Changing faces
LISA FUNDERBURG
"We’ve become a country where race is no longer so black or white."
The U.S. Census Bureau has collected detailed data on multiracial people only since 2000, when it first allowed respondents to check off more than one race, and 6.8 million people chose to do so. Ten years later that number jumped by 32 percent, making it one of the fastest growing categories. The multiple-race option has been lauded as progress by individuals frustrated by the limitations of the racial categories established in the late 18th century by German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who divided humans into five “natural varieties” of red, yellow, brown, black, and white. Although the multiple-race option is still rooted in that taxonomy, it introduces the factor of self-determination.
SUMMARY: The article addresses the ever changing American society. Through racial integration, over generations, American society is looking more intermixed than ever before. Over the past 30 years, Americans have begun to identifying themselves as more than one race. Now, America will have to reevaluate existing definitions of race and identity. The article describes that the changing society will give individuals the opportunity to cease restricting individuals to racial categories.
ANALYSIS: America is changing due to ethnic and racial groups becoming more interconnected than ever before in history. Racial barriers divided the nation, such as: the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, Chicano movement and other forms racial discrimination. However, society has gradually become more accepting of racial/ethnic differences. Rather than racial minorities remaining isolated within small communities of people of the same ethnicity, individuals are now intermixing amongst others in society, due to tolerance of interracial relationships and advocated equality. Thus, Americans have begun to physically appear to be “a new race”. Individuals embrace their multiple ethnic roots and are phasing problems with self identity. This mixed race, gives people the opportunity to embrace themselves as an individual, even if they don’t identify themselves as belonging to one racial group. Thus, people will be more accepting of diverse individuals because America will fully consist of people of various races/ethnicities. This will shape modern society as a multiracial population, resulting in nationwide reevaluation of what American society looks like.
ANALYSIS: America is changing due to ethnic and racial groups becoming more interconnected than ever before in history. Racial barriers divided the nation, such as: the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, Chicano movement and other forms racial discrimination. However, society has gradually become more accepting of racial/ethnic differences. Rather than racial minorities remaining isolated within small communities of people of the same ethnicity, individuals are now intermixing amongst others in society, due to tolerance of interracial relationships and advocated equality. Thus, Americans have begun to physically appear to be “a new race”. Individuals embrace their multiple ethnic roots and are phasing problems with self identity. This mixed race, gives people the opportunity to embrace themselves as an individual, even if they don’t identify themselves as belonging to one racial group. Thus, people will be more accepting of diverse individuals because America will fully consist of people of various races/ethnicities. This will shape modern society as a multiracial population, resulting in nationwide reevaluation of what American society looks like.