{"id":39331,"date":"2014-11-01T18:44:23","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T18:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=39331"},"modified":"2015-01-08T18:49:53","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T18:49:53","slug":"do-mixed-race-blackwhite-people-have-an-ethical-obligation-to-identify-as-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=39331","title":{"rendered":"Do Mixed-Race (Black\/White) People have an Ethical Obligation to Identify as Black?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do Mixed-Race (Black\/White) People have an Ethical Obligation to Identify as Black?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Center for the Study of Biracial Children<\/a>
\n2014-08-15<\/p>\n

Francis Wardle, PhD.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So says Thomas Chatterton Williams<\/a>, in a March, 2012 article published in the New York Times<\/em>. This article joins an increasing number of vocal voices published in progressive publications and in books published by academic presses. But why? At a period of time when same-sex marriage is becoming acceptable, and gender identification is greatly expanded, why do intellectuals insist on the very narrow one-drop-rule<\/a> definition of blacks in America?<\/p>\n

This particular article, As Black as We Wish to Be<\/em><\/a>, is by a black man married to a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed French woman. While insisting that his children must be loyal to the black community, he hypocritically argues that \u201cexhortations to stick with one\u2019s own, however well intentioned, won\u2019t be able to change that\u201d (marrying outside of the black race). As my black wife suggests, it seems that some black men who marry white women try to assuage their guilt by insisting their children identify as black.<\/p>\n

What are Mr. Williams\u2019 arguments? One, all biracial children \u201clook black\u201d, and therefore should identify as black, 2) America is still not fully equitable, providing social and economic justice to all, 3) people who choose a mixed-race identity are engaged in the \u201cprivate joys of self-expression\u201d (i.e. are selfish), 4) the one-drop rule that was created to protect the purity and superiority of the white race is not all that bad, 5) identifying as mixed by people who are truly mixed will have a devastating impact on government support for black programs and overall black well-being, especially in our schools, 6) racial self-identification means that racial identity will become a matter of individual will, and 7) identifying as black is required to \u201chonor those who came before us\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let me address each of these arguments briefly…<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do Mixed-Race (Black\/White) People have an Ethical Obligation to Identify as Black? The Center for the Study of Biracial Children 2014-08-15 Francis Wardle, PhD. So says Thomas Chatterton Williams, in a March, 2012 article published in the New York Times. This article joins an increasing number of vocal voices published in progressive publications and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,125,8,20],"tags":[571,19014,4725],"class_list":["post-39331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-identitydevelopment","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-francis-wardle","tag-the-center-for-the-study-of-biracial-children","tag-thomas-chatterton-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39331","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=39331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}