Half-and-Half

SOCIAL JUSTICE

March 9, 2021

What the Current Racial Injustice Movement Means to a Mixed-Race Family

INTRODUCTION

As I continue to watch the unrest and divisiveness of our nation, along with celebrations of Black life I began to think about a group that has been somewhat missing from the conversation. My family and others like us.

My family is interracial. I’m Black, my husband is White, and our children are biracial. My husband and I, together and alone, have talked to our children for years about what it means to be biracial and we’ve always taught them that they represent the future and that they are proof that two races can come together peacefully.

But with all the vitriol, anger, and frustration in our society around racial injustice and equality in the headlines daily, I decided to check in with them again. I asked our girls what it feels like in this moment to be a representation of both races – the oppressor and the oppressed. And, I asked my husband –a moderate conservative—how he feels about it all. What I received back from them was so powerful, that it would be a mistake to excerpt their words and paraphrase their thoughts just so that I could squeeze it all into one tidy article. Instead I present to you a three-part series from each of their important perspectives.

I encourage you to read Part Two of this series: In Her Words -- Jené