Biracial children, more often than not, are put in situations where they have to almost always “choose” what race they will identify with. If they are mixed with African-American, they tend to hear that they are “not black enough” while at the same time they have to identify and prove their “blackness”. What is wrong with biracial children simply identifying as being-biracial?
Actor and heartthrob Taye Diggs tackled this issue with the birth of his son, Walker. Walker is biracial. His mother is Broadway star, Idina Menzel. However, the Empire star came under extreme public scrutiny in November of 2015 when he told The Grio that he prefers to refer to Walker as biracial or mixed and not solely Black.
“When you [all biracial kids Black], you risk disrespecting that one half of who you are and that’s my fear,” he explained in the interview. “I don’t want my son to be in a situation where he calls himself Black and everyone thinks he has a Black mom and Black dad, and then they see a White mother, they wonder, ‘Oh, what’s going on?'”
Recently the 46-year-old thespian clarified his statement to BET telling them that he believed that he was misunderstood. “That happens. But that gives me an opportunity to talk about issues that we don’t really talk about.”
At a time when our country is experiencing massive divisions on so many levels, it should be important to give children a sense of ethnic and racial pride; however, that should include, if they are biracial, helping them to embrace both sides of their genetic pool. Remember, it takes two halves to make a whole. Isn’t the most important thing to make sure that the children have a strong sense of self and know that they are loved unconditionally no matter what races have contributed to their DNA?
Sound off, what do you think? We want to hear from you!
