Working with Children of Mixed Parentage

Abstract

by T Okitikpi ( ed .) Lyme Regis : Russell House , 2005 ISBN 1903855640 , 143 pp , £15.95 (pb) Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. (Judge Leon Bazile, 1959, sentencing a couple to one year in jail for ‘inter-racial’ marriage in Caroline County, Virginia in Time Magazine, 19) In 1967, when the US Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional, 16 states still had laws prohibiting marriage between different ‘races’. Alabama did not repeal its law until 2000. I did not read this book expecting a history lesson. Not least because the editor had promised ‘an account of the lived experience of mixed race families rooted in empirical research and to identify their particular problems’ I initially struggled to understand the relevance of the US socio-historical context — until I realised that my real problem was not the relevance of the material, but my own discomfort at reading it. In 21st century Britain, we do not have a legally enshrined ‘one-drop’ rule that defines any child with even a distant African ancestor as ‘Black’. But, as Charlie Owen points out, there were no specific categories for ‘mixed’ in the 1991 Census —‘if the person is descended from more than one ethnic or racial group, please tick the group to which the person considers he/she belongs’. How many people with one White parent have had to opt for ‘Black Other'? The 18th century classification of people of African and White descent into categories based on the presumed proportion of ‘Black blood’—‘sambo’, ‘mango’, and so on — is disturbing, albeit farcical. Contributors such as Kwame Owusu-Bempah make it very clear that although the words might be different, the categories still confound. The book explores many of the areas one would expect — terminology, self-esteem and group identification, the experiences of lone White mothers. Not unsurprisingly, the ongoing theme is of definition and categorisation — be it biological (such as White carers’ capacity to meet the needs of mixed parentage children) emotionally (the psychological aspects of being expected to identify with one parent above the other, for example) or downright physically, as in June Thoburn's contribution about permanent family placement for children of dual heritage. It is a book about helping children to find their own place, or more frequently, questioning the place where practitioners have decided that children should be put. Okitikpi, the editor, stresses that this book is not an ‘uncomplicated ready-made, ‘how-to’, step-by-step guide’. (One wonders how any book about working with families in all their complexity can be) What is offered here is a compelling mix of research, theory and refreshing subjectivity. One senses frustration and sometimes anger from some contributors who feel that negative stereotypes and damaging myth still inform much practice with children of mixed parentage. The book also reminds us that we do not practice in a neutral space. The impact of colonialism and racism is yet to be eradicated. There are some challenges, including a couple of annoying typos. I envisaged ‘Paul Boating’ (Boateng) sailing away from politics forever. In the same chapter, Zadie Smith's and Oona King's names are also incorrectly spelt recalling the frustration of many Black and other minority ethnic people having to Anglicise or endure incorrect spelling and pronunciation of their names. There were, for me, problematic references in some chapters to acting ‘White’ or ‘Black’. As a Black woman, I have never worked out whether I am acting it or playing it for real. Isn't that reinforcing the stereotypes and the binary view that the book argues need to be challenged? Finally, there is the expected repetition that occurs when many contributors are addressing the same issue, even if from varying routes. Yet, for me these are small criticisms. I may not work on the frontline with mixed parentage children, but as a member of an Italian, African Caribbean, Indian Caribbean and White English family, these things really matter! Katz and Treacher quote Root's ‘Multiethnic Bill of Rights’— the right to self-definition, to resist being forced to choose one category, the right to be complex, ambiguous and change. Copy it, laminate it and stick it to your wall.