How Voters Tend to Perceive Multiracial Individuals

Jacqueline's article speaks to the burden for mixed race people to "prove" their racial allegiances. I have been guilty in the past of asking mixed race people the question "how Asian are you?" in an effort to understand the common ground we share. And upon reflection, the answers I got were somewhat systematically vocalised, almost like they had a mental checklist ready to go for when they were (potentially frequently) asked this question about racial loyalty.

Chatting to our guests and hearing our listener submissions for our upcoming episode has been incredibly eye opening, particularly on the empathy front as a lot of life experiences that mixed race people go through are rooted in this binary decision - which side do I belong in?

This has been perfectly illustrated by the conversations around Kamala Harris and her Black/Asian identity. Between the shock that she is indeed half Asian, and the critiques that she's not "Black enough", there is a constant thread where the public continues to try to box her as either/or instead of a multiracial individual. And that is the key problem - Kamala or any mixed race individual shouldn't need to choose which race they identify as. The mixed race identity is beautiful in its versatility and complexity, and we should embrace it for the sum that it is, rather than try to split it into its parts.

p.s. everyone search Obama sinking a 3 - my guy's still got it

- Jeff