100% MIXED
Multiracial Identity
and
The Meaning Behind It
by Patrice Farmer
October/November 2001
What does it mean to identify as Multiracial? What does it mean to hold the idealogy that Mixed People are a separate classification?
To claim Multiracial Identity is to be singled out among the monoracial groups of your mixture. To be ridiculed by members of those groups, by your family, by other mixed people. To claim Multiracial Identity means that you have to be an Activist, to fight the system no matter the cost.
ARE YOU UP TO THE CHALLENGE?
The Battle Cry of Multiracial People is being sounded! Tired of a world of One Droppers and Well Meaning People who are ignorant of the diversity of Multiracial People. We are growing tired of having to explain why we chose to identify with our Mixed Culture-(And it is a Distinct Culture)-and having to correct everyone we have ever come in contact with. Enough is Enough! Until we organize and get the issue out there (despite the African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American groups who are blocking our goal and right to Self Identify)-we will always be questioned, ridiculed and harrassed!!! It's our right to identify with whichever racial mixture we are…we have the right to claim a white identity as much as a black…do all the one droppers understand that? We have a right to voice our opinions on race, to let the world know that we will not be told any more by anyone what race we can or cannot claim! We have a right for our children to choose their own identity too.
 Graphic: Mulatto Flag |
I am Multiracial and I am dedicated to the cause, that is why I recently had 100% Mixed tattooed on my arm, with the Mulatto Flag beneath it. Not everyone will go to that extreme, but it shows the world my identity. It tells the world and every one-dropper in it that they will not pigeon-hole me into one identity which erases the other parts of my heritage.
I am claiming Multiracial Identity, the road is tough but I accept the challenge completely! I am 100% MIXED!!!!
Patrice Farmer is moderator of Mixed Families at Yahoo! Groups
Also by Patrice Farmer
- The Multiracial Activist – Yes, We're Multiracial, But What are You?
- The Multiracial Activist – The Two Races of Tennessee
- The Multiracial Activist – A Call for the End of The One Drop Rule: The Multiracial Community At War
- The Multiracial Activist – Raising Mixed Kids to Face the World
- The Multiracial Activist – Colored-Less America
- The Multiracial Activist – Poem: Mingled Queen
Copyright © 2001 Patrice Farmer and The Multiracial Activist. All rights reserved.