The New Ingredient in the Identity of Black Biracial ChildrenPosted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2010-04-18 03:30Z by Steven |
The New Ingredient in the Identity of Black Biracial Children
The Chicago Tribune
Op-Ed
December 1996
Larry E. Davis, Dean and Donald M. Henderson Professor of Social Work and Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems
University of Pittsburgh
[Republished in the Race and Social Problems: Interview with Dean Larry E. Davis post of the Social Work Podcast]
Some parents of black biracial children are being unrealistic. It is a mistake to promote a biracial identity for children born to black and non-black parents. African Americans are a multiracial people. It is estimated that well over 70 percent of African Americans have white ancestry, while others have ancestors who are Native American, Hispanic and Asian. Virtually all African Americans can identify some relative who is “mixed with something.”
So what is new in the identity of today’s children born to black and non-black parents? Only the identities of non-black parents. For the first time in this country, large numbers of non-black parents wish to be identified as the parents of a child by a black person. Historically, the parents of children born to black and non-black unions have been severely castigated, which largely explains their traditional invisibility. It is understandable that parents want to share in their children’s racial identities…
Read the entire op-ed here.