Black/White Biracial Identity: The Influence of Colorblindness and the Racialization of Poor Black AmericansPosted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2009-09-08 22:05Z by Steven |
Theory in Action
Volume 2, Number 1 (January 2009)
DOI: 10.3798/tia.1937-0237.08027
Kathleen Odell Korgen, Professor of Sociology
William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey
This article focuses on the influence of colorblindness, the interaction of class and culture, and the racialization of poor Black culture on the racial identity of Biracial Americans with both a Black and a White parent. In doing so, it makes the following points: 1) Despite the fact that almost all Biracial persons experience racism (particularly during adolescence), the ideology of colorblindness promotes a non-racial or “honorary white” racial identity among middle and upper-middle class Biracial persons who live in predominantly white settings, 2) Many middle and upper-middle class Biracial persons have more in common with their White neighbors than with poor Black Americans. 3) The common stereotype of “true” Blackness connects it to the culture of poor, marginalized Black Americans. These points are conceptually distinct, yet all promote the distance many middle- and upper-class Biracial Americans feel from a Black racial identity.
Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org