS\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Part of my story is that my father was — I don’t know how he self-identified, but he was queer. That’s how I talk about his identity. And in the ’80s, he was having affairs outside of the marriage with my mother. And he did contract HIV, passed [it] on to my mother. And so she also had HIV. You know, of course, at that time in the ’80s, it turned into AIDS and she died when I was 8. And then my father died when I was 10. They had made arrangements for me to move in with friends of theirs, a white family [in the Bay Area]. So when I was 10 years old, I moved in with these family friends and was raised by them. And living in a white family was culture shock because I was not only navigating the grief of losing my parents, but not having my mother. And [not having] that cultural foundation in my life was pretty devastating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945718\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945718 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of an Asian woman wearing a kimono and her little girl, wearing a white blouse with a butterfly collar and a dark pinafore, sitting on her lap. The woman is smiling, close-lipped, and the little girl is looking down and to the left, away from the camera.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG-5341-scaled-e1680649704781.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates’ mother and grandmother in Japan. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the rise of violence against the AAPI community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I think like so many people in the AAPI community, I’ve been in this cycle of grief for the past few years, not only because I find the pandemic really triggering as an AIDS orphan, but also just as a multiracial Asian American woman. It’s been devastating to see my community under attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[The way] I’ve been able to bring a semblance of balance to the past two years, around this issue in particular, is to show up with my daughter to protest events, taking action in the community, to speak our truths, to be with the larger community, saying, “This is not OK. We are here. Our pain is real. Our pain matters and I’m taking action.” So that has been healing to be able to do that, especially with my own child.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945717\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945717\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-800x1067.jpeg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a hat, face mask, black shirt with a logo and jeans holding a sign next to a small child wearing a hat, face mask, and skirt holding a sign outside with people walking in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-800x1067.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1020x1360.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-160x213.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_7439-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates and her daughter at a protest for racial justice. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For me and my family, we really focus on, for example, role models like Yuri Kochiyama, who is such a bridge builder and brought communities of color together, particularly Asian and Black. And then making sure that we’re part of this movement of Japanese American folks who are showing up in solidarity with the Black community to fight against anti-Black racism and to fight for Black American reparations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On why she’s advocating for ethnic studies for all K–12 students\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At its heart, I believe that ethnic studies is about telling the truth, and it’s about love and it’s about being curious. It’s telling the truth about historically marginalized communities of color and bringing them to the center of the conversation in the curriculum. When we do that, everyone wins. When we bring people who’ve been pushed to the margins to the center, that is an act of love and community care. That’s what our students, what our children, deserve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I believe ethnic studies is for everyone. It’s a place where we can show up and be whole people and be fully seen. And it’s about being curious about the world around us, about each other, and really questioning, why are things like this? Why doesn’t it feel good? And questioning structural racism, power dynamics, patterns in history. We are celebrating people in our communities of color who are often hidden, who are invisible-ized. And so to me, ethnic studies is also an act of joy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945719\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11945719 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x1138.jpg\" alt=\"A multiracial woman standing in a red, white, pink and blue kimono with a yellow garment around her midsection while holding a white bag behind a mural.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1138\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-800x1138.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-1020x1450.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-160x228.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC-1080x1536.jpg 1080w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/Joemy-in-kimono-FOR-GRAPHIC.jpg 1441w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates poses in her kimono. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the appropriation of Japanese textiles in fashion\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>So often we see sacred, ceremonial, deeply meaningful garments and cultural pieces appropriated, misused and commodified and stripped of the meaning and the significance and the ties to the people of the origin culture that those items and garments are coming from. To me, that’s ultimately dehumanizing. There is this historical context to these kinds of items that I think it’s really important to understand and learn about. It’s connected to why I feel passionate about ethnic studies, about our young people learning our true histories of what has happened to people of color in this country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945716\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-800x1005.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a dress shirt, dark pants and shoes sits to the left of a small child in a dress standing in the middle and woman in a red kimono seated to the right.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-800x1005.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-1020x1281.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-160x201.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053-1223x1536.jpg 1223w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/IMG_0053.jpg 1631w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ito-Gates and her child wearing ceremonial garments with her husband at an Obon festival in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Joemy Ito-Gates)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I do feel strongly that if you’re someone who’s multiracial and you’re on this journey to come home to yourself, it’s a wonderful and important thing to connect with heritage garments. When I wear my kimono and my yukata and my haori, I feel the generations wrapped around me. Even if it’s not a piece that’s been handed down in my family, I feel this cultural hug when I’m wearing these garments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'Can't You Be in the Black Struggle and Be Multiracial, Too?': Late UCSB Professor Challenges the One-Drop Rule",
