Following the Civil Rights movements, a change began in the way people viewed one another. Specifically, American citizens were treated as equals—at least constitutionally—and there was a worldwide trend in the direction of equal opportunity, regardless of race. There was a general consensus that racism would no longer be tolerated.
However, the issue of racism has taken new forms today.
Today, the term ‘mixed’ is colloquially employed to indicate someone of multicultural heritage. The term itself completely strips the person of their association with any other race. It does not signify any ethnic identification, and it ignorantly gives a shallow label for an entire growing population. Furthermore, this label has proliferated into a commodity. Being of mixed race has turned into something of an asset; an adapted form of racism through the commodification of physical traits, dismembering people from their cultural identity. Countless times, I have heard people saying they want ‘mixed’ children or wish they were ‘mixed.’ This interpretation of someone from a multi-ethnic background has thus morphed into a status symbol. Physical traits that are ‘racially ambiguous’ have become sought after, or favoured. The estranged, exotic, and sometimes alien-like perception of multi-ethnic people is a mystified reaction to a lack of information.
Although there is a counterargument that this is a form of praise rather than discrimination or oppression, much of the praise is due to an absence of comprehension. I personally come from a multicultural background—my mother is ethnically Vietnamese, and my dad is Kenyan (specifically Kikuyu). I have found that the terminology of being ‘mixed’ and the connotations behind it end up masking much of my identity. For me, being Kikuyu-Vietnamese represents how two cultures, though incredibly different in customs and values, can come together not only in tolerance, but in love, celebration, harmony, and learning.
Furthermore, many caucasian Canadians and Americans come from diverse backgrounds. People often explain that their heritage has several origins. Ranging from Scottish to Aboriginal, there is a clear illustration that many North Americans come from more than one ethnicity; one could argue that they are much more ‘mixed’ than I.
This new mode of racist labeling is echoing throughout the world. Arbitrary racial categorization has manifested itself in the form of new taxonomy. Words such as hapa, for someone of Asian heritage; hafu, in reference to a racially mixed Japanese; halfie, a slang a term for a biracial person; or the more commonly recognized ‘mixed.’ These terms do not give the complete story; instead they convenience demographic surveys, and simplify categorizing racially diverse people into a single mental checkbox. Not only does this arbitrarily group people of varying and dissimilar ethnic backgrounds, it completely dismisses any identification with their original heritage. Checking off that you’re ‘mixed’ is like identifying as racially ambiguous, not belonging to any ethnicity. For many people, including myself, this is oppressive.
With increasing globalization and immigration, people are interacting with a more diverse environment. There is no value in categorically assigning someone to a single racial group. Let us not take a step backward and proliferate racism in a new articulation. Discourse shapes not only the way people comprehend one another, but how people perceive themselves. Further interconnection and transnational cohesion will call for the integration of foreign cultures. In this process, it is worthwhile to take the time to understand one another in a manner that is effectively illustrative, rather than categorically convenient.
