Treatment Towards Biracial Children

"'Jem,' I asked,' what's a mixed child?'

'Half-white, half-colored. You've seen 'em, Scout. You know that red-kinky-headed one that delivers for the drugstore. He's half-white. They're real sad.'

'Sad, how come?'

'They don't belong anywhere. Colored folks won't have 'em because they're half-white; white folks won't have 'em 'cause they're colored, so they're just in-betweens, don't belong anywhere." (To Kill a Mockingbird, page 161)

Everyone has heard the quote," All men are created equal." That has not stopped the discrimination against any group of people right up to this very moment. The group of people that is treated most unequally is made up of biracial children and teens. Whether the treatment is from parents, peers, and other adults such as teachers, this can have detrimental effects on a person's psyche.

When you are a kid, whether you're Caucasian, Asian, Mestizo or Afroindipean, your number one hero is your mother or father. As hard as it is to comprehend, parents aren't always right. Quite a few parents, raising biracial children or not, choose to believe that if you ignore a certain problem, it will go away. Even if the parent or parents ignore it and feel that it is no longer an issue, the child will still have to face these tribulations. "One of the first things you need to understand when parenting multiracial children is the insidious effects of racism. Racism leaves marks that last a lifetime. "(Does Anybody Else Look Like Me?, page 153). One of the best ways to learn is to experience.

Every parent in the world wants to protect their children from all the things that harm. Words like half-breed, Oreo, Mexicoon, Niganese, and Rice Cracker are what children from interracial relationships have to face. It is simply unfair that multiracial children have to adapt to living in such a negative world. Racism has taken root in our society from the beginning of our country's birth and has not yet, unfortunately, died. While running everyday errands, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, author of Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parents Guide to Raising Multiracial Children, has come across some disturbing attitudes." When I ventured out with my children, in the form of lingering stares in the supermarket and intrusive questions from strangers ('What are they?' 'Where did you get them?' 'Wow, do you ever get used to the fact that they look nothing like you?')" (Does Anybody Else Look Like Me?, page ix)What do you do when there is no where left to shelter?

One way to fight this particular battle, as a parent, is to face it head-on. Hate just blossoms more hate; ignorance is not an alternative. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. The list for offensive words for any race of people goes on and on. Most 'normal' children learn of such biased hate later on in life. They hear the jokes, see the movies, and watch the news. Multiracial children, on the other hand, are forced to learn this lesson from incident. Parents must treat these children with more truth. "Help children in answering questions related to their race and heritage. Children are often baffled when they don't know how to explain the color of their skin, texture of their hair or their facial features. Help children deal with racism without feeling personally battered." (http://www.parenting-child-development.com/multiracial-child.html).

Being confused about your identity can cause problems that can linger into adulthood. Children can form aggressive behavior toward parents, sadness and depression, interfamilial conflicts, substance abuse, psychosomatic disorders, and the worst of all, suicidal ideation and behaviors. No person on the face of the earth deserves to be put in such a situation in life that they turn to alternatives like these. Sadly, this is what is happening.

Peers also have a significant influence on a growing mind. A student from the University of Tennessee states," the first 21 years of my life have felt like a never-ending tug of war. And quite honestly, I'm not looking forward to being dragged through the mud for the rest of my life. My white friends want me to act one way--white. My African-American friends want me to act another--black. Pleasing them both is nearly impossible and leaves little room to be just me. "(Freedom From Choice; Being Biracial Has Meant Denying Half My Identity. Brian A. Courtney.) From Kindergarten right up until college, people attack what they cannot understand. People should feel lucky that they have such a colorful and unique background, not like they are under attack. One of the lessons parents never fail to teach is that if you are yourself then everyone will like you, apparently they were lying.

Multiracial children need to learn from an early age about self-respect and dignity. "When you look at me you may only see one color; but there are other colors within me." (Ellen Sebastian Chang) If traits like these are suppressed by peer pressure, biracial teens can form problems like schizophrenia and anti-socialism.

"Children of mixed racial or ethnic parentage also have unique needs - but often the professionals who work with these children in day care centers, schools, or social service or health care settings lack the training or awareness to provide the best possible services, support, and encouragement to these children and their families." (Children of Mixed Parentage: How Can Professionals Respond? Francis Wardle) Sensitivity and patience are the most important qualities professionals need in handling a biracial child.

My best friend is biracial. Her father is Filipino and her mother is Caucasian. Even before we attended the same schools, we have been inseparable. By sophomore year in high school we would die for each other. In the beginning of the year, the school sends home a packet of papers that need to be filled out and brought back. One of these papers has to do with the census. They ask you to check a box that corresponds with your ethnicity. There was no biracial box to check and there still isn't one. My friend chose other, wrote in Filipino