Bi-Racial

A detailed Summary of Bi-Racial

It's 3rd grade. I'm late for school, and my mother had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My mom opens the door to my class room, and there is a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes are fixed on my mother and me. She tells the teacher why I was late, gives me a kiss goodbye and leaves for work. As I sit down at my seat, all of my so-called friends start to call me names and tease me. The students tease me not because I was late, but because my mother is white. Situations like this are hard for a young child to deal with. These type of situations are what bi-racial children deal with every day. The term bi-racial means a child's heritage is made up of two cultures or ethnic groups. In this paper I will compare the advantages and disadvantages of having dual heritage. I will also tell about the most often misconstrued problems the public perceives about a bi-racial child, with black and white heritage. These children encounter issues such as: Grasping self concept or identity and acceptance of their personal appearance. Dual heritage is most often looked at as different, good or bad. Sometimes people having dual heritage are seen as outcasts of society. These are just small things that have

to do with having dual heritage. One advantage of having both a black and white parent is that the child learns to look at both cultures equally. This is an asset since all people need to live in a multi-racial world. From this the child can form a bridge between the two cultures. Moreover, if the child was raised by both parents, the child can easily distinguish the different characteristics of both cultures. By the child knowing these different characteristics, it is found that a bi-racial child finds it easier to have close friends, a boyfriend or girlfriend, who is white or black, than a monoracial child. On the other hand, young people with dual heritage have been noted more likely to report experiences of racism than those with two black parents (Tizard and Phoenix 166). In the British society, having dual heritage could be seen as a definite advantage because of the insight to both cultures; however, in a society such as ours, where one culture is seen as less powerful and inferior in society, people with dual heritage are sometimes isolated and rejected by both cultures (Tizard and Phoenix 67). It is found that people who are miscegenetic1 and that see themselves as black are most often criticized by black people (Spencer 36). Being a bi-racial child is harder as a child because children engage in name-calling and other cruel behaviors. Also, just because adults may be better than children in the treatment of bi-racial people, this does not erase the memory of the abuse as a child. Furthermore, this sometimes creates a sensitivity to some of the other forms of abuse or bias that bi-racial people experience from blacks or whites (Spencer 36). Some different strategies of dealing with racism on adolescents have been ignoring the source, tackling the situation directly, reinterpreting abuse and combining different strategies. Children involved in a study were asked what kind of situations with racism they were involved in, and how they confronted each one. Ignoring racist incidents was a strategy used by all of the young people. It was used most often. One particular student attending a predominately white school commented on the discrimination: "I seem to just accept the fact that it is going to happen sometimes, you have just got to learn to try to ignore it.' Ignoring the situations was also used in potentially dangerous situations. Some bi-racial adolescents commented on how the area they are growing up in is rough. They reported how some people have been beaten up. Others have preferred to tackle the problem directly. One situation given by a bi-racial adolescent was: "Me and my friends were walking past someone and they said 'Oh you black this,' and you think, well, I can't ignore that, and you say "Shu

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1843
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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