"headTitle": "The California Report Magazine | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>Reginald Daniel was a UC Santa Barbara professor who taught the longest-running college course on multiracial identity in the U.S., helping hundreds of students grapple with their own family histories and broader concepts of racial identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also was a person who, from a young age, butted heads with his own family over questions of race. Born to a Black family in the segregated South, he posed tough questions about his heritage, which included white ancestors. Those questions made his family deeply uncomfortable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945120\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945120\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-800x572.jpeg\" alt=\"Two black and white photos of children. The photo on the left shows a young boy standing behind a young girl. The second photo shows two young boys and a young girls sitting on a couch.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-800x572.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1020x729.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-160x114.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1536x1098.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-2048x1464.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1920x1372.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Daniel and his sister Malva at their grandmother's house. Right: Daniel, his sister Malva and their cousin Pete (center) in Louisville, Kentucky. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Daniel never stopped asking them — his curiosity defined him until his sudden death last fall, just after KQED’s Marisa Lagos and Sasha Khokha spoke with him for The California Report Magazine’s series \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed! Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSB professor Paul Spickard was a close friend of Daniel’s, and co-editor with him on the \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/ucsb_soc_jcmrs/1/2\">Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies\u003c/a>. Spickard believes that Daniel will be remembered as one of the great racial theorists of his time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Paul Spickard, professor, UC Santa Barbara\"]'He's the person who gave us the permission to think about multiplicity, about fluidity, about contingency, about race as a performance, not necessarily as something that is in your genes.'[/pullquote]“When intellectual historians write the history of racial thinking in the last quarter of the 20th century, in the first quarter of the 21st, there are certain names that are going to appear near the top of the heap … Reg [Daniel] is one of those,” Spickard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Daniel was willing to “think outside of the made-up, racist categories” that dominated racial theory, Spickard said — categories used to “justify slavery and colonialism” and which ended up separating people even more deeply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He's the person who gave us the permission to think about multiplicity, about fluidity, about contingency, about race as a performance, not necessarily as something that is in your genes,” Spickard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8LS-G2PeZI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kip Fulbeck, another UCSB colleague of Daniel’s and an artist who has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">centered mixed-race identity in his work\u003c/a>, said Daniel was a “tour de force in the early multiracial movement” of the late 1980s and early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were talking about this stuff before anyone else was really dealing with it,” Fulbeck said. “It wasn't so much we were doing this to be activists. We were doing this to just, to have a home, to have a community.”[aside tag=\"mixed-race\" label=\"Related Posts\"]Fulbeck recalled that Daniel, who could be a bit of a hermit, also lit up in front of a classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He had this amazing ability to captivate a room,” Fulbeck said. “He was just such a vibrant and charismatic lecturer, so passionate about what he was doing and always so poised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel brought that enthusiasm and joy to his work until he died suddenly in November 2022. Here are excerpts from his interview with Khokha and Lagos, edited for clarity and brevity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On how his family discussed race\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They didn't talk about it at all, which was really kind of fascinating. [In] Louisville, Kentucky, where I grew up, we couldn’t sit at the counters at Woolworths, we had to stand. So I remember very clear memories of those [things]. And you grew up with a certain sense of anxiety about appropriate behavior and what things could happen if you crossed the line unwittingly and didn't know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945119\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945119\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a woman leaning on her right arm.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Daniel's mother, Billie Johnson Daniel, who identified as African American. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of [my] grandparents are themselves the offspring of what we would consider to be interracial unions. Two of them were not marriages. The other ones were. So there was a sense, I think, a shame about that. That ancestry and the privileges that often come at that time, particularly among African Americans, about being lighter skinned. So there was a great deal of silence about it. But for me, I was just looking at the world around me and saw a lot of things that nobody wanted to talk about. But then when I began to realize that it's much more complicated, that my family was really very saddened about it, and they were really uncomfortable with me asking questions about our background and why we look the way we look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945114\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945114\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a man wearing a suit.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Daniel's father, Reginald Simms Daniel Jr., who identified as African American. