Tiger Woods situation shines new light on mixed-race
issues
By Maria T. Padilla / The Orlando Sentinel
Tiger Woods, who become a sensation after his record-setting
victory at the Masters golf tournament last month, recently caused
a stir of a different kind when he refused to identify himself
as black.
Instead, he coined a new term, saying he was "Cablinasian,"
a mix of Caucasian, black, Native American and Asian. Some in
the African-American community felt slighted, saying Woods was
denying his blackness.
But Woods, whose mother is Thai and father is African-American
(but also part Native American and white), was trying to acknowledge
his ancestors.
"Instead of embracing him (Woods) for what he is, people
are trying to pull him apart," said Susan Graham, executive
director of Project RACE, a grass-roots group in Roswell, Ga.,
that champions mixed-race issues.
Woods' situation shines a new spotlight on an old subject:
what to call people of mixed race. The Old South placed a high
value on knowing who was what, so elaborate terms such as quadroon
and octoroon were devised to track the extent of one's blackness.
But the old definitions no longer apply in a nation whose racial
palette now includes many shades of brown, experts say.
"There is no place in the American framework where people
who are of multiracial and multiethnic background can be acknowledged,"
said Ramona Douglas, of the Association of Multi-ethnic America,
a California group.
Woods, 21, didn't have to stretch to create a new label for
himself. He could have said he was multiracial, a racial classification
that may appear on the 2000 Census if Project RACE and Multiethnic
America have their way. Multiracial applies to a person who is
of more than one race (and often more than one ethnic group).
The Census Bureau estimates about 2 percent of the American
population is multiracial. However, advocates believe the figure
is higher, citing increasing numbers of interracial marriages
in diverse states such as California, New York and Florida. They
say more multiracial people would step forward if the classification
were official and widely known.
The federal government will decide this fall whether to include
the multiracial classification in the next census and on other
government forms.
Multiracial and multiethnic people want to be counted for many
reasons. For instance, advocates say that doctors should know
they are treating a mixed-race person in order to check for diseases,
such as sickle cell anemia, which strikes mostly blacks.
"This is also a lifesaving thing," Graham said. She
noted that former baseball star Rod Carew's mixed-race daughter
died because doctors couldn't find a bone marrow donor to treat
her leukemia.
"It would have had to come from a multiracial person,"
Graham said.
But the most obvious reason people cite for a new multiracial
category is racial identity, or more precisely the feeling among
multiracial people that they lack an identity.
"I don't identify with one race or the other, and I don't
feel that I should have to. I'm exactly half and half," said
Jacqueline Mathews, 39, of Orlando, Fla. Mathews' mother is white,
and her father is black.
Mathews' 14-year old daughter, Sabrina, whose father is black,
is grappling with the same issue. Sabrina said she feels torn.
To be able to say she's multiracial would be a relief, she said.
"If somebody asks what I am, I can't list them all. But
if I say I'm multiracial, people get the idea," Sabrina said.
Parents of multiracial children are especially adamant about
giving their children racial elbow room. Graham of Project RACE
said she formed her group in 1991, after she discovered that "there
was no room for my children" in the 1990 Census.
Parents also worry about the taunting of children, a reason
some parents seek the company of other mixed children.
"I've known other multiracial families, and our experiences
are very similar," said Vallery Morton of Oviedo, Fla. "We
want to protect them (the children) from any discomfort or confusion."
Morton is white, and her husband, Steve, is black. They have
two children, Katie, 5, and Henry, 10 months.
Being multiracial is a different experience, something that
neither whites nor blacks understand, said Elliott Lewis, 30,
of Orlando.
"You know how scholars talk about the black experience
in America," Lewis asked. "I think there is also a biracial
or multiracial experience in America," said Lewis, a reporter
for WCPX-TV.
"I'm too dark one minute and too light the next,"
said Lewis, both of whose parents are a mix of black and white.
His opinion was echoed by others, such as Irene Sisk, 22, who
is half white and half Thai. When she was growing up, Sisk thought
that she didn't fit in either culture.
"I'm not 100 percent Thai as far as culture, morals and
values. The American culture is more diverse, but I couldn't really
hang with the cheerleaders," Sisk said.
Sisk has settled on calling herself "Amerasian, the best
of both worlds," she said.
African-American Phyllis Ledbetter agrees with Lewis and Sisk,
saying she never thought of racial classifications until she gave
birth to her daughter, Addie Alexandria, now 20 months old.
"When it strikes home you see it from a different perspective,"
said Ledbetter, who was born and raised in Orlando. Her husband
is white.
"I think, for my daughter, because she has a strong relationship
with my husband's mother, her being singled out as solely black
would not be fair to his family," Ledbetter said.
Necessity has forced the Ledbetters to come up with a classification
all their own, just as Tiger Woods did. They have considered referring
to Addie Alexandria as "Anglo African-American."
(c) 1997, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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