Racial Identity Struggles Among Multiracial Families and Children Essay Example
Racial Identity Struggles amongst Multiracial Families and Children
Aliza Moody Sociology 71 Foundations of Sociology December 12, 2011
A casual look around most neighborhoods today reveals an undeniable trend: more multicultural families exist in the United States than ever before. In fact, in the 2000 census, more than six million Americans described themselves as being of more than one race (2000 Census). Multiracial families face many struggles with regard to race identification in their daily lives as well as children at school. Many children commonly experience the social isolation of not belonging to a defined group. I will examine which factors influence these families to identify racially, the psychological effects of their well-being, and the importance of the education systems approach towards relating to multiracial children in the classroom.
A major difficulty mixed-race families and children face are assumptions and misconceptions about their racial identity. One of the most common misconceptions is derived from the area of sports and its direct correlation between that of whites and blacks. The problem is that such scientific misconceptions about the “natural” athleticism of black person’s body feeds directly into the stereotypes common in racial differences. In the movie “White Men Can’t Jump”, Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes portray a good example that these stereotypes die hard yet linger in subtle competitions still today. In terms of racial identity, we should not have to ask blacks what special genes they possess that enable faster running or higher jumping, but rather why a general consensus regarding sports is so in-tuned with it not being of equal latitude or athletic ability with whites.
How mixed children racially identify can depend on a number of factors,
Aliza Moody Sociology 71 Foundations of Sociology December 12, 2011
A casual look around most neighborhoods today reveals an undeniable trend: more multicultural families exist in the United States than ever before. In fact, in the 2000 census, more than six million Americans described themselves as being of more than one race (2000 Census). Multiracial families face many struggles with regard to race identification in their daily lives as well as children at school. Many children commonly experience the social isolation of not belonging to a defined group. I will examine which factors influence these families to identify racially, the psychological effects of their well-being, and the importance of the education systems approach towards relating to multiracial children in the classroom.
A major difficulty mixed-race families and children face are assumptions and misconceptions about their racial identity. One of the most common misconceptions is derived from the area of sports and its direct correlation between that of whites and blacks. The problem is that such scientific misconceptions about the “natural” athleticism of black person’s body feeds directly into the stereotypes common in racial differences. In the movie “White Men Can’t Jump”, Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes portray a good example that these stereotypes die hard yet linger in subtle competitions still today. In terms of racial identity, we should not have to ask blacks what special genes they possess that enable faster running or higher jumping, but rather why a general consensus regarding sports is so in-tuned with it not being of equal latitude or athletic ability with whites.
How mixed children racially identify can depend on a number of factors,