Navigating in murky waters: How multiracial Black individuals cope with racism.

Abstract

Multiracial people are often lauded as evidence of the waning significance of race and racism in the United States. In reality, the experiences of multiracial people illuminate the ways that racism still exists and efforts to classify people based on assumed racial characteristics for the purposes of inclusion and exclusion are alive and well. Multiracial individuals experience racism from multiple sources and in various forms, which has the potential to negatively impact their development and well-being. Thus, scholars and practitioners must better understand how the growing population of multiracial individuals learns to cope with such racism. The central aim of this qualitative interview study was to shed light on the ways in which multiracial individuals of African descent in the United States cope with and respond to racism. Findings are organized around 5 broad conceptual themes for coping with and addressing racism: avoidance and internalization, anger and violence, education and advocacy, seeking culture and community, and chameleon identities. Findings of this study speak to the dynamic nature of strategies used to cope with racism and hold implications for practices and programs designed to support positive racial identity development among multiracial individuals of African descent. (PsycINFO Database Record