Multiracial Organizations Research Articles

“There’s Something Very Wrong with the System in This Country”: Multiracial Organizations and Their Responses to Racial Marginalization

Multiracial organizing since the 1980s has centered around the need to define and make visible the term multiracial (e.g., U.S. Census). In the contemporary era when multiple race populations are a growing and institutionally recognized demographic, how do multiracial organizations characterize and seek to combat collective experiences of racial marginalization? Here, we draw on in-depth interviews with officers from diverse multiracial organizations in the U.S. and Canada (N = 19) collected from 2017 through 2018 to examine this question. The findings revealed that multiracial individuals experience distinct forms of exclusion, which we call categorical invisibility, that target individuals who do not “fit” into established monoracial categories, and mixture as pathology, a less common frame but representing more overt forms of bias targeting those of mixed backgrounds. The lived impacts of these experiences prompt the expressed need for “safe” spaces from the psychosocial costs of categorical invisibility. Multiracial organizations, located mostly in the United States with one in Canada, engage in diverse community building and advocacy efforts to address these needs and, thus, represent critical sites of resistance to the trauma of racial (in)visibility. This work amplifies the need to center Critical Multiracial Theory to expose how monoracial paradigms as a central feature of White supremacy continue to shape the lives of multiracial people and expand our knowledge on how multiracial organizations shape the (re)negotiation of racial categories that challenge the racial status quo.

Perceived monoracism and psychological adjustment of multiracial adults: The roles of racially diverse contexts and creating third space.

Across two studies, we examined whether racially diverse contexts in combination with creating a third (multiracial) space played a protective role in the association between perceived monoracism and psychological adjustment for multiracial adults. Study 1 participants (N = 263; 77.8% female, Mage = 32.16 years) were recruited from national multiracial organizations and completed an online cross-sectional survey in 2009. Study 2 participants (N = 1478; 56.2% female, Mage = 48.89 years) were recruited by the Pew Research Center and completed a nationally representative survey in 2015. Results indicated significant three-way interaction effects on psychological adjustment, with differential effects depending on the types of perceived monoracism. Specifically, when subjective racial diversity was high, creating a third space buffered against the deleterious effects of multiracial discrimination on distress, negative affect, and life satisfaction; while it exacerbated the link between perceived racial ambiguity and negative affect. This study provides empirical evidence for the importance of using an ecological framework when examining multiracial identity and experiences. Results also highlight the need to move beyond conceptualizing and measuring multiracial experiences as dichotomous risks or resiliencies. Rather, we should aim to understand multiracial experiences as either promoting or inhibiting across contexts, time, and individual characteristics.

Discovering a hidden privilege: Ethnography in multiracial organizations as an outsider within

In this article I use an ‘outsider within’ epistemology to conduct a reflexive analysis of the impact of researcher characteristics on gathering data in multiracial organizations. The reported research elucidates that the intersection of race, gender, class background, age and occupational prestige influenced the ethnographer's social interactions with respondents in the teaching profession. With examples selected principally from two years of ethnographic fieldwork in two predominantly racial/ethnic minority multiracial schools in Southern California, I identify a hidden privilege for Latina professionals. I contend that unlike white or male privilege, which are granted consciously and unconsciously, the hidden privilege is fleeting, and works only when verbally revealed in occupations held in lower prestige.

Speaking and Organizing across Difference: The Multiracial, Grassroots Mobilization of Child Care Workers

The article explores the effectiveness and challenges of multiracial, grassroots coalitions as tools for mobilizing child care workers—in particular when a predominantly white organization of child care center teachers seeks to work in coalition with family child care providers in communities of color. Using participatory action research, child care activists identified common employment concerns among workers, recruited members, and identified indigenous leaders. From this base, community members successfully organized a grassroots, multiracial organization committed to increasing the wages and benefits of family child care providers. While forming the organization proved initially successful, facilitating ongoing leadership development and activism among members proved more difficult. These challenges emerged as white participants sought to support the autonomy and leadership of women of color, but were unable to overtly address race and status differences.

Challenges of Multiracial Antiracist Activism: Racial Consciousness and Chief Wahoo

We explore how white activists’ racial identity struggles might disrupt effective antiracist action in multiracial organizations. Drawing on data collected through participant observation and interviews, we examine the struggles of a small, multiracial antiracist organization that protests the Cleveland baseball franchise’s ‘Indians’ name and Chief Wahoo mascot. White activists’ racial consciousness, or awareness of white racism and white privilege, compels them to participate in the group; their ways of participating, however, ultimately may hamper the organizational effectiveness of the Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance. Specifically, white activists’ racial consciousness makes them reluctant to adopt necessary leadership roles. Borrowing from literature on white racism, white racial consciousness, and multiracial organizing, we illustrate the complex nature and potential pitfalls of multiracial alliances formed to protest racism in the United States.

