It is not 1953. The fact that two people who are of different ethnicities dare to have sex with each other and produce offspring which--gasp--does not subscribe to one of society's preconceptions of race should not stun anyone.
And yet, mixed-race people are a big deal. Whenever someone finds out that one is mixed-race it's like this fascinating topic of conversation that people (for whatever reason) can't shy away from. I don't get it. As a mixed-race person who knows all of this from personal experience, I'm going to go ahead and say that the main benefit of having to daily be a part of these interactions is getting to watch my white friends navigate this topic. They tread so carefully, but eventually they end up with both feet halfway down their esophagus.
"But you're, like, basically white, right?"
And I could go on for hours about how insulting all of it is. And I could write pages about my personal experiences and my own struggles with being an multiethic* individual in an incredibly categorized world. And I have no doubt that eventually you, reader, are going to be subjected to that.
But today, we're going to talk about something else. Today, we're going to talk about the ignorance involved with emphasizing a person's mixed heritage as their main identifying characteristic--or worse, a piece of trivia.
This whole post was sparked by a Buzzfeed article--this one, to be specific. It is entitled "34 Celebrities You Never Knew Were Of Mixed Heritage".
Let's talk about how the entire attitude of this article was surprise at the heritage of these celebrities. "What? They're not white? But they seemed so normal!" What this entire article does, in fact, is label these people as "other" in any way that it can. By emphasizing the non-white part of these people's background, the article represents entrenched ideals of white being normal, beautiful, and acceptable, while others are at best exotic and at worst repulsive.
And honestly, here's the kicker for me: Why does it matter? The article does not open a dialogue about mixed heritage or talk about the history of the topic; it only points a finger at individuals whose ethnicity is the least of anyone's concern. Let's be honest. These are celebrities. They are incredibly talented (mostly) and rich and famous. We care a lot more about who they're dating than where their ancestors came from.
Which is really the point, isn't it? This is just a piece of trivia. The author of the article probably did it because he had a deadline to meet and a slot to fill. And really, this is sadder: We make a big deal out of it because it's "interesting" for a moment, and then it falls by the wayside because really no one cares about these people's identity as much as they care about their IMDB page.
And there's no way to fix this. There isn't. Because we can't treat mixed-race people with the respect they deserve until we are treating every race with the respect they deserve. And God knows I wish we did. But it won't be until each race is treated equally that we can accept multiethnic people as anything other than oddities and statistics and curious exhibits of human genetics.
And maybe it won't even be then.
________________________________________
*It's 2013. Multiethnic is a word now. Spellcheck, you ignorant slut.
And yet, mixed-race people are a big deal. Whenever someone finds out that one is mixed-race it's like this fascinating topic of conversation that people (for whatever reason) can't shy away from. I don't get it. As a mixed-race person who knows all of this from personal experience, I'm going to go ahead and say that the main benefit of having to daily be a part of these interactions is getting to watch my white friends navigate this topic. They tread so carefully, but eventually they end up with both feet halfway down their esophagus.
"But you're, like, basically white, right?"
And I could go on for hours about how insulting all of it is. And I could write pages about my personal experiences and my own struggles with being an multiethic* individual in an incredibly categorized world. And I have no doubt that eventually you, reader, are going to be subjected to that.
But today, we're going to talk about something else. Today, we're going to talk about the ignorance involved with emphasizing a person's mixed heritage as their main identifying characteristic--or worse, a piece of trivia.
This whole post was sparked by a Buzzfeed article--this one, to be specific. It is entitled "34 Celebrities You Never Knew Were Of Mixed Heritage".
Let's talk about how the entire attitude of this article was surprise at the heritage of these celebrities. "What? They're not white? But they seemed so normal!" What this entire article does, in fact, is label these people as "other" in any way that it can. By emphasizing the non-white part of these people's background, the article represents entrenched ideals of white being normal, beautiful, and acceptable, while others are at best exotic and at worst repulsive.
And honestly, here's the kicker for me: Why does it matter? The article does not open a dialogue about mixed heritage or talk about the history of the topic; it only points a finger at individuals whose ethnicity is the least of anyone's concern. Let's be honest. These are celebrities. They are incredibly talented (mostly) and rich and famous. We care a lot more about who they're dating than where their ancestors came from.
Which is really the point, isn't it? This is just a piece of trivia. The author of the article probably did it because he had a deadline to meet and a slot to fill. And really, this is sadder: We make a big deal out of it because it's "interesting" for a moment, and then it falls by the wayside because really no one cares about these people's identity as much as they care about their IMDB page.
And there's no way to fix this. There isn't. Because we can't treat mixed-race people with the respect they deserve until we are treating every race with the respect they deserve. And God knows I wish we did. But it won't be until each race is treated equally that we can accept multiethnic people as anything other than oddities and statistics and curious exhibits of human genetics.
And maybe it won't even be then.
________________________________________
*It's 2013. Multiethnic is a word now. Spellcheck, you ignorant slut.
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