Multiracial residents make up 3.1 percent of the state's population and 2.4 percent of the nation's population. Demographers and political observers say the change in race reporting will affect everything from the task of redrawing political districts and civil-rights enforcement to the acceptance of interracial marriage. But multiracial people say the greatest change is that they now can fully acknowledge their heritage instead of being forced by the government to choose one over another. You tried to assimilate into the white society. It wasn't really a badge of honor.
Social mores have changed, sociologists say.
The number of multiracial people is rising as people move to diverse neighborhoods and interact with each other. Interracial marriages and births are increasing, experts say, and people are opening up about their backgrounds as being interracial becomes more accepted, even chic in some circles. Valerie Wilkins-Godbee agrees. The Peekskill resident, who is black, white and American Indian, helped lobby the government to adjust the census form. She said the change forces people, especially whites, to face their mixed backgrounds.