I am not Black or Mexican- I AM BLAXICAN!

blaxican

This week we continue to discuss racial/ethnic identities of multiracial people. I chose an article called “Between Black and Brown: Blaxican (Black and Mexican) Multi-racial identity in California,” written by Rebecca Romo, as it resonates perfectly with this weeks topic. Through “in depth interviews with 12 Blaxicans in California, the author shows how individuals have to negotiate distinct cultural systems to accomplish multiracial identities” (Romo, 2011). Romo (2011) argues that Blaxicans have to “choose, accomplish, and assert a Blaxican identity, which challenges the dominant monoracial discourse in the United States, in particular among African Americans and Chicano/a communities” (403). Reason being, is that race has been constructed to embrace the black/white binary, which creates problems for people of multiracial identities. For example, my daughter, who is Black and Mexican, a multiracial child, is often referred to as a black young lady. Her physical traits take on more of the African American identity so she “marked.” This is problematic because it denies multiracial people’s heritage, or makes them choose between one or the other. Similar to the 12 Blaxicans interviewed in the article, my daughter also actively “asserts” and identifies as a multiracial Blaxican. Because she experiences the same issues that the people in the study face, she has to make it a point to say she is Blaxican. She doesn’t want to choose-her daddy is Black and I am Chicana, so she wants to embrace all aspects of her identity. It has been hard for because people have remarked, “Your Mexican? But, you do not even speak Spanish.” Or, people have remarked, “You have pretty hair for a black girl.” My baby is never Mexican enough or Black enough, so she says she is Blaxican. She identifies with both-her dads side, and my side, even though she is mainly around my mom’s family, who is Mexicano/as/Chicano/as. She may throw in her my dad’s European Greek side, once in a while. But, she mostly says she is Blaxican.

Romo, Rebecca. “Between Black and Brown: Blaxican (Black-Mexican) Multiracial Identity in California.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 42, no. 3, 2011, pp. 402–426. www.jstor.org/stable/41151349.

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