i hear you eden. i have the same difficulty being a pale aborigine in australia. i've written a lot about it. here's a blog called "strange murri" at aboriginalrights.suite101.com/blo...1546

an article i also wrote on the subject is "nowhere people" at aboriginalrights.suite101.com/art...ople

i think the problem is the myth of race itself. race doesn't exist - it's been disproven, first by darwin (that was covered up!) and later by a unesco study in the fifties, and more recently by genetic scientists. race is a lie. why do we all keep using the word then?

why do we keep calling ourselves "interracial" and "mixed race" when it only serves to alienate us further from our communities?

i hear you eden. i really, really do.

Those are powerful experiences, and they certainly serve to highlight so many of the superficial presumptions of race. The assumption that the offspring of two people with radically different ethnic backgrounds will always result in a 50/50 representation of the two is totally false. Satistically, some characteristics may tend to be more promintent depending upon dominance or recession.

Here are some interesting articles which open a doorway to exploration:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mend...nheritance
www.mixedmediawatch.com/2006/0...or-now/

I understand what it's like. I'm in an even more odd position, where people *thought* my parents were mixed-raced (my Mother is fair skinned with freckles), so I got comments from both black and white, although there's no reason I would be thought to be anything but "black", even though our family history is very diverse. I also have experienced more class/educational environments than the average person, so I tend not to align too well with "mainstream" America's perception of class, race, or ethnicity.

I haven't found any easy answers, but the predominant issues seem to come from people not venturing outside their comfort zones. For those of us born outside or in-between those comfort zones, we have to be the leaders, the educators. It's our job to question their stereotypes and assumptions, and pass thru those barriers of social segregation.

Eden, I hope this comment finds you doing well. This issue is one which I have a passion about. Growing up in North Carolina (I haven't lived there for 27 years) I certainly saw more than my fair share of racism and prejudice. Unfortunately, your problem is one that really hasn't gone away in our society. If people in this country could band together to defeat social injustice, that would be a great thing.

However, I believe that politics are the main culprit of keeping this kind of thing alive. It appears to me that liberals wish nothing more than to continue feeding society lies about special interests and special groups. It sounds to me like you just want to be treated and respected like everyone else. Conservatives continue to put bury their heads in the sand and believe that all of the problems surrounding racial preducice and injustice are solved and that we should remove all penalties and barriers to employers, schools, and other organizations. Five minutes in my old hometown would show you that we are far far away from having this thing solved.

This is another reason I don't believe that anyone in the government has the answer for this problem. Yet people continually look to the government to 'FIX' this issue. Personally, I believe that if people sat down together and ACKNOWLEDGED that there are some differences in cultures from one race to another, they could begin to appreciate and learn from each other. And live together in a much more harmonious society.

Problem is, when people begin to do this, you have the typical loud mouths from the LEFT and the RIGHT coming out against whatever particular solution someone is trying on for size.

And excuse me Eden if I sound a little jaded here about our government, because I am. This country is so polorized on political issues and their candidates and their agendas and their issues that they forget about what's important to the world.

Human Beings like yourself.

I can say that I feel very badly for you, which in itself is almost racist. The fact that I even have to THINK about this situation shows you how far off we are from having solutions to this problem. We think that it is solved, but it is only covered up by political maneuvers which showcase one's party as the INCLUSIVE place to be.

I know when I was small, I got my butt beat by black guys several times JUST FOR BEING white. But my black friends got their butt beat JUST FOR BEING BLACK. We always stood up for each other, played sports together, hung out together, and laughed and had a good time together. But at the end of the day, we weren't allowed to go to each other's house and hang out. It was really sad. We didn't think much of it at the time, after all we were just kids and teenagers. But truth is our parents and their past generations had already laid a foundation for hatred and segregation.

The fact that those same guys remember me today, even though I live 2200 miles away from them is proof positive that PEOPLE and they way they think, and they way they teach their kids can make a difference.

I say live and let live. But I don't know what percentage I am in. I don't have an agenda. I dont' believe that any president, congress, senator or government official is going to make this better for people like you.

I only hope that ME, MYSELF, AND I can make a difference for you.

Sorry about the rant, have a great day!

this i can relate too on a visceral level eden..

being of mixed race seems to highlite, more than anything the prevalence of racism in our culture.

if you don't fit into one of the cultural categories that is premolded by the society then you are trapped on the outside looking in.

blacks don't like you cuz yr not black, chinese because your not chinese..etc.etc.....

funny thing though..

if someone didn't point out to me that i was different, i don't think i would've noticed.