A New Canada in a New Commonwealth : Multiculturalism and International Representation

Canada, as a former colony of the British empire and a next door neighbour of the American super power, has always been preoccupied with defining its specific identity and making it known to the world. Canada’s involvement in the Commonwealth corresponds to both a traditional and a modem definition of Canadian identity. At first it corresponded to a Canadian identity which was defined mainly by its British dimension and its status as the senior dominion in the empire. But as time passed, Canada turned towards the multicultural definition of its identity which has now become its hallmark. This article shows that this redefinition of Canada’s national identity closely accompanied the evolution of the Commonwealth of Nations. Two moments in time which reflect this parallel evolution will be closely examined : the relationship between Canada and India in the late 1940s and early 1950s and the role played by Canada in relation to South Africa in 1961 and 1971. These historical moments will show that Canada played an important role in helping the Commonwealth to emerge as a multiracial organization, an evolution which was consistent with Canada’s own evolution towards multiculturalism.

Cultural Appropriation and the Crafting of Racialized Selves in American Youth Organizations

This article considers three moments in the history of Camp Fire, the first American multiracial organization for girls: (1) the foundation of the organization in the 1910s through the 1930s by progressive reformers heavily influenced by ethnological scholarship on Native American rituals and symbolism; (2) the transformation of the organization into a coeducational organization in the 1970s; and (3) current efforts in the organization, now known as Camp Fire USA, to bring its activities more in line with contemporary multiculturalism while retaining its “Indian” traditions as the organization's heritage. These three historical moments are explored through a combination of archival research, interviews, and participant-observation. As a case study, the history of Camp Fire offers the opportunity to (1) deepen our knowledge of the American tradition of “playing Indian” and (2) track changes and continuities in the relationship among race, culture, gender, and sexuality in U.S. informal education.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Assessing Welfare Reform, Over a Decade Later

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Assessing Welfare Reform, Over a Decade Later

Minority Empowerment and Environmental Justice

In Hartford, Connecticut, environmental health problems disproportionately affect poor and minority residents of the city. Minority group activists in Hartford have created a multiracial organization composed of urban and suburban residents to fight for environmental justice. The organization has achieved a measure of success in terms of governmental responsiveness to their concerns. This article highlights the strategies used by the organization to advance its interests. These strategies are framed within the minority empowerment and environmental justice literature to develop a theoretical explanation for the organization's success. Additionally, this article provides a model for other communities fighting for environmental justice.

New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewsFull AccessNew Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st CenturyBrian Tsuzaki, M.D.Brian TsuzakiSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 May 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.56.5.619-aAboutSectionsView EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail New Faces in a Changing America: Multiracial Identity in the 21st Century examines multiracial identity largely from a sociological perspective. The editors, Loretta I. Winters and Herman L. DeBose, are both associate professors of sociology at California State University at Northridge. The book's 18 chapters, each written by a different author, are organized into five parts: "Race as a Social Construct," "The Multiracial Movement," "Racial/Ethnic Groups in America and Beyond," "Race, Gender, and Hierarchy," and "Special Topics." Concerning the intended audience, DeBose writes in the introduction, "The book is written primarily for an undergraduate college course, but may be used as a supplement text for graduate courses. It is written for classes on multiracial identity issues and may be used as a reference for professionals who serve large multiracial populations (e.g., school personnel, therapists, human resource specialists, government agents)."One of the main topics of this book is the change in racial categorization in the 2000 U.S. Census. For the first time in the history of the census, people could check two or more racial categories, or "mark all that apply." This change was a huge issue to multiracial and minority peoples. Many multiracial organizations believed that this would give multiracial people an identity they had always been deprived of. On the other hand, many African-American organizations thought that a multiracial category in the census would "dilute the traditional minority count" and thus "undermine various state and federal programs aimed at minorities, such as minority business development programs and some affirmative action plans."The book also addresses the larger issue of racism in America. One chapter shows how the categorization of multiracial peoples has changed in the census throughout the past 200 years. It argues that these categorizations not only reflected the prevailing attitudes toward race at the time but also were used as tools to benefit the dominant race. Even the concept of race itself is scrutinized in this book. The question is raised, Is there a valid biological basis for separating people into races, or is race merely a manmade construct, a tool that has been used to gain power and money?As a last comment, I was struck by the regular use of provocative terms and ideas throughout the book. To give one example, Mary Thierry Texeira writes in chapter 2, "Moreover, we cannot understand the (multiracial) movement unless it is placed in the context of white supremacy. White supremacy informs us that divisions, including racial labels and categories among people of color in the United States, have always benefited a white power structure that has often endorsed attempts to disunite nonwhites." Although I didn't agree with everything in this book, it did help me better understand others' perspectives on race and multiracialism.Dr. Tsuzaki is a staff geriatric psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.edited by Loretta I. Winters and Herman L. DeBose; Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Publications, 432 pages, $36.95 softcover FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 56Issue 5 May 2005Pages 619-a-620 Metrics History Published online 1 May 2005 Published in print 1 May 2005

Statistical Analysis of Multiracial Group Characteristics and Interracial Conflict

This research examined the relationships between interracial conflict and various racial group characteristics such as relative size, average age, difference in earnings, educational level, and length of association with multiracial organizations. ns = 15 to 17 for the five groups.