Re-Framing the National Family: Race Mixing and Re-Telling American History (Essay‪)‬

SINCE THE INCREASED VISIBILITY of the multiracial movement during debates over racial categorization for Census 2000, discourses concerning interracial relationships and multiracial individuals have multiplied. Images and stories about celebrities, such as Tiger Woods and Halle Berry, best-selling Oprah book picks, such as Slaves in the Family; and statistics on rising interracial marriage rates provide mainstream media with regular opportunities to discuss multiracial identity. Many commentators predict that the growth of "Generation M" (M for multiracial) will result in the end of racism. To a certain extent, this celebration of multiracial families is an attempt to re-frame the meaning of interracial sexual and family relationships from a shameful to a hopeful phenomenon. (1) Yet and still, the recent election has brought out evidence of intolerance toward mixed race people, most visibly in attacks on the first interracial Democratic nominee (now president), Barack Obama. Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama.