Mixed Race Studies

National Geographic Replaces Racist Fictions With Post-racial Fantasies

New York Magazine
2018-03-16

Lauren Michele Jackson

Photo: Courtesy of National Geographic. Photograph by Robin Hammond

In her honest but odd memoir that it seems, thankfully, few besides me have read, National Geographic emerges as a crucial touchstone to Rachel Dolezal’s supposed racial awakening. Isolated regionally and culturally by Christian-fundamentalist parents, copies of the magazine were one of the few tokens from 1980s and ’90s American culture allowed to Dolezal in a home that forbade television and processed food. And while her older brother scrounged pages for photos of topless women, NatGeo begat Rachel’s earliest racial fantasies. Coating herself in mud from head to feet, she “would pretend to be a dark-skinned princess in the Sahara Desert or one of the Bantu women living in the Congo,” images conjured exclusively by the monthly magazine. “I would stay in this fantasy world as long as I possibly could,” Dolezal writes. “It was never long enough.”

Over the last century, National Geographic has used the guise of ethnographic research to stoke the racial imaginations of curious white people. Investigating peoples and cultures like flora, splaying their images upon glossy pages with unchecked fascination, the magazine does not have a great track record when it comes to stories about people of color. And yet, these are the stories NatGeo is most famous for, training generation after generation to gawk at peoples other than themselves through telephoto lenses. Founded in 1888 to document the interests of affluent explorers, the name alone evokes a colonial impulse — the National Geographic Society started as a private club dedicated to worldly, exotic travel. The publication has long been an unrepentant descendant of those beginnings — until now, allegedly…

Read the entire article here.

Asian, White, multiethnic, multiracial, mixed-race, interracial, biracial!

2018-03-22

Michele Chan, Master Candidate
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Do any of these labels resonate with you? If so, maybe you would like to participate in a research study about multiracial Asian Americans.

We are seeking participants to participate in a study about the experiences of multiracial Asian Americans. In order to participate, we ask that you are:

1. Aged 18 to aged 44
2. Currently live in the U.S.
3. Have one biological parent who is racially White and another biological parent who is racially Asian

We are very interested in hearing about your unique experiences as an individual with both Asian and White heritages.

Please consider completing our short, online survey, which will take no more than 30 minutes to finish. To take the survey, click here.

In return for your participation, you may choose to enter into a drawing to win a $20 dollar gift card to Target.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the investigators:

• Lisa Kiang, Ph.D., Wake Forest University, Phone: (336) 758-5750, E-Mail: kiangl@wfu.edu
• Michele Chan, B.S., Wake Forest University, Master Candidate, E-Mail: chanmg16@wfu.edu

Thank you.

My Transracial Testimony

Chicago Now
2017-11-05

Doriana Markovitz

Bio: I am a biracial woman, but I identify as Black. My birthmother is what Puerto Ricans call Spanish. I was adopted by two white women when I was a week old. They later divorced. My Jewish mama, who gave me my last name Markovitz, remarried and adopted 2 more baby girls, later on, giving me siblings and ending my own unique child experience at 14. During that time, I swallowed a white liberal education for 9 years, until I was forced to puke it back up in the later years of my high school experience. This is my testimony, my hymnal, my stories, my life as a transracial adoptee.

I have been raised by many mothers; many women have poured themselves into me. I am the product of the multi-dimensionality of womanhood. I have only ever known that experience, the struggle, and hardship, while also the joy and the power that women can offer to one another and their children.

Three women have raised me — the mothers who adopted me, but also the woman who took me in when those two women fell out of love.

Motherhood lives inside my skin, but I am also motherless because there is a woman out there who I do not know, but whose body was my first home. I knew this from the time I could understand that the women who chose me did not look like me.

Their skin did not look like mine, their hair did not feel like mine, and their bodies were not shaped like mine. Even though I knew this, I felt safe inside that truth. I felt loved inside that truth until I couldn’t any longer…

Read the entire article here.

Kali Nicole Gross

New Books Network
2018-03-13

Host:

Christine Lamberson, Assistant Professor of History
Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas

Kali Nicole Gross

Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America
Oxford University Press 2016

True crime is as popular as ever in our present moment. Both television and podcast series have gained critical praise and large audiences by exploring largely unknown individual crimes in depth and using them to consider broader questions surrounding the justice system, guilt and innocence, class and racial inequality, and evidence. Rarely do we get to think historically about these broader topics through the lens of individual, especially unknown, cases in light of the challenges posed by researching historical crimes. Kali Nicole Gross, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University New Brunswick, has done incredible research to do just that in her new book, Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America (Oxford University Press, Hardcover 2016, Paperback 2018). The book won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction.

The book tells the story of the discovery of a torso, the investigation of the murder, and the life of the accused—Hannah Mary Tabbs. The body was discovered in 1887 and drew an unusual amount of attention in the segregated areas in and around Philadelphia, especially given the victim and accused were black. In this episode of the podcast, Gross discusses why the case caught the eye of the public and investigators at the time. She also explains some of the broader context and insights of the case. Finally, she talks about her research process. We don’t give away the resolution of the case in our conversation, but will introduce you to Hannah Mary Tabbs and the world of post-Reconstruction Philadelphia in which she lived.

Listen to the interview (00:56:48) here. Download the interview here.

