Labels, Racism, and Stereotyping

This week's column was brought out largely by my feelings after viewing a recent PBS documentary, Frontline: Secret Daughter, which followed June Cross as she researched her own bi-racial history. Ms. Cross was born to a white woman and black man, then was given to a black family to be raised. She did see her mother occasionally, and seems to have come to grips with this part of her life (but not without reservation). Her mother did seem sincere in her beliefs that this would afford her child the best life. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but be saddened and appalled at the mere idea of that a loving mother could willingly relinquishing a child for racial reasons.

Bi-racial Parenting

The Center for the Study of Bi-Racial Children is a site definitely worth a second look. I found several surprises there, such as research which indicates bi-racial children do not have lower self-esteem than single-race children, nor is their self-esteem improved by focusing on their minority cultural identity.

Much of what I have heard on the subject of self-esteem among bi-racial and multi-racial children focused on negative possibilities. For instance, if parents fail to focus on a child's minority heritage, they learn to feel shame in it. Or such children will feel so "different," having no real connection to any race/ethnicity, that they will suffer severe emotional distress.

I must confess that it is my general outlook in life that parental attitudes matter much more than actual life circumstances. Therefore, I admittedly like the results of the quoted studies, which seemed to indicate that children with high self-esteem have parents who use a sort of "whole person" approach, focusing more or less equally on all parts of their child's cultural identity. This is the approach I think works best.

To illustrate it, I think of a whole pie. If I check it out and take the "best" slice out, I'm left with only part of a pie. Or if give all my attention to the gooey cherry filling, all I'm left with is a crumbling crust (not bad tasting, but not a "pie" anymore).

Racial Labeling

Francis Wardle, PhD, in Challenging the Need for Racial Labeling, examines whether tracking ethnic/racial identities is as beneficial as we think it might be. Here Wardle is referring to those nifty little "Choose One" boxes we see on forms everywhere we go, whether we're dealing with the government, schools, or private organizations. The usual pretext of gathering this information is to ensure that services are rendered fairly regardless of racial/ethnic background.

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