Racial identity is considered one of the most important issues in a culturally diverse country like the US. This issue brings up many controversial debates. Some believe that racial identity is based on blood percentage and others believe that it is a sum of the physical, cultural, and social characteristics of a person. Thus, it is important to look into different parameters of the issue. The focal point of the essay is to evaluate Maureen T Reddy’s claim “racial identity is often simplified and distorted” because of the mismatch between “external and internal racial identifications” (Reddy, 1997) in the article “One Drop of Black Blood” of the book Crossing the Color Line: Race, Parenting, and Culture. In order to analyze this claim, the works of four authors would be taken into consideration. These are Danzy Senna’s “The Mulatto Millennium”, Rebecca Walker’s “Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self”, Julia Alvarez’s “A White Woman of Color,” and Patricia J Williams’ “Uncommon Ground.”
It should be mentioned that Reddy is extremely instrumental in defining the aspects of race and racial identity and her observation is bacha ked by a social and scientific approach. She definitely argues that race is the byproduct of social norms and developments and is not constructed by scientific norms. She makes sure to place enough evidence to prove her thesis and indicates that there are no such external elements in racial identity such as “pure” blood. She clearly mentions, “A person may look white but identify black, or look black but identify white. When such a mismatch occurs, however, the complex nature of racial identity tends to be simplified and distorted by others, even by thoughtful, sophisticated observers of race” (Reddy, 1997).
In this process of evaluation, she clearly indicates the differences between internal and external aspects of racial identity. She indicates that the external aspect of racial identity is the one that makes a person look in a shade of certain color whereas, in the case of the internal aspect the skin tone gene lies as a dormant factor internally and is not visible. This approach of thought process makes her text a very important work with the principle that no race is completely pure makes it possible to diminish racial tensions among conflicting races. The fundamental idea is to identify racial identity with pinpoint accuracy going beyond the parameters of physical factors.
The approach of Senna deals with different aspects of mixed blood races and identifies them through parental lines The basic approach of the author predominantly supports the thesis of Reddy and indicates several instances where the basic features of racial identity are distorted through varied mixing of races and colors. Senna indicates that racial identity is often developed from the basic of local or regional attributes and is dependent on the local and regional population without an evaluation of the broader perspective and this makes the whole process of identity more simplified. However, this simplification is the chief reason for the distortion of anthropological basics upon which the racial identity should have been erected. Instead, the aspects of racial identity rely on immediate parental identities and their skin tones. Thus, there remains every chance of gross distortion.
To prove this, Senna gives definition of different mixture of the race including Standard Mulatto, Mestizo, Gelatto, Jewlatto, Blulatto, Negratto, Cablinasian, Tomatto, Fauxlatto and Ho-latto. There are even African American population who is described as “the most common form of mulatto in North America, this breed is not often described as mixed, but is nevertheless a combination of African, European, and Native American” (Senna, 1998). Senna even indicates the existence of a Cultural Mulatto, who is defined as “Any American born post-1967” (Senna, 1998). She indicates that the concept of race is the amalgamation of different mixture of blood and culture and it is very difficult to identify each and segregate in accordance to racial identity. This piece of text is highly thoughtful and indicates a fundamental problem of racial identity as stated by Reddy and thus demonstrates her thesis with further clarity.
On the other hand, Walker’s take on the subject based on racial identity and its problems stated by Reddy is not very thoughtful. It is more of a personal account with more emotional distinctions than anything else is. The approach of this writing is more autobiographical in nature. However, she certainly indicates that though there are different races and there are distinct differences among them but there are certain elements of homogeneousness. She makes it a point to establish the thesis that cultural aspects are more fundamental than racial identities by indicating that on a physical ground the differences are not very profound (Senna, 1998).
She, however, fails to indicate the complications related to the fundamental thesis of simplification and distortion on the aspect of racial identity. Walker mentions the family life, the social atmosphere and the development of civil rights and the belief they convey over Martin Luther King’s approach but the complications of racial identity is generally overlooked. It is mentions, “A mulatta baby swaddled and held in loving arms, two brown, two white, in the middle of the segregated South” (Walker, 2001). However, the fact remains that the views presented by the author is more personal rather than sociological or anthropological background.
Alvarez’s idea is very close to the thesis put forward by Reddy. This text believes in the existence of race and racial identity but fails to separate the races on physical demarcations. It indicates that there are certain complications in relation to racial identity. According to the author, racial identities are well defined but not on a physical level. It is mentioned, “As we Latinos redefine ourselves in America, making ourselves up and making ourselves over, we have to be careful, in taking up the promises of America, not to adopt its limiting racial paradigms” (Alvarez, 1998). However, she indicates there are racial differences in her own family and in a way this difference in a way is aligned with the racial and cultural context of the US. It can be stated that it is very peculiar to consider racism is an ideology, racist or cultural conflict views, where humans are separated into various groups in the belief that some people are superior because they belong to a particular ethnic or national group. It could be summarized that racism is the result of having negative judgments, beliefs, and feelings towards certain identifiable groups. Particularly in the field of education, this tendency has developed into both educational and financial discrimination at the same time. In a general sense, it can be stated that racism is fuelled by different aspects like low education, unfavorable economic condition, social structure that inclined towards a specific religion or cult and most important of all- ill-fated political motivation.
However, Williams states, “biracial doesn’t really mean much in terms of biological heritage in a country where almost anyone who’s been here more than two or three generations is not just biracial but multiracial and multicultural—words, alas, that seem to have become nothing less than dirty in the recent culture wars” (Williams, 2004). She feels that the aspects of multicultural differences are creating differences among population of the nation and needs to be eradicated. Racial differences are clearly taken as a menace and thus the existence of racial identity has been put to test though the basic approach is basically emotional with remorse about the ills of racism and cultural differences. However, the basic thesis remains the same as Reddy as the cultural aspect becomes more important than physical differences. This work is in support of Reddy but it is less thought provoking as she hardly puts forwards real data or arguments considering the evaluation of the other works mentioned in the essay.
In conclusion, it should be stated the development of mixed racial identities would be a favorable option for the greater good of the community as the main difference would in the internal parameters and the external aspects would be fundamentally homogenous. Thus, the arguments presented by most of the authors, particularly Reddy, would be helpful in reducing tensions among the races as identifying the present racial mix would make it possible to indicate that there are hardly anything that can be termed as pure and it is too complex in nature to indicate racial identity because it is already distorted and backed by immediate parental identity rather than anthropological basis. As a result, and thus there is no need to develop a conclusive racial identity on the external mode no matter how much internal differences are there on the cultural ground.
References
- Alvarez, Julia; 1998; “A White Woman of Color.” Half + Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial +Bicultural. Claudine Chiawei O’Hearn. New York: Pantheon Books
- Reddy, Maureen T; 1997; “One Drop of Black Blood”; Crossing the Color Line: Race, Parenting, and Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers U.P.
- Senna, Danzy; 1998; “The Mulatto Millennium.” Half and Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural. Ed. Claudine Chiawei O’Hearn. New York: Pantheon Books.
- Walker, Rebecca. 2001; Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self. New York: Riverhead Books
- Williams, Patricia J; 2004; “Uncommon Ground.” The Nation magazine