What does 'mixed race' mean to you? How would you describe a 'mixed race' person?

Well, I personally would never call anyone "mixed race", but presumably the term covers an Asian and a European who have had offspring, or the children of an African and either of the above.

I don't see why we should concern ourselves about a person's antecedents. Medically there is so little difference between the so-called races that I doubt it serves any useful purpose to talk of mixed race.

In many cultural contexts it may be relevant that NN's mother is Asian, or MM's father European, but then we can surely say so.

Esspee - sorry for late reply. I have been ill all weekend and at a meeting since early this morning.

You have misread the whole point I was trying to make- and to impute from me a belief that 'white is superior' - is catastrophically wrong. And btw my grandchildren don't 'pass for white' - they are white- despite having African, Indonesian an Indian blood some generation back.

My point is that no-one would ever even think of them as mixed race, because they do not 'look' mixed race.

As for the prejudice, put your head in the sand if you wish. Anyone who has a family that was 'sorted into categories' depending on how dark their skin turned out to be, by sheer genetic lottery- will tell you it is nonsense.

Thank you gagajo, glad you understand.

Really @GagaJo I can’t say I’ve encountered any white privilege in the UK. I am Scottish, have lived in the USA, the Caribbean, and New Zealand

I refuse to accept any behaviour which results from skin colour, religious, race or ethnic background differences and challenge it every time.

In the Caribbean as well as negative racist behaviour towards me I often encounter the opposite, where I receive preferential treatment and I shut that right down too.

My late husband was black, my children are therefore mixed race, my grandchildren even more mixed so I feel qualified to comment.

GagaJo ; I just point out to you that is a sweeping statement to make "We experience white privilege for the vast majority of our lives"

I am British with pale skin, within my family the black side comes from Irish white mother/Jamaican father and thence children being born subsequently mixed heritage so obviously I do know a lot about black/mixed heritage and to say that people in my family may have experienced white privilege is laughable. I agree on one point there are many that would like to see the races non interacting so white with white and black with black that itself is a force to reckon with.

GagaJo On reading the last post from Espee she has highlighted some of the comments of Jura and she has correctly pointed out that Jura says that her grand-children could pass as white.
The point of this thread was about mixed race/mixed heritage people and fundamentally if mixed race then you will have characteristics, certain genes, features, that will show that person they are not white, no matter how much someone wants to say oh they are nearly white then the mixed race person could become very confused.

IMO all the parents of mixed heritage AC and grandchildren
make sure that they know exactly what their heritage is and also give them the tools they will need in the outside world to deal with racism if it should arise.
I have known of two families where a white mother had a mixed race child and then quickly got together with a white man and had further children being white. The mixed race child was bought up in the family and no reference was ever given to that child that it had different biological father so as the child grew up it found itself confused about it's own identity. I could tell a mixed heritage person a mile off no matter how pale the skin.

I don't think Jura sees white as superior at all. Easier, yes. But it is.

Esspee, I would hazard that most of us on here are white. We live in white dominant cultures. Yes, I have been in environments where I have been the only white person present (when I lived in the US in husbands family environment) and yes, there has been some antipathy towards me. But comparing that to the structural racism a person of colour experiences is ridiculous.

We experience white privilege for the vast majority of our lives. It is not comparable with the racism people of colour suffer. I could list numerous examples from just my family members.

Pretending white dominance does not exist is disingenuous.

@jura2 In your last post you state that your grandchildren are mixed race "and you would never ever guess or know"
Let me take a wild guess that you feel they could "pass for white" (a truly objectionable phrase to me but somehow apt.)
You then state "they will never ever suffer any of the prejudice..... " What are you trying to say?

Have you bothered to read or understand the contributions from @3nanny6 or myself drawing attention to the fact that prejudice works in every direction. Both of us have been discriminated against because of our race and we are blonde and pale skinned.

It appears to me that you see some sort of superiority in that although your GC are mixed race they don't look it and that is what this thread is all about.

It has been interesting to follow this thread. Our world has come so far in the past century with tolerance but still has a long way to go. The town where I live is very multicultural, and at one point when my kids were teens I wondered in awe what wonderful mix of heritage my future grandchildren would be when I met boyfriends or girlfriends of my children.

I understand how sometimes a label is helpful, as in a medical inquiry, or physical description for police inquiries etc., but we do need to be politically correct. I remember my son being chastised at the age of when he referred to another boy in class as 'the boy with the bun', but I explained to the teacher that he couldn't remember his name, and that boy called him 'the boy with the glasses'. No mention of skin colour, or any derogatory intent. Those two little boys ended up as good friends, all part of a scruffy gang of fun loving boys.

I checked our census records for Canada, and found it interesting that 32% of population identified as Canadian ethnicity yet only 4% identified as North American Indian (census terminology)... so how would you describe a Canadian? Interesting.

Thanks for all the interesting and varied comments.

