22
ISSUES: Racial & Ethnic Discrimination
Chapter 1: Racism & discrimination
I guess – that the increasing numbers
of biracial and multiracial Americans
represent the wave of the future and
will be ambassadors for understanding,
making it harder for us to judge one
another and discriminate against one
another based on race.
Despite these hopeful comments,
there’s no evidence that people
like me spark racial healing
But personally, I’mput off by the idea that
people who look and identify like those
on either side of my family have to be
wipedout inorder toaddress racism. Plus,
to the extent that this scourge has been
addressed in American history, it’s taken
a lot more than people simply showing
up and being racially ambiguous. (Just
think: the children who were born to
white slave owners and enslaved black
women didn’t do much to change the
minds of people who were prejudiced
against African Americans. And Barack
Obama’s
presidency
has
actually
triggered increased racial polarisation in
Americanpolitics.) Sowhile thesehopeful
comments about a mixed-race future are
well intended, there’s no evidence that
people like me spark racial healing.
That’s not to say the lives of biracial
people can’t provide any insight into,
or spark fascinating conversations,
about American culture. They can.
But there’s more to be gained from
paying attention to our experience
now than there is from figuring out
how we’ll be useful in the future.
11 August 2016
Ö
The
above
information
is
reprinted with kind permission
from Jenee Desmond-Harris, Vox.
com and Vox Medim Inc. Please
visit
for further
information. The original article
can be viewed at
.
com/2015/3/11/8182263/biracial-
identity.
© Vox.com 2017
Woman receives death
threats after speaking
out against ‘racist’ skin-
bleaching comments
“What goes on in people’s heads that makes them think
this is okay to say to someone?”
By Natasha Hinde
A
woman who fired back at a
Tinder match who told her
she should use skin-whitening
products to look “pretty” says she has
received a slew of death threats and
racist remarks for speaking out.
Takara Allen, 22, had been on a
date with a guy she met on Tinder
called Nikolas when he texted her
to say: “Just curious but have you
ever thought about bleaching your
skin? You’d look so pretty if you were
whiter!”
Outraged, Allen, who identifies as
black, took to Facebook to complain
about the comments. She also took
the opportunity to speak out about
skin-bleaching in general and the
ridiculous beauty standards black
women are faced with.
But whilemany were supportive of her
and praised her for saying something,
she also received an onslaught of
abuse.
She wrote on Instagram: “It can be
very nerve-wracking and intimidating
to speak up about certain things and
to take a stand against racism.
“I’ve ... been receiving quite a large
amount of racist messages, death
threats (you know who you are) and
the typical ‘you’re not even black’
messages which I’m unfortunately
used to.”
“If you have to say ‘not
trying to be offensive/
racist/mean’ before you
say something, DON’T
SAY IT”