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On his identity as multiracial or mixed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I was an outlier throughout my entire life to identify as mixed — and my family was not happy about it. I identify as a multiracial person, although I'm open to people using the term mixed race or racially mixed, just depending on the context. And I let people know that my multiracial identity is grounded in the African diaspora because of being part Black, and that I'm engaged in the struggles of Black people as well as a broader anti-racist struggle because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945014\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-800x1073.png\" alt=\"A vintage black and white of a young boy holding a baby girl while sitting on a swing set outdoors.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1073\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-800x1073.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-1020x1369.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-160x215.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing.png 1036w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel and his sister Malva playing as kids, circa 1957, in Louisville, Kentucky. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[When I was in first grade] Crayola came out with a tan and a flesh color. And I had always thought of myself as tan. That was the color that I always thought I was. The only way I could get my skin color was when we had paints because I could mix brown and white paint. So I just had a sense of myself as being tan and tan as a mixture of brown and white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[My family tried] to explain, “No, it's not about color, it's about ancestry.” But if we have all these other ancestries, why does African ancestry override all of them? And they couldn't answer that. Other than “because.” And for me, that wasn't good enough. So they thought there was something wrong with me. Perceptually. They thought I had a — I don't want to call it a mental disability, but that's kind of the way they made it feel. As if I was out of touch with reality and they needed to get me back in touch with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhY4UUDF_Cc\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the challenges of being Black and mixed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[Some Black people] feel it's a sense of betrayal to the Black struggle. But I'm saying, can't you be in the Black struggle and be multiracial, too? Is there a problem with that? Why is that a contradiction?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assumption is that a monoracial identity is the only trajectory to be engaged in the struggles of Black people. Some of that is also based on history because historically, multiracial-identified people have used their identity as an attempt to achieve white adjacency. So this is not coming out of a vacuum, and I think there are people, in fact, who may still embrace a multiracial identity as an attempt to become closer to whiteness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's hard and it's going to take a long time because our society is functioning the way it is in terms of the rightness of whiteness, so to speak. But [as] more people are willing to step out, be engaged in anti-racist work, be engaged in the struggles of other communities of color, while also identifying as multiracial, people will begin to see more examples of the fact that people can say they're multiracial and not be against the struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I walked into a room [where people were grouped based on their ethnic identity] and I was supposed to choose a box, I would just sit in the middle of the room. I wouldn't go to any of the boxes. If they had a clearly designated place for mixed people, I wouldn't even have to think, “Oh my God, I wonder if I should go there. What if I should go to the Black group? I wonder what they will think about me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's just always been very natural for me to think of myself as being an in-betweener or a liminal man that fits in and in between spaces. I have always been a mixed person. I wouldn't know how to think of myself otherwise. And I'm not planning on changing. You're asking me not to be myself. How do I do that?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On being mixed in California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I first came here, it was very clear to me that this sort of in-betweenness of the Latino population provided some sort of leverage for people who are also in between in other kinds of ways. Everybody is also creating new identities in California. That's the state's purpose. If you want to be different and be new, come out to California. And it's no surprise that here we have the largest number of multiracial people in the nation, here in California. Hawaii has a higher percentage because it's such a smaller state. But California is higher than the national average. And so the multiracial movement originated in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945011\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945011\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-800x1018.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a headshot of a multiracial man with text underneath.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1018\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-800x1018.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-160x204.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg.jpg 943w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of G. Reginald Daniel by artist Kip Fulbeck, who has documented hundreds of mixed-race Americans. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kip Fulbeck)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the evolution of his college course 'Betwixt and Between'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I first started teaching it back in 1989, I was terrified of walking into the classroom because I didn't know if people would understand what I was talking about. I used comparisons like broco- flower, which is broccoli and cauliflower, cockapoo, mermaid. There are all these entities in our world that we're familiar with that are hybrid. I don't do that anymore.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Reginald Daniel, professor, UC Santa Barbara\"]'Everybody is also creating new identities in California. That's the state's purpose.'[/pullquote]At that point, this topic was just beginning to become part of the public discourse. Some people were terrified when I first taught the course, that there were going to be riots or something like that. And exactly the opposite happened. A lot of students were looking for an opportunity to talk about this. I would say the demographics have changed over the years and that there are more and more people in the classes who actually do identify as biracial, multiracial or mixed, whatever term they use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945013\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"A group of several people of various ages and ethnic backgrounds standing, squatting and kneeling on a stage in a large lecture hall.