{"id":36573,"date":"2014-05-31T03:17:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T03:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=36573"},"modified":"2014-08-30T21:16:24","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T21:16:24","slug":"a-verboten-topic-elliot-rodger-mixed-race-identity-internalized-racism-and-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=36573","title":{"rendered":"A Verboten Topic: Elliot Rodger, &#8216;Mixed Race&#8217; Identity, Internalized Racism, and Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chaunceydevega.com\/2014\/05\/matters-that-will-not-be-discussed.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em><strong>A Verboten Topic: Elliot Rodger, &#8216;Mixed Race&#8217; Identity, Internalized Racism, and Mental Health<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chaunceydevega.com\" target=\"_blank\">We Are Respectable Negroes: Happy Non-Threatening Coloured Folks, Even the Age of Obama<\/a><br \/>\nWednesday, 2014-05-28<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chauncey Devega<\/strong>, Editor and Founder<\/p>\n<p>The 24\/7 news cycle is not interested in finding the truth about a given matter, and then subsequently offering up useful information that can in turn be used to create an educated and informed electorate.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the mainstream corporate news media is driven by superficial discussions of topics of public concern that can drive ratings.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>As I <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chaunceydevega.com\/2014\/05\/the-true-alpha-male-ucsb-mass-shooting.html\" target=\"&quot;_blank\">suggested<\/a> earlier, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chaunceydevega.com\/2014\/05\/yes-elliot-rodger-is-white-what-santa.html\" target=\"_blank\">Elliot Rodger should be a focal point for a discussion of broader issues about race, gun violence, gender, and mental health issues<\/a>. Apparently, those most obvious concerns and questions are verboten on the Right&#8230;and even among some on the &#8220;Left&#8221; who have internalized the norms of &#8220;colorblind&#8221; racism&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;However, I have not seen (with <a href=\"http:\/\/washington.cbslocal.com\/2014\/05\/27\/apatow-rogen-slam-wapost-film-critic-for-blaming-calif-mass-shooting-on-white-male-hollywood-culture\/\" target=\"_blank\">a<\/a>\u00a0few <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/crime\/racism-played-role-elliot-rodger-murder-spree-experts-article-1.1806390\" target=\"blank\">exceptions<\/a>)&#8211;and do please share and educate me if I am wrong (I am not able to watch or listen to every broadcast)&#8211;a focused discussion of how Elliot Rodger, a white Asian, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogher.com\/race-gender-and-rage-my-peek-twisted-world-elliot-rodger\" target=\"blank\">internalized white racism and White Supremacy against people of color<\/a>, and then acted upon it through misogynist violence.<\/p>\n<p>Nor have I witnessed a conversation in the mainstream media about Elliot Rodger, the question of &#8220;mixed race&#8221; identity&#8211;I would suggest that such constructs are extremely problematic and facile in the American racial order, yet an increasing number of people are embracing them as a way of distancing themselves from people of color&#8211;and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1448064\/\" target=\"_blank\">specific<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncb.org.uk\/news\/challenges-face-mixed-raced-children-and-young-people-in-the-uk-today\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;mental health challenges<\/a> around <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2014\/feb\/23\/mixed-race-children-mental-health\" target=\"_blank\">self-esteem and anxiety<\/a> which some self-identified &#8220;bi-racial&#8221; and &#8220;mixed race&#8221; people may face because of their &#8220;racial&#8221; identities.<\/p>\n<p>My claims are precise and careful: I am not arguing that self-identified &#8220;mixed-race&#8221; or &#8220;biracial&#8221; people are more prone to mass shootings, gun violence, or the like. No. The data do not support such a claim&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Rather, I am interested in how the media is not talking about how Elliot Rodger, a version of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=451\" target=\"_blank\">tragic mulatto<\/a> figure, <a href=\"http:\/\/aaldef.org\/blog\/elliot-rodgers-manifesto-shows-self-hate-fueled-anti-asian-violence-that-kicked-off-isla-vista-rampa.html\" target=\"_blank\">a self-hating Asian-American<\/a>\u00a0with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2014\/05\/24\/santa-barbara-shooter-had-history-of-posting-racist-misogynist-comments-on-hate-site\/\" target=\"_blank\">deep levels of internalized racism<\/a>, had those feelings mated and mixed with (likely) preexisting mental health issues, and then committed mass murder based on his <a href=\"http:\/\/freethoughtblogs.com\/aronra\/2014\/05\/28\/white-envy-not-white-entitlement\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreethoughtBlogs+(Freethought+Blogs)\" target=\"_blank\">racist and sexist motivations<\/a>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Read the entire article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chaunceydevega.com\/2014\/05\/matters-that-will-not-be-discussed.html target=\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Verboten Topic: Elliot Rodger, &#8216;Mixed Race&#8217; Identity, Internalized Racism, and Mental Health We Are Respectable Negroes: Happy Non-Threatening Coloured Folks, Even the Age of Obama Wednesday, 2014-05-28 Chauncey Devega, Editor and Founder The 24\/7 news cycle is not interested in finding the truth about a given matter, and then subsequently offering up useful information [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16,8413,125,8,394,20],"tags":[10174,17378,12655],"class_list":["post-36573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-asia","category-communications","category-identitydevelopment","category-media-archive","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-chauncey-devega","tag-elliot-rodger","tag-we-are-respectable-negroes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}