Self-Hate & Forgiveness

OpenHeartTin: Spiritual Journey. Awareness. Love. Healing.
2018-02-07

Sonja Jackson

In case anyone was wondering, I am a black female. I have a little more than that thrown in there (my mom is white/black and my biological father is black), but I identify as black. I’d like to identify as nothing, but hey. Not because I hate being black, but because I’m tired of race and separation. I wish people saw my soul and not my body. But then at the same time, I like seeing different races. Different shades. It adds some spice to life. But when I was younger, I hated being black. I also hated being female. This one is hard for me to write because I still don’t think I’ve completely forgiven myself for having felt this way in the past. I’m ashamed and it’s hard to admit. But I also don’t feel it was all my own beliefs. I’ll get more into that later…

Read the entire article here.

The Mix: Conversations with Artists…Between Races

Stage and Studio
KBOO FM, Portland, Oregon
Tuesday, 2018-03-20 19:00-19:30Z (11:00-11:30 Local Time)

Dmae Roberts, Host

“In The Mix: Conversations with Artists…Between Races” by Dmae Roberts is a radio exploration of Mixed Race. Through the voices of artists who have dedicated their lives to building bridges and bringing to light interracial issues and themes, Roberts takes us on a journey to understanding what means to be of Mixed Race.

You’ll hear Novelist Lisa See (Peony in love), Playwright Heather Raffo (9 Parts of Desire), Writer/Conceptual Artist damali ayo, Playwright Velina Hasu Houston, and three actors formerly from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Juan Rivera LaBron, Soneela Nankani and Joshua Wolf Coleman. For more info visit the Facebook page or go to MixedRaceWorld.org.

Associate producer is Sara Caswell and mix engineer is Clark Salisbury. Originally aired in 2008.

Funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

To listen to the interview, click here.

EXCLUSIVE: Afro-Latina Slam Poet, Elizabeth Acevedo, Debuts First Novel ‘Poet X’

Latina
2018-03-05

Jenifer Calle, Politics and Culture Writer

@acevedowrites/Instagram

Elizabeth Acevedo has been empowering Afro-Latinas for years by bringing attention to the various experiences of women of color through her powerful words in poetry.

As a Latina, you might remember a certain poem or a book that changed your life, a verse so precise it gave you chills. Acevedo’s debut novel, Poet X, will do just that with its raw emotions that are universal to all young girls, wrapped up in beautiful lyrical verses.

Poet X is a Young Adult novel that follows the story of an unapologetic 15-year-old girl, Xiomara Batista, growing up in Harlem. As a Dominican-American teen stepping into adulthood she takes to her journal to deal with the emotions and frustrations she feels at home and at school. In this three-part novel, Xiomara struggles with her conservative mother, an absent father, her faith in God, her sexuality, and much more. Xiomara’s awakening through slam poetry helps her find her voice but her journey of self-discovery doesn’t come easy…

Read the entire article here.

Editorial: Owning Both Sides

Hapa Mag
2017-12-09

Alison Lea Bender

How do I even begin? I am a person who is trying to navigate this complicated, wonderful, and mysterious life just like everyone else. On top of that, I am in a career that tends to make subjective decisions on race and culture. Needless to say, facing those factors and trying to “fit a bill” for my art constantly makes me analyze and overthink my racial identity. I don’t mind that I’m continuously thinking about it anymore.

I never truly gave my racial makeup much thought my whole life, so I feel like the past few years have been a needed catch-up. I am quite proud of the knowledge I’ve gained from looking at every angle of it, and I feel closer to my roots now. I’ve come a long way, but as far I have come with my own racial identity and accepting and loving every part of myself, it seems that there will always be an obstacle in my way to make me question who I am…

Read the entire article here.

Detroit Housewife Kills White Husband

Jet
1953-03-05
page 20

A 29-year-old Detroit Negro housewife stabbed her white husband to death because he nagged her about not having his dinner ready. Mrs. Dorothy Homic told police she took a paring knife from her husband, Frank, 38, and stabbed him in the chest after he threatened her. She was arraigned on a first degree murder charge before Recorders Judge Paul E. Krause.

Op-Ed: Think Pieces About Being a White Latino Continue to Miss an Essential Point

Remezcla
2018-03-16

Carmen Phillips

Really? Oh wow. You don’t look Latina.”

My entire life, I’ve heard a variation of those seven words after telling someone I am Puerto Rican. As a matter of fact, it’s a common occurrence for entire subsets of the Latinx community. Both white Latinxs and Afro-Latinxs have had others categorize and subsequently disregard us based on our physical appearance. But if you were to only look at the content mainstream outlets have churned out in the last few years, you’d think being a white Latinx presents a one-sided identity crisis.

The sensation of being left out, of being told they’re not “Latinx enough” has led many white Latinx writers to pen op-eds and think pieces about their experiences. But, those essays always miss an essential point; while our community ostracizes both white and Black Latinxs at times, only Black Latinxs face systematic racial oppression on top of that.

I’m Black. I have an Anglo last name. My Latina identity has consistently elicited surprised reactions, something I’ve grown accustomed to. As long as after our first conversation, the person I’m speaking with drops their feigned surprise that our community come in all hues, we’re good. My problem starts when questioning continues – as if I am somehow lying about my own heritage…

Read the entire article here.