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel (near center) in a group photo taken at the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association meeting at USC in 2017, where he, Maria Root, Cindy Nakashima, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu and Paul Spickard were honored and spoke on a panel about the early years of mixed-race studies. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Paul Spickard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So when you're dealing with ambiguity, the desire is to resolve that ambiguity by putting the person in a binary or a dichotomous framework. And multiracial people actually don't fit in that. And so it's troubling that people can't locate you racially, partially so they can know how to treat you, and where they place you in the racial hierarchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because they have a lifeblood interest in keeping that system intact. That makes the world very clear, and it keeps their location in the hierarchy very, very safe. And anything that challenges that is a threat to their existence, which they've come to believe in for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On a younger generation embracing their mixed identity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The younger generation is growing up in a very different kind of world. It's already unfolding. They're exposed to much more diversity in their daily lives, not just racial, but gender, sexuality, all kinds of things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These children are growing up not only in a more diverse world, a world that doesn't have the kinds of delineations that many of us have grown up in. But they're also just dismissing many of them. And they're saying, \"Well, [those categories] are just not relevant for me. I don't know why they're there in the first place, but they're not helping me move forward in life. So why should I even acknowledge it, let alone reproduce them?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On talking to kids about racial identity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think parents should be very open to discussing the history, the family history, the children's backgrounds and how things happened — what it means to have slave ancestry or Native American ancestry, or whatever other ancestry, do not hide it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children will learn to navigate the identities with which they're most comfortable. None of them are “better” than the other, although some of them come with more social privileges. I always say in my classes the lighter skin, the whiter the collar, and I think that's pretty accurate. It's really important for kids to know that there is racial privilege that not all groups benefit from it, and that if you have a white background, you need to understand the history. I mean, everybody, white kids, even themselves, need to understand the privileges that come to white people, even if they don't desire them just because of whiteness. [It’s] not about feeling guilty about being white, but understanding that there are advantages to that. And if you have that, maybe you should use them to be engaged in anti-racist work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Reginald Daniel was a UC Santa Barbara professor who taught the longest-running college course on multiracial identity in the U.S., helping hundreds of students grapple with their own family histories and broader concepts of racial identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also was a person who, from a young age, butted heads with his own family over questions of race. Born to a Black family in the segregated South, he posed tough questions about his heritage, which included white ancestors. Those questions made his family deeply uncomfortable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945120\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-scaled.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945120\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-800x572.jpeg\" alt=\"Two black and white photos of children. The photo on the left shows a young boy standing behind a young girl. The second photo shows two young boys and a young girls sitting on a couch.\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-800x572.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1020x729.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-160x114.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1536x1098.jpeg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-2048x1464.jpeg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Reg-and-Malva-at-grandmothers-house-1920x1372.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Daniel and his sister Malva at their grandmother's house. Right: Daniel, his sister Malva and their cousin Pete (center) in Louisville, Kentucky. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Daniel never stopped asking them — his curiosity defined him until his sudden death last fall, just after KQED’s Marisa Lagos and Sasha Khokha spoke with him for The California Report Magazine’s series \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">Mixed! Stories of Mixed-Race Californians\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSB professor Paul Spickard was a close friend of Daniel’s, and co-editor with him on the \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/ucsb_soc_jcmrs/1/2\">Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies\u003c/a>. Spickard believes that Daniel will be remembered as one of the great racial theorists of his time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'He's the person who gave us the permission to think about multiplicity, about fluidity, about contingency, about race as a performance, not necessarily as something that is in your genes.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When intellectual historians write the history of racial thinking in the last quarter of the 20th century, in the first quarter of the 21st, there are certain names that are going to appear near the top of the heap … Reg [Daniel] is one of those,” Spickard said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because Daniel was willing to “think outside of the made-up, racist categories” that dominated racial theory, Spickard said — categories used to “justify slavery and colonialism” and which ended up separating people even more deeply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He's the person who gave us the permission to think about multiplicity, about fluidity, about contingency, about race as a performance, not necessarily as something that is in your genes,” Spickard said.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/r8LS-G2PeZI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/r8LS-G2PeZI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Kip Fulbeck, another UCSB colleague of Daniel’s and an artist who has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11894597/what-are-you-artist-kip-fulbeck-gives-mixed-race-people-a-chance-to-answer-in-their-own-words\">centered mixed-race identity in his work\u003c/a>, said Daniel was a “tour de force in the early multiracial movement” of the late 1980s and early 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were talking about this stuff before anyone else was really dealing with it,” Fulbeck said. “It wasn't so much we were doing this to be activists. We were doing this to just, to have a home, to have a community.