Musings & Migraines has an interesting post up about being bi-racial:
[…] One thing that I?ve noticed growing up in Chicago, which is one of the most racially segregated cities in the country, is how complex the reaction is to the concept of biraciality or multi-ethnicity. I sometimes find that simply acknowledging that I am biracial can be seen by people has an attempt to downplay my African American heritage. Coming out as biracial has a ?lightening? effect; it?s the new ?passing.?
What?s both fascinating?and for me intensely frustrating?is how the one-drop theory has come full circle. Once used as a way for white sires to legally reject mulatto offspring, it became of uniting African-Americans. For a lot of people, the introduction of the little multi-ethnic box on the census sheets was something that could splinter communities.
I had mixed feelings about that. I always wanted to have a definite answer for which box to feel in. People used to tell me, ?Put what your mother is,? but that never felt right. Usually I?d feel in two boxes and not worry about it. Mostly I just wanted it not to matter so much. But the Census Bureau is preoccupied with single boxes, so a ?Shade in all that apply,? approach was not an option.