Multiracial

The terms multiracial, biracial, and mixed-race describe people whose ancestors are not of a single race. (Biracial strictly refers to those with ancestors from exactly two races). One example might be a person with a white mother and African father. Another might be the Mestizo people of Mexico (and other Latin American countries) who are descended from Spanish and indigenous ancestors. It is sometimes a matter of opinion if people are mixed-race, because races themselves are not clearly defined. This has caused some problems for census-takers.

Categorization and censuses

Some multiracial individuals feel marginalized by US society. For example, when applying to schools, for a job, or taking standardized tests, all Americans are asked to check boxes corresponding to race or ethnicity. Typically, about four or five race choices are given with the instruction to "check only one." Many other such surveys include an additional "other" box, but this unfortunately groups together individuals of many different multiracial types (ex: Caucasian/African-Americans are grouped with Asian/Native American Indians), as well as individuals who feel their race or ethnic identity is not included in the standard groups (ex: Jewish, Arab, Asian Indian). Perhaps most acceptable in the "multiple choice" format of race is to both provide an "other" box and to allow selection of multiple boxes, but some individuals will not be satisfied with any box checking.

Related Topics:
Race - Ethnicity

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There remain many circumstances in which biracial individuals are left with no real response when asked for demographic data. But multiracial people won a victory of sorts with the 2000 United States Census, which allowed participants to select more than one of the six available categories, which were, in brief: White, Black, Asian, Native American (North, Central or South America), Pacific Islander, Other. Further details are given in the article: Race (US Census).

Related Topics:
United States Census - Race (US Census)

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In contrast, the 2001 United Kingdom census offered specific mixed-race categories: "Mixed White and Black Caribbean", "Mixed White and Black African", "Mixed White and Asian", and "Other Mixed", as well as "Other ethnic group".

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Two million mixed-race Americans vanish

The 2000 US census http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&geo_id=01000US&qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1 recorded 6.8 million mixed-race people. But population estimates for 2002 http://eire.census.gov/popest/data/states/ST-EST2002-ASRO-03.php reduce this figure to 4.2 million.

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Anti-miscegenation laws in the USA not only applied to blacks but also to Asians, and less often to

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Native Americans. Hispanics of obvious African or Native American descent were also legally forbidden to marry whites in a few states.

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