CHAPTER 18

COUNSELING INDIVIDUALS OF

MULTIRACIAL DESCENT

People of Mixed Race

People of mixed race heritage are often ignored, neglected, and considered nonexistent in our educational materials, media portrayals, and psychological literature

Facts and Figures

The biracial baby boom in the United States started in 1967 when the last laws against race mixing (anti-miscegenation) were repealed

The number of children living in families where one parent is White and the other is Black, Asian, or American Indian has tripled from 1970 to 1990

Racial/Ethnic Ambiguity, or “What Are You?”

Racial/ethnic ambiguity refers to the inability of people to distinguish the monoracial category of the multiracial individual from phenotypic characteristics

The “What are you?” question almost asks a biracial child to justify his or her existence in a world rigidly built on the concepts of racial purity and monoracialism

The Marginal Syndrome

Root (1990) asserted that mixed-race people begin life as “marginal individuals” because society refuses to view the races as equal and because their ethnic identities are ambiguous as they are often viewed as fractionated people—composed of fractions of a race, culture, or ethnicity

Complex Identity Processes

A growing number of multiracial individuals who are choosing “multiracial” as their ethnic identity

Where the child grows up (i.e. in an integrated neighborhood and school versus in an ethnic community) can have a great impact on identity

Physical appearance also influences the sense of group belonging and racial self-identification among multiracial individuals

Multiracial Bill of Rights

Three major affirmations:

Resistance Revolution Change

Guidelines for Clinical Practice

Become aware of your own stereotypes and preconceptions regarding interracial relationships and marriages

When working with multiracial clients, avoid stereotyping See multiracial people in a holistic fashion rather than as

fractions of a person Remember that being a multiracial person often means

coping with marginality, isolation, and loneliness With mixed-race clients, emphasize the freedom to choose

one’s identity Take an active psychoeducational approach

Guidelines for Clinical Practice

Since mixed race people are constantly portrayed as possessing deficiencies, stress their positive attributes and the advantages of being multiracial and multicultural

Recognize that family counseling may be especially valuable in working with mixed-race clients, especially if they are children

When working with multiracial clients, ensure that you possess basic knowledge of the history and issues related to hypodescent (the one drop rule), ambiguity (the “What are you?” question, marginality, and racial/cultural identity