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The new millinium is over a decade old, yet children of mixed racial heritage in America are still being forced to choose one race to be identified by in an antiquated system of racial identification that harken back to the old "One drop rule" in the Jim crow era. It is sad that the children of this millenium be identified by the language of the pre-civil rights era, one of the darkest times in this nations history. There are occasions when filling out paperwork that one see's more progressive wording in the choices for the race question, but it is still a rarity in general.
As a parent of two adult biracial children (Hispanic/Caucasian) and the grandmother of two gorgeous mixed grandchildren (Hispanic/Caucasian grandson and Hispanic/Caucasian/African-American granddaughter) I am quite familiar with this dilemma. When my son was born 25 years ago, I was told that I should check the box that reflected the race of his father. At that point in life I accepted that situation as the status quo and checked Hispanic, however, now that I'm a grandparent I see the issue from a different perspective. By pigeon holing the children to one race alone, I feel we are denying them the full spectrum of their true heritage. There should be a box labeled multi-racial for those that embrace every facet of their ethninticity equally. Mixed and blended families are much more prevalent now than ever before and as society progresses it is a much less stigmatized than in the past, yet the most basic mode of self identification is still stuck in the Jim Crow mindset of 100 years ago. I recently participated in a telephone survey concerning my granddaughters immunization records and this issue came up early in the conversation. After getting her name the next question asked was "What is the childs race?" I immediately responded "African-american, Hispanic and Caucasian" There was a slight but awkward pause before I was asked "Which race does she predominantly identify with?" Taken aback somewhat I replied "All three equally, is that a problem?" The answer I received stunned me, "Actually ma'am it is a problem, you need to pick the most predominant race of the child for this surveys purposes, as we have no choice for biracial or multiracial." Seriously? It is 2011 and we are still labeling our children by such outdated standards? It's high past time we recognize that this country not only began as a melting pot but it remains one today and will continue to be one in the future.