Coming Out as Biracial — Human Parts

A few months ago, I not-so-subtly asserted myself as biracial while having dinner with a new coworker. “I’m a Capricorn,” she’d said. “Yeah…my mom’s black,” I responded (not verbatim, but the exchange was similar). Whoa. What? Immediately after I injected that part of my identity into the conversation, I had a come-to-Jesus moment. The answer, if you’re wondering, is yes. Here it is: My mother is black. I grew up in a culturally diverse environment, which meant I missed the memo that it’s “not normal” to be mixed. So I didn’t discover my otherness through being teased by peers or by having after-school-special chats with my parents. Because my exploration of race was largely internal, I spent much of my adolescence identifying as … well, whatever I wanted. Even with this solution in place, a certain fear lived in me. At thirteen, I moved and got a chance to reevaluate my identity. Gradually, I learned how to parse my race, make sense of it on a personal level. And it’s coming out.

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I am not your proof of a post-racial society I recently watched an interview on Fusion about the term “halfie”. This conversation was prompted by the show “Half Like Me” featuring The Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal. Truth be told, I haven’t seen the show, I hadn’t heard of Al Madrigal before this, and I may have seen, cumulatively, 15 minutes of The Daily Show in my entire life. Searching for the Secret Island of Black Queer Mixed Femmes After I moved to Canada from Trinidad as a little girl, I was brought into a really unstable abusive home, which pushed me to move around a lot. Violence and the movement it brings are in my blood. I am a product of the legacy of colonization, which has remade countries and borders and families. Indentured workers brought from India to Trinidad laid the foundation for my grandfather’s arrival.

For tongues tired of dancing “My hiking trip was so weird,” she starts the dinner conversation. “There was a woman, and she was just there topless. And then there were these kids,” she pauses before continuing the statement with somewhat uncertainty, “and they, they were black. And they just kept on using the F-bomb.”

I'm Not White, But Nobody Can Ever Tell What Race I Am - xoJane My skin is pale olive in the winter and a soft brown in the summer, and my hair is a thick, dark mess of curls. I have eyes that are deep brown and almond-shaped. My maternal grandparents are immigrants who left their small village and came to America with the hope of creating a better life for future generations. They lived in California and worked in agriculture, and my mother was the first person in her family to attend college. Chances are, the thought of my ethnicity has crossed your mind by this point—race is one of the most basic descriptors, so it’s normal to try and come to a conclusion in order to construct a basic identity for me.

Quadruple Consciousness by Lauren Dunn - [Hana] How do we traverse the often difficult, complex and painful realities of our many political identities? How do we sift through and make sense of our experiences that come as a consequence of structural systems of domination, that render us on the edge or margins in deeply political and personal ways? How do we own them and make room for healing, for all of ourselves? Today Lauren Dunn talks about working through her identities as a mixed-race queer woman and creating room to know and love herself. I have never been one to look at the world simplistically. That is not to say, that the opportunities presented to me throughout shifting environments, peers and family members were not presented in a merely “black” and “white” fashion.

‘The Procedure’ and how it is harming education (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) Do you know what “The Procedure” is and why it is a problem for education? Here to explain is Marion Brady, a veteran classroom teacher, who has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall), professional books, numerous nationally distributed columns (many are available here), and courses of study. His 2011 book, “What’s Worth Learning,” asks and answers this question: What knowledge is absolutely essential for every learner?

6 things I wish people understood about being biracial According to the results of a DNA test I took recently, my ancestors on my father's side are mostly from West Africa (via Arkansas), and the ones on my mom's side come from Europe. When strangers inquire about my racial background, I tend to try to de-escalate their interest. I say things like, "I'm just your run-of-the-mill mixed person with a white mom and a black dad." Loving v. Virginia Argument of Philip J. Hirschkop Chief Justice Earl Warren: Number 395, Richard Perry Loving, et al., Appellants, versus Virginia. The Problems with the Common Core This is a revised version of a talk on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) delivered in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 20, 2013. The CCSS have been adopted by 46 states and are currently being implemented in school districts throughout the United States. The trouble with the Common Core is not primarily what is in these standards or what's been left out, although that's certainly at issue. The bigger problem is the role the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are playing in the larger dynamics of current school reform and education politics. Today everything about the Common Core, even the brand name—the Common Core State Standards—is contested because these standards were created as an instrument of contested policy. They have become part of a larger political project to remake public education in ways that go well beyond slogans about making sure every student graduates “college and career ready,” however that may be defined this year.

Why some critics think Japan’s Miss Universe contestant isn’t Japanese enough Miss Universe Japan Ariana Miyamoto and Mister Japan. (Miss Universe Japan) By most of the rest of the the world’s standards, Ariana Miyamoto is thoroughly Japanese. The 20-year-old model is a Japanese citizen, a native of Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture with an advanced mastery of the art of Japanese calligraphy, according to RockeNewst24, a Tokyo-based news blog. Have you heard her speak Japanese, the language spoken by the people occupying the volcanic archipelago known as “Japan”?

Children's And Young Adult Books With Interracial Themes Introduction Multi-racial families, created by biology or adoption, have no doubt been around since some of the earliest travelers set out to meet and explore, to war and conquer, to learn and love. Yet it wasn't until 1967, the year I was born, that laws against mixed race marriages were struck down by the United States Supreme Court. Today, at least two million American children are of mixed racial descent, and mixed-race marriages are on the rise. According to a 1996 article in the Seattle Times, the number of interracial couples has jumped by 275 percent since 1970 (compare to 16 percent increase in the number of same-race couples during same time period).

Kate DiCamillo wins Newbery Medal, "Locomotive" wins Caldecott Looking for great reads for young people? "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures," written by Kate DiCamillo, is the 2014 Newbery Medal winner. Click through the gallery to see the rest of the American Library Association's Youth Media Award 2014 winners for children's and young adult literature. "Locomotive," illustrated by Brian Floca, is the 2014 Caldecott Medal winner. Mixed Race Studies » Amina Chaudhri Stories of Multiracial Experiences in Literature for Children, Ages 9–14 Children’s Literature in EducationDecember 2013, Volume 44, Issue 4 pages 359-376 DOI: 10.1007/s10583-013-9196-5 Amina Chaudhri, Assistant Professor of Teacher EducationNortheastern Illinois University, Chicago William H. Teale, Professor of Literacy, Language and CultureUniversity of Illinois, Chicago This study analyzed 90 realistic novels written and published in the United States between the years 2000 and 2010 and featuring mixed race characters.

INBOX Happy 450th Birthday, William Shakespeare! Affirmative Action Ban Upheld The Supreme Court upholds the right of a state to decide whether or not it will use race in admissions decisions at public institutions of higher education. Inside Higher Ed April 22, 2014 Ideas from NCTE for Teaching All Our Students: • Culturally relevant teaching is a term created by Gloria Ladson-Billings who, in this interview explores the implications of what it means to develop a culturally relevant pedagogy, how we might think about community in our teaching, and more. • The authors of Writing Instruction in the Culturally Relevant Classroom suggest that culturally relevant pedagogy can help us reach all of our students—especially those who have been ignored and underserved in America’s classrooms.