"Thoughtful insight…would like to read more like this,” someone who reads this blog wrote me. She went on to say “Our country is a joke right now and that hurts my heart.” It was as if she was reading my mind, because I had just been thinking about the things that hurt.
As America grows, the population shifts are of epic proportions. These shifts indicate a cosmic way of how people are defined and addressed. We are no longer the melting pot that assimilationists have wanted to believe it is. America is a salad bowl now that consists of many bi-racial people. That’s a picture many can’t or don’t want to see. It’s a picture that’s reflective and daunting, as those of us who are biracial must spend time every day experiencing questions like, “who are you?” Or “Where are you from?” Sometimes the discourse is less courteous and more dismissive, disparaging, and derogatory. We heard in the last debate when our former president was questioned about his opponent’s identity. He was awkward and dishonest. Being biracial is something that has never really been dealt with or talked about.
It's among the things that hurt. It’s about being unseen, unheard, and unscripted.
On the other side of the magnifying glass, you can’t imagine what it’s like to be looked through. It’s like you are not there. Biracial people don’t always appear as people expect, and as such it’s a hurt that cuts deeply. It’s a knife you don’t always see and it’s been difficult to keep my biracial sons from becoming jaded, judgmental and a joke. People excluded them from activities; marginalized their talents and abilities; and talked about them as if they weren’t in the room; ignoring their feelings when sharing a joke, meme, or post.
Being unheard is another way to be hurt. Someone can say the same thing they said, but somehow the way our sons say it doesn’t matter, doesn’t have the same resonance. The same words, being spoken by someone else seems to have more impact. It takes on an importance that’s counterintuitive which implies my sons have no voice. They get tossed aside as nobody and being told “you are not enough.”
The unscripted version of being biracial is just that. The script is still being written. The impact is still being felt. Recently Morgan Radford of NBC talked with a biracial focus group. One individual indicated that you learn to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. Reporter Radford pointed out that “Multi-racial Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the country over in the last decade,” having surged more than 200% particularly in the six battle ground states of Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The 2020 Census reported the US “two or more races population at 33.8 million up from 9 million in 2010, a 276% increase.”
It's more than identity politics. The current election has elevated the biracial discussion into a national conversation not seen since the birther trope concerning former President Obama’s election. Polling has a lot to do with this discussion, and if we allow polling to control it, the discussion divides and hurts our hearts. However, it can also encourage us to realize people are different and denying their existence hurts. Help us realize people who are different want the same things others do; want to sit at the same table. People who are different want to be seen, heard, and respected. They do not want their children to be hurt. Is that too much to ask? Is it necessary to weaponize that through politics?
And the thing that hurts the most is the naiveté of some people who look at me, and say things that: “you don’t look black,” or “you don’t sound black,” or “you are a credit of to your race.” How can they be so ignorant and insensitive? It tells me we have not overcome because I am still not seen as who I am. It tells me one drop of black blood makes me black. But it doesn’t deny me the fact I am an American. We need to accept we are all Americans, including my children.
And until that happens? Until that happens, I will still question where are my inalienable rights?
I appreciate you reading “The Man With The Key.” Remember it’s free so share it.
No, but it makes you more interesting...