Yeah.... not so much. Spend much time talking to many “mixed race” people and you’ll find it usually isn’t “the best of both worlds.” Often you’re too much of one race for the other to accept you and too little of the other. It also depends on wether you’re able to “pass” or not- that is, if you look more like one race than the other (or sometimes you might be mistaken for a third race because of your features.) So a half Asian kid might be “too white” to be fully accepted by other Asians. If they won an award for Asian achievement many might grumble or protest. But if they look to “Asian” to be “white,” they might be made fun of for being Asian, or not treated the same as other “white people.”
That’s the thing about racism- it tends to be “us and them.” If you’re mixed race that doesn’t usually mean more people accept you- it usually means you have more people racist towards you for different reasons. And then there are people who simply object to the idea of mixed race children, or who hold grudges over history with various races- and that can be even more complex. Many older Chinese and Koreans would hate for their children to date a Korean for instance. But sadly, being mixed race often carries challenges and can leave you facing the challenges of multiple groups but often without a clear “home” group to support you.
I'm coloured. In South Africa that is an officially recognized race, which is basically mixed race.
In my experience? You never need to for the mold... yes people are always guessing my roots, I mean I have a combination of Irish and Indian and African and all sorts of fun races here but nobody purposely excludes me per say...
I appreciate you sharing your perspective. Not all mixed race people will face issues. I just want to clarify that I did say “many,” it can depend a lot on what races you are, where you live, etc. I’d be interested to know more about race dynamics in South Africa. The history of America and South Africa in that regard share some elements but are also vastly different. It’s interesting to see the nuances in social evolution and the factors that guided those changes.
I think it depends greatly on where you're from.
In South Africa, perhaps because of Apartheid, we seem to be going a whole different direction. You'll get racism here and there but in majority of the youth we try not to consider race at all. Everyone dates and marries everyone else, on campus you're as likely to see an interracial couple as a couple of the same race. There's a lot of private racism but nobody wants to be seen as overtly racist and because of that you find that families tend to be more inclusive and expose the children too all their races and cultures
Interesting. Similar in some ways to America. Overt racism tends to be less common (although it’s very prevalent in media) but especially in more metropolitan and suburban areas racism tends to be more private and nuanced. It seldom even comes in the form of a stare and is often hidden behind smiles and pleasantries, but can e observed by the astute. It’s a family warmly welcoming their child’s different raced partner but then gossiping about them or distancing themselves from them, or even on occasion “locking up the good silverware” or the like. It’s little things that alone mean nothin but together form a pattern.
I grew up in a place with very few white people. I didn’t really get exposed to that sort of racism much until I was around college age. When my career started to actually flower I got to see what happened after the applicant that was greeted with a smile and treated like any other left. I got to see resumes get shredded because of a name, people passed over for promotion because “we don’t care about their race- but customers might so we don’t want them in that position...” I got to see applicants get extra points for being “articulate for a ....” and things like this. To hear jokes and slurs that get passed about when people feel “safe” to speak their heart.
In the most reserved cases it was a look, and perhaps a simple “that one isn’t a good fit..” or similar. But as a pattern and not a single instance, even if you couldn’t read the subtext or would say it wasn’t there- the pattern of behavior was consistent. The faces you saw at various levels of the company said it plainly. This isn’t a case of “well maybe this person was more qualified...” I worked my way up from the very bottom. I knew the jobs in and out and had been a hiring supervisor at each stop along the way save one. So when I had vetted a person as the best candidate and someone who wasn’t even in the interview said they weren’t qualified, just by a look or a name- that wasn’t at play.
In 2019 I almost find the overt racism refreshing, almost sickly respectable. Not commendable, not something I support- but at least it’s honest. I’d rather know where I stand with someone than carry on thinking that we are good and find out that they just didn’t want to invoke social stigma by being honest. If someone doesn’t want me in their home I prefer to know. But- I think things are overall better than they were 20+ years ago, so that I’m thankful for.
Yes, that's very very similar to South Africa. With older generations that's exactly what you tend to find here. The idea that oh I don't mind this race or that one but I wouldn't want my daughter to date them... it's really sad. Thankfully its almost died out in my generation, there's minimal segregation and we're even know called the "cultural melting pot" because of how interlinked all our different cultures and religions are united. It's honestly a beautiful thing to see, in schools and universities it's like a different world where racism just doesnt exist and if it pops up everyone unites to stomp it out.
Me too. I’m glad to hear that things seem to have come so far though in so little time. I’m glad that it sounds like the future of the country, the youth, are rejecting the roles that the older generation would put on them and not continuing hatred that doesn’t belong to them but finding their own way. It’s always been a dream of mine to see South Africa. I would never have gone during apartheid- but now I hope to go there one day before I die. No country is perfect and I know there are still problems and the like- but there’s so much beauty and history to South Africa. It’s not a cartoon or movie parody that pop culture often makes of it. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me.
In my experience? You never need to for the mold... yes people are always guessing my roots, I mean I have a combination of Irish and Indian and African and all sorts of fun races here but nobody purposely excludes me per say...
In South Africa, perhaps because of Apartheid, we seem to be going a whole different direction. You'll get racism here and there but in majority of the youth we try not to consider race at all. Everyone dates and marries everyone else, on campus you're as likely to see an interracial couple as a couple of the same race. There's a lot of private racism but nobody wants to be seen as overtly racist and because of that you find that families tend to be more inclusive and expose the children too all their races and cultures