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fulbeck recalled that Daniel, who could be a bit of a hermit, also lit up in front of a classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He had this amazing ability to captivate a room,” Fulbeck said. “He was just such a vibrant and charismatic lecturer, so passionate about what he was doing and always so poised.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel brought that enthusiasm and joy to his work until he died suddenly in November 2022. Here are excerpts from his interview with Khokha and Lagos, edited for clarity and brevity.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On how his family discussed race\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>They didn't talk about it at all, which was really kind of fascinating. [In] Louisville, Kentucky, where I grew up, we couldn’t sit at the counters at Woolworths, we had to stand. So I remember very clear memories of those [things]. And you grew up with a certain sense of anxiety about appropriate behavior and what things could happen if you crossed the line unwittingly and didn't know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945119\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945119\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a woman leaning on her right arm.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/IMG_1333-scaled-e1680127137236.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Daniel's mother, Billie Johnson Daniel, who identified as African American. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All of [my] grandparents are themselves the offspring of what we would consider to be interracial unions. Two of them were not marriages. The other ones were. So there was a sense, I think, a shame about that. That ancestry and the privileges that often come at that time, particularly among African Americans, about being lighter skinned. So there was a great deal of silence about it. But for me, I was just looking at the world around me and saw a lot of things that nobody wanted to talk about. But then when I began to realize that it's much more complicated, that my family was really very saddened about it, and they were really uncomfortable with me asking questions about our background and why we look the way we look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945114\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945114\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A vintage black and white photo of a man wearing a suit.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Regs-dad-scaled-e1680127101970.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reginald Daniel's father, Reginald Simms Daniel Jr., who identified as African American. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On his identity as multiracial or mixed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I was an outlier throughout my entire life to identify as mixed — and my family was not happy about it. I identify as a multiracial person, although I'm open to people using the term mixed race or racially mixed, just depending on the context. And I let people know that my multiracial identity is grounded in the African diaspora because of being part Black, and that I'm engaged in the struggles of Black people as well as a broader anti-racist struggle because of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945014\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing.png\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945014\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-800x1073.png\" alt=\"A vintage black and white of a young boy holding a baby girl while sitting on a swing set outdoors.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1073\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-800x1073.png 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-1020x1369.png 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing-160x215.png 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegMalvaSwing.png 1036w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel and his sister Malva playing as kids, circa 1957, in Louisville, Kentucky. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Malva Daniel Reid)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[When I was in first grade] Crayola came out with a tan and a flesh color. And I had always thought of myself as tan. That was the color that I always thought I was. The only way I could get my skin color was when we had paints because I could mix brown and white paint. So I just had a sense of myself as being tan and tan as a mixture of brown and white.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[My family tried] to explain, “No, it's not about color, it's about ancestry.” But if we have all these other ancestries, why does African ancestry override all of them? And they couldn't answer that. Other than “because.” And for me, that wasn't good enough. So they thought there was something wrong with me. Perceptually. They thought I had a — I don't want to call it a mental disability, but that's kind of the way they made it feel. As if I was out of touch with reality and they needed to get me back in touch with it.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/LhY4UUDF_Cc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/LhY4UUDF_Cc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>On the challenges of being Black and mixed\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>[Some Black people] feel it's a sense of betrayal to the Black struggle. But I'm saying, can't you be in the Black struggle and be multiracial, too? Is there a problem with that? Why is that a contradiction?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assumption is that a monoracial identity is the only trajectory to be engaged in the struggles of Black people. Some of that is also based on history because historically, multiracial-identified people have used their identity as an attempt to achieve white adjacency. So this is not coming out of a vacuum, and I think there are people, in fact, who may still embrace a multiracial identity as an attempt to become closer to whiteness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's hard and it's going to take a long time because our society is functioning the way it is in terms of the rightness of whiteness, so to speak. But [as] more people are willing to step out, be engaged in anti-racist work, be engaged in the struggles of other communities of color, while also identifying as multiracial, people will begin to see more examples of the fact that people can say they're multiracial and not be against the struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If I walked into a room [where people were grouped based on their ethnic identity] and I was supposed to choose a box, I would just sit in the middle of the room. I wouldn't go to any of the boxes. If they had a clearly designated place for mixed people, I wouldn't even have to think, “Oh my God, I wonder if I should go there. What if I should go to the Black group? I wonder what they will think about me?