Racism is complex, particularly as definitions, identifications with and political aspects of race and culture are dynamic and challenging to static interpretation. The labelling of clients and their experiences into neat categories can compound misunderstanding and this is particularly true when working with multiracial groups and individuals. Academic and practical aspects of multiracial clients involve taking into account their unique positioning between cultural worlds.
Academic discourse regarding multiracial experiences in society is in an early stage, but the impact of discrimination on multiracial individuals predates its recognition in scholarly literature by decades and centuries (McKibbin, 2014).In part this is due to the historical progression of racial discourse, which in the United States followed what has been termed a “one drop” rule (McKibben, 2014). In other words, one drop of heritage from a heritage which is visibly not part of the mainstream majority defines an individual or household as being different (McKibben, 2014). This provides an understanding regarding who is discriminated against by the society at large, however multiracial individuals also have difficulty being accepted by the communities of heritage which make them different from what is considered to be the mainstream.
Individuals who have multiracial backgrounds can be subjected to discrimination by the others who share an aspect of their ancestry. They may be denied full participation in ethnic communities due to the presence of another heritage, or they may be subjected to micro-aggressions . The authenticity of their experience as a person of that background may be questioned by those communities of ancestry, leading to difficulties accessing the benefits of membership and group identification.
The impact of biracial, multiracial or multiethnic distinctions on our society is one of an intricate web of connections to multiple issues. Multiracial issues are connected with pride in one’s community, but also to being left out of monoracial communities. It is connected to emerging ideas about multiracial identity, without that identity being shared necessarily as a unifying distinction by people who consider themselves to be multiracial (McKibbin, 2014). Persons who might be considered to be multiracial also have different contexts and outcomes than the monoracial households and individuals from their heritage communities. Bratter and Damaske (2013) describe their investigation of multiracial children living in poverty with single parents as one at racial “crossroads”. They found that multiracial children had lower rates of poverty than monoracial Black children, but higher rates of poverty than monoracial Caucasian children. This in between status indicates a different set of circumstances.
Another potential result of multiracial heritage is a lack of integration of racial identity which manifests as psychological issues such as distress symptoms (Jackson, Yoo, Guevarra Jr, & Harrington, 2012).Studies have found that psychological adjustment increased, and was better able to mitigate the impacts of discrimination, when multiracial identity integration was high and racial distance was low (Jackson et al., 2012).
With regard to social work practice, issues that are important to consider are identification as an individual, the extent to which that identification relates to an existing community, and how multiracial issues may impact on relationships and status. Race is a social construct, and to that end race may be determined by the individual and their identification as well as by how they are perceived within the related communities and society at large. It is not up to the social worker, or the organization, to make assumptions regarding racial or ethnic identity and yet there will be times when social workers face difficulties due to a lack of overlap between identification and external perception. This can manifest as a lack of willingness to accept certain services or interventions because of ideas regarding alignment with identity.
- Bratter, J. L., & Damaske, S. (2013). Poverty at a racial crossroads: Poverty among multiracial children of single mothers. Journal of Marriage and Family, 75(2), 486-502.
- Jackson, K. F., Yoo, H. C. B., Guevarra Jr, R., & Harrington, B. A. (2012). Role of identity integration on the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and psychological adjustment of multiracial people. Journal of counseling psychology, 59(2), 240.
- McKibbin, M. L. (2014). The Current State of Multiracial Discourse. Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies, 1(1).
