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It seems like you guys are confusing race and ethnicity which in turn is confusing the hell out of me.
Lets say the kid is b/w black side is dutch and white side is french. "My kids of mixed ethnicity and I want him/her to learn more about his dutch side" that makes more sense to me then "My kid is black/white and I want him to learn about his black side".
I understand every family is different. That has nothing to do with skin tone/race though that has to do with where the family is from, religion etc. If a kid is a 100% hispanic his two sides could celebrate things differently. Not because his skin tone/race but because one side is puerto rican the other is mexican.
I said
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This is 2008 and younger generations do not care
It seems like you guys are cutting off the younger generations part. Younger generations just do not care any more. I think ethnicity plays more of a roll in a younger person mind then skin color. I am a child of the 80s the topic of race never came up but ethnicity came up a lot.
Hi Nitokenshi, I think you are speaking of your own experience. The posters here are not confused. I've no idea who you are, where you are from, so I won't argue about your experience and say that ethnicity isn't an issue. That said, I assure you that racial issues do, indeed, still exist. It's better, but we're not there yet. Also, as I said in my previous post, it's more subtle today. Political correctness has removed a lot of it from the forefront, but it's in people's minds and behind people's actions. They just know better than to say anything. Usually. Also, young people have never cared about skin color or ethnicity - it is something that is taught. Put two 5-year-olds in a room (one from Israel, the other from Saudi Arabla) and remove the adults. I bet they'd play nicely together. Your experience often depends on where you live. As half of a mixed couple on the west coast, my experience has been different than my sister-in-law's, who lives in the midwest.
Ack, I'm sorry. I just realized that I may have hijacked the post in my response. I didn't mean to. Sorry, but I don't know how to fix that. So, move along? Nothing here to see? Perhaps that will work and we can get back to the topic at hand.
Last edited by fjtee; 05-15-2008 at 04:46 PM..
Reason: Keyboarding difficulties
Well, I'm biracial and I think it's important that the child to see BOTH sides of his/her family regardless of the race. With that, for my children, they have exposure of ALL cultures/race/ethnicities but it's okay to make a point of educating them on who their ancestors were... it's one way of keeping the culture alive and making a person proud of who they are. I can't tell you how many times I've come across other biracial kids and for whatever reason... they feel the need to identify with one race or the other. I can't say I've ever felt that way. Perhaps because I knew my mother and fathers people... it never dawned on me to gravitate to either or, because I was aware and proud of both.
My family is really mixed... we have African American, German, Irish, Mexican, Vietnamese, Palestinian, Cambodian, French... (lot's of bi-racial offspring!). We are very open to race and cultures (of our relatives and our own) obviously and I see no downside to it at all.
My question to those of you who are either BW bi-racial children or the parents of same, how important is it to know both of your backgrounds?
My mom says that it doesn't make any dif and that I am making too much of race. I feel that this is important for her to have exposure to both races on an intimate level.
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I just re-read the OPs thread and I am going to agree with your mom on this. Like I said if this kid was of mixed ethnicity then she should know about her different ethnic backgrounds. I am assuming she is just pure American. So your trying to say you want to her to learn about black american culture? And I am saying there is no black american culture. Just like there is no white english culture. Its just English culture.
I have no personal issues/experience its just that the terms race and ethnicity get confused and mixed up a lot its clear by reading some of these posts. I feel like my second post states the difference between the two terms very clearly and I cannot understand how there is something wrong with it. P.S Fjtee if you re-read your tirade towards me you will see you yourself got the terms confused.
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For instance an irish guy marries a 5th generation Virginian....they've got all kinds cultural differences to consider and a completely different history that makes up their life story, yet they are both white......
So, look at it from what would be interesting and important about the other half of her family and focus on that and allow the 'color' to be the afterthought.
+ 1 hypocore
Ok, no more from me in this thread. I apologize to those that did not understand what I said and took it the wrong way. Kudos to those who do understand what I mean.
Thats because you are not a child. This is 2008 and younger generations do not care. The only reason why certain kids do care is because parents force the race issue on them. Don't make this a black and white thing. Because there is no black or white culture. There is American culture. Sure she should get to know her family but don't make such an emphasis on race.
My grandson is bi racial, 11 yrs old. His dad rarely comes around. DD and DGS never hear from his family. DD and I have both agreed he needs to know his dad's family. They call, say they are coming to get DA, then never show up. Poor child ends up in tears. Thank heavens he knows he is loved by our family.
Funny story about DGS, they took some standardized tests at school, his teacher was showing him his scores, DGS tells his teacher, you filled that in wrong, I'm white. Teacher said he filled out student info to what he knew was correct. We don't see color in our home, and didn't think DGS would!
But I have to say, it is only fair to the child to know both sides of the family. I knew mine! Irish Catholic on my mum's side, Native American on Dad's side. I cherish my heritage and try to pass on mine and my husband's traditions to our children.
Just remember that the only colors a child can see are what come in a box of crayons. We need to quit worrying about this "Our world, thier world garbage. Let the child figure it out as they grow-up.
I hope this doesn't come across as too inflammatory. I went to an HBCU and there were quite a few biracial students (this was the mid 90s) that didn't have the first clue about black culture other than the usual mainstream info. For many of them, it was like being on another planet. Same was true for the students who weren't bi-racial but grew up in predominantly white environments. Contrary to popular belief, there are differences which may not be apparent now, but will be in a few years. Yeah, kids don't care about race/culture now, but they're exposed to media and family and friends who do. These kids beliefs now won't be the same as it will be in 10 years. Things are much better now than it was for kids of the 80s but please don't be fooled into thinking race doesn't matter. Some of your GD's later experiences will also depend on if she's phenotypically "black" or not and if your city/town is diverse or not. If it's diverse, she can get the exposure she needs. If not, she'll have hangups later if no one took the time out to expose her to these differences. One of the first big ones that comes to mind is her hair.
I hope this doesn't come across as too inflammatory. I went to an HBCU and there were quite a few biracial students (this was the mid 90s) that didn't have the first clue about black culture other than the usual mainstream info. For many of them, it was like being on another planet. Same was true for the students who weren't bi-racial but grew up in predominantly white environments. Contrary to popular belief, there are differences which may not be apparent now, but will be in a few years. Yeah, kids don't care about race/culture now, but they're exposed to media and family and friends who do. These kids beliefs now won't be the same as it will be in 10 years. Things are much better now than it was for kids of the 80s but please don't be fooled into thinking race doesn't matter. Some of your GD's later experiences will also depend on if she's phenotypically "black" or not and if your city/town is diverse or not. If it's diverse, she can get the exposure she needs. If not, she'll have hangups later if no one took the time out to expose her to these differences. One of the first big ones that comes to mind is her hair.
Is there a single, defining Black culture? I'm Black and 50 and nobody told me...
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