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's just always been very natural for me to think of myself as being an in-betweener or a liminal man that fits in and in between spaces. I have always been a mixed person. I wouldn't know how to think of myself otherwise. And I'm not planning on changing. You're asking me not to be myself. How do I do that?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On being mixed in California\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I first came here, it was very clear to me that this sort of in-betweenness of the Latino population provided some sort of leverage for people who are also in between in other kinds of ways. Everybody is also creating new identities in California. That's the state's purpose. If you want to be different and be new, come out to California. And it's no surprise that here we have the largest number of multiracial people in the nation, here in California. Hawaii has a higher percentage because it's such a smaller state. But California is higher than the national average. And so the multiracial movement originated in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945011\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945011\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-800x1018.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of a headshot of a multiracial man with text underneath.\" width=\"800\" height=\"1018\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-800x1018.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg-160x204.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/KipsReg.jpg 943w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A portrait of G. Reginald Daniel by artist Kip Fulbeck, who has documented hundreds of mixed-race Americans. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Kip Fulbeck)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On the evolution of his college course 'Betwixt and Between'\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When I first started teaching it back in 1989, I was terrified of walking into the classroom because I didn't know if people would understand what I was talking about. I used comparisons like broco- flower, which is broccoli and cauliflower, cockapoo, mermaid. There are all these entities in our world that we're familiar with that are hybrid. I don't do that anymore.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At that point, this topic was just beginning to become part of the public discourse. Some people were terrified when I first taught the course, that there were going to be riots or something like that. And exactly the opposite happened. A lot of students were looking for an opportunity to talk about this. I would say the demographics have changed over the years and that there are more and more people in the classes who actually do identify as biracial, multiracial or mixed, whatever term they use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945013\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs.jpeg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11945013\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-800x533.jpeg\" alt=\"A group of several people of various ages and ethnic backgrounds standing, squatting and kneeling on a stage in a large lecture hall.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RegtheOGs.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel (near center) in a group photo taken at the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association meeting at USC in 2017, where he, Maria Root, Cindy Nakashima, Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu and Paul Spickard were honored and spoke on a panel about the early years of mixed-race studies. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Paul Spickard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So when you're dealing with ambiguity, the desire is to resolve that ambiguity by putting the person in a binary or a dichotomous framework. And multiracial people actually don't fit in that. And so it's troubling that people can't locate you racially, partially so they can know how to treat you, and where they place you in the racial hierarchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because they have a lifeblood interest in keeping that system intact. That makes the world very clear, and it keeps their location in the hierarchy very, very safe. And anything that challenges that is a threat to their existence, which they've come to believe in for so long.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On a younger generation embracing their mixed identity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The younger generation is growing up in a very different kind of world. It's already unfolding. They're exposed to much more diversity in their daily lives, not just racial, but gender, sexuality, all kinds of things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These children are growing up not only in a more diverse world, a world that doesn't have the kinds of delineations that many of us have grown up in. But they're also just dismissing many of them. And they're saying, \"Well, [those categories] are just not relevant for me. I don't know why they're there in the first place, but they're not helping me move forward in life. So why should I even acknowledge it, let alone reproduce them?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On talking to kids about racial identity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I think parents should be very open to discussing the history, the family history, the children's backgrounds and how things happened — what it means to have slave ancestry or Native American ancestry, or whatever other ancestry, do not hide it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children will learn to navigate the identities with which they're most comfortable. None of them are “better” than the other, although some of them come with more social privileges. I always say in my classes the lighter skin, the whiter the collar, and I think that's pretty accurate. It's really important for kids to know that there is racial privilege that not all groups benefit from it, and that if you have a white background, you need to understand the history. I mean, everybody, white kids, even themselves, need to understand the privileges that come to white people, even if they don't desire them just because of whiteness. [It’s] not about feeling guilty about being white, but understanding that there are advantages to that. And if you have that, maybe you should use them to be engaged in anti-racist work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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},
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"id": "baycurious",
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
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"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
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