I found Maria P. P. Root’s article, A Bill
of Rights of Racially Mixed People, to be highly informative regarding the
issues of self-identity that multiracial people contend with. I also found the
solutions that Root proposes to be intriguing and empowering. In the article, she
highlights an issue of identity that is unique to people with multiple racial
backgrounds. In a country where racial identity permeates both social and
political systems, multiracial individuals struggle to conform to the five-race
framework that, according to Root, the Federal Office of Management and Budget
has adopted.
I was surprised that at the time of publishing
Root’s article, multiracial people still felt they had to justify their existence
in the world. On the one hand, the images that Root cites to show the limited
understanding of racially mixed people’s place in the society, including slave
masters raping black women, illicit relationship between soldiers and Asian
women during the war, and curiosity-based casual affairs, seem outdated in
today’s modern world. On the other hand, the questions that she cites as
indicating “the stereotypes that make up the schema by which the other attempts
to make meaning of the multiracial person’s existence,” are close to questions
that I unconsciously ask myself when I meet multiracial people. Having this new
perspective on the impact of such questions is eye-opening and a cause for
reflection on my part.
I agree with Root’s Bill or Rights of
Racially Mixed People because the assertions that she makes encapsulate the
right of a personal identity that people who are not multiracial enjoy freely. It
is absurd that multiracial people must try to adhere to an antiquated social
standard that, in a sense, forces them to choose a side. Root’s
characterization of the societal pressures that multiracial persons endure
effectively engages and enlightens all readers, while at the same time
empowering multiracial people to unapologetically seek out their own identity.
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