Transracial Lives Matter Too
Tags: Cultural Identity, Racial Justice, Mixed Race, Transracial, BlackLivesMatter

Adapting and navigating through considerable consternation, intense emotions and fragile conversations that have emerged recently amidst the global discourse over systemic racism has been, at minimum, taxing for most people of color/BIPOC. For many of us, a kaleidoscope of reactions, ranging from rage and ire to numbness and despair, has hijacked our minds and souls bringing physical and psychological exhaustion as we are submerged in a bottomless sea of televised imagery and online discussion.

And what if you are a mixed-race/bi-racial person or a black person who lives and moves in geographical and cultural settings that are almost exclusively white? A proverbial “oreo” as we are known in the U.S. or affectionately, a “coconut” in Australia and Southeast Asia.

Some of us who identify thusly may have close black family or friends with whom to process and unravel complex feelings and reactions to current (and endemic) events; in such black “safe spaces” one can seek refuge and rejuvenation inside a close-knit circle of sympathy. But for those of us who don’t have such harbors, this period has been particularly barren and weighty. Even our longest-standing, closest non-black friends — who are making every earnest effort to be supportive allies — can never completely empathize nor respond from a place of lived experience.

Yet we cannot refashion our physical makeup, our life surroundings or our personal histories in an instant during this time of need. The question of how to maintain our footing and mental health as mixed-race people or oreos during this challenging moment, is not straight forward. A few possibilities shared here might offer some points of departure towards constructive means of circumventing these current choppy waters and beyond.

My nephew is a beautiful 10-year old biracial, dual-nationality (American and German) boy living in Brooklyn. A few months ago, both of his parents took him — all masked — to a large Black Lives Matter rally to hear addresses from leaders and activists and to join in collective chants of “I can’t breathe”. As an extremely fair-skinned pre-teen with a cherubic face and large, loose, brown curls, his ethnicity may be ambiguous to many. Although my brother and his wife are hoping to infuse his upbringing with an appreciation for all of his background, I wonder with some concern how he will choose to forge his own identity and how the outside world will see him and treat him.

Inevitably in contemporary America, people are forced to claim a predominant racial identity. Despite the fact that, genetically, racial differences between humans are miniscule, for centuries our cultures haven’t been able to shirk off a tendency to categorize, separate and legislate based on skin color and visible anatomical differences. The societal pressure to claim a predominant or singular racial identity is intense. Typically, if your race is visually ambiguous, Euro-descended Americans die of curiosity to know “what are you” or “where are you from”? Meanwhile most African Americans imply it’s your duty to proudly claim your blackness as a badge of authenticity and in solidarity against racism. To do anything else beckons a judging glare of derision and disbelief.

In fact, I believe being mixed-race or multi-cultural, by birth or by choice, is a completely legitimate identity and would be welcomed without question in an ideal society if such a society were ever to exist. In today’s reality, unfortunately, every one of us is expected to choose and then face the reactions and responses of those around us, supportive or otherwise. If you choose the construct of transracialism[1] to explain yourself, as I do, you will likely face an ongoing and difficult task of explaining it to the unfamiliar and the skeptical. Yet if effectively your cultural framing — informed by your familiar upbringing and education — and all the ways in which you socialize and navigate the contemporary world are largely akin to those of people whose skin color is different than your own, how else should you self-identify? Can the fulcrum of one’s truth be solely how she identifies inside, regardless of appearance? Or must a person at some level, accept and integrate into their identity the external traits inherited at birth and the labels and presumptions applied by larger society?

I submit that if the domain of the self cannot be wholly self-governed and self-defined, then we have truly lost the battle for personal freedom. If there is one thing I should be left to determine on my own, it should be who I feel I truly, viscerally am at my core and to Hell with what anyone else — individually or collectively — has to say on the subject. And, I dream of a day when, however any one of us chooses to self-identify, one’s personal proclamation will be beyond societal and group reproach but rather welcomed and affirmed as a normal, natural human right and a requisite for fashioning a healthy existence.

The weight of societal definition can be so burdensome and prevalent that many spend little energy questioning its precepts or advocating for its rescission. It can be easier to simply accept how you are seen by the outside world and adapt one’s life accordingly by subscribing to the generally accepted narratives of your racial or ethnic group’s history and particular cultural norms associated with your group, whether you adhere to them or not.

Furthermore, emphatically pronouncing your “inconvenient truth” of an unconventional identity often leads to forging a lonely path in life. When others don’t understand or believe in the way you chose to self-identify, dismissal or derision are the usual responses. Thus you can be loudly and proudly transracial but you will likely find yourself banished to a socially isolated island as we saw in the infamous case of Rachel Dolezal.

To me, in a time of war, we must welcome every earnest soldier. Anyone, especially anyone who stands to be racially profiled based on outward appearance, regardless of internal sympathies, ought to be readily embraced if he or she is prepared to fight for social justice. We need every beating heart we can commandeer. There should be no litmus test for biological or conscientious racial authenticity, something as audacious as the infamous “one drop rule” used to brand someone as black during the slave era and Reconstruction. Just as readily as any African American male, I can be summarily detained for “strolling while black” through an upscale white suburb, notwithstanding that such a neighborhood is precisely where I grew up. And I can never deny nor negate that where I grew up has strongly codified my tastes, sensibilities and lived experiences that are much more akin to those of a white, upper middle class American than anyone else.

Perhaps it is wishful thinking, yet I deeply hope that during this time of necessary cohesion, our collective action will bear many unintended sweet fruits. That somehow, through our shared objective to uplift legislative and psychological change to deflate systemic racism, all of us — people of color/BIPOC, allies and all-comers — will also take a moment to reconsider and re-frame our understanding of racial identity and the diversity of possibilities that exist. Just as society has increasingly come to recognize, acknowledge and even celebrate transsexualism and gender fluidity, perhaps we can take some bold and uncomfortable steps towards truly seeing mixed-race and transracial people as genuine, earnest and whole.

Constructs of identity are ultimately figments of our own perceptions and beliefs. If someone shares that he feels most comfortable identifying as a working class, Latino-Caribbean catholic, although the way he grew up and appears is closer to a middle class, Euro-Caucasian Mormon, ultimately, he gets the final word: full stop. Giving him said final word, along with some respectful affirmation, is not only much more emotionally and politically economical than alternatives, but it allows us to move on to much bigger and more pressing projects such as the pursuit of societal equity, non-violence, environmental rescue, human health and unconditional love.

[1] Transracial people are individuals who assert a racial identity for themselves which differs from their birth race.[1][2]