The reality is, generally- that the concept of 'mixed race' is most often associated with someone issued from the union of a 'black/coloured' person and a 'white' person- the children having lighter brown skin ...

And I wanted to challenge this, with our family's experience in mind- that it is nonsense. There are huge numbers of mixed race people out there where you could never ever guess- and they are, just as, and often perhaps more, mixed race.

My grandchildren have 4 races and 11 nationalities in the last 3 generations- and you would never, ever, guess or know. And they will never ever suffer any of the prejudice others where it is visible.

Just pointing out that perhaps the researchers who are doing this census should take up some form of census with the
Police Federation as well, I know we need our police these days more than we ever have but there are certain codes that are used when they are looking/or trying to detain someone the code for "black" suspects is I C 3 which is defined "black" this can be anyone of darker skin or even lighter skin but known to be possibly mixed race the codes they use are still being used today and I think that I C 3 is in need of change.

Esspee : I add that like you have said in post that some posters are saying that often those with the darker skin tones are usually the ones that are more likely to find the worse outcome for discrimination. I have to disagree with that and that is not always the case although I post from the U.K. and I believe that many posters in this thread are from South Africa and I cannot speak for them as I am not familiar with how things work over there. I have been involved with many mixed race groups/black in my courses over the years for equality and one 8 week course to do with working in schools was run by mostly black people so when I turned up the first week being my white/blonde haired self I was redirected to another room as they told me this course is about black issues, I gave them my paperwork and they were somewhat surprised however by the third week we were all getting on well so it does show that other cultures can view us suspiciously. Perhaps another point to make was that I was the only white person on the course also.

@Farmour15

Re. Discrimination based on skin colour.

You mention that if discrimination based on skin colour was applied to your family then those with darker skin tones might suffer.
As a blue eyed blonde who has experienced discrimination in countries where I was in the tiny minority I always like to point out that discrimination works both ways. This is often met with disbelief by those who (perhaps unwittingly) believe that they are by default in some position of superiority by dint of their paler skin.

yes it's a first for me!
It was an old Jewish joke. About appearance and race.
GNHQ know best what we can get away with.

Callistemon Yes - I know red-haired people can be bullied, but in Ireland there a few more than in some other countries - there's even a Red-head convention every year!

Tim Minchin has a good song "Prejudice" www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Umw70Yulw

If you like a bit of black comedy another of Tim Minchin's songs - Lullaby - is worth listening to, though not if you're minding a young baby!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFANzZTdYM

Farmor unfortunately red haired people can come in for quite a bit of bullying too, if not discrimination.

I think this is an interesting discussion. Since it started, I had a look at some census forms to see how they worded questions. It seems to be a bit different depending on country - I've attached Irish one, but in US they have boxes for Hispanic etc. And all include box for "mixed".

There's a tendency in these questions to use "Ethnicity" rather than "race". There are endless academic arguments as to whether different "races" of humans actually exist, but we know that some medical conditions are more prevalent in people with certain genetic heritage, and that some people are discriminated against because of colour etc, which is why I suppose the questions are asked.

However, I think Jura wanted to know was what sort of person came to mind when the term "mixed-race" was used. As in her family, my mixed-up family has members who are blonde and blue-eyed, light-brown skin and black-haired (probably more typical of what might be perceived as mixed-race), and red-haired with very pale skin. Fortunately, where they live, there is not much obvious discrimination based on skin colour, otherwise the darker ones might suffer .

Fennel I missed it and I must say I have never known you have a post deleted before as you are not usually controversial.

Shame Fennel's post was deleted- I would have liked to see it. Perhaps repost by pm, Fennel? Thanks.

ananimous ''It's hard to know if some posters are joking, seriously paranoid, or just having trouble socializing...

I think I should adjust my responses to those, or not respond, to help them calm down a bit.''

who? where? Your post is, again, cryptic- attacking without being clear. How is one supposed to respond to such a comment?

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Bradford Lass when I lived and worked in Hongkong in the 70’s, I was referred to as the Gwaipo Nga-yih.
It means ‘the female foreign-devil dentist’.
Like you I chose not to be offended, as I realised it was merely a descriptor and no offence was intended.

The Chinese liked to give people nicknames. MrA’s immediate boss, who wore a beard, was referred to as So-Lo (the bearded devil).
MrA, whose job-title was Assistant Resident Engineer, was known as Sai-Lo (the lesser devil)

It's hard to know if some posters are joking, seriously paranoid, or just having trouble socializing...

I think I should adjust my responses to those, or not respond, to help them calm down a bit.

I must admit that there is a good reason, occasionally, to tag a person with a description, sometimes referring to their heritage.

I only realised it today because I overheard a voice talking about me - a person who didn't know my name.

She said, 'You know, the Pakeha lady...'

As I am the only Pakeha lady in a large group of Maori and she was asking if they knew my name, it was the only way of describing me )

I don't object to this, nor do I find it offensive.

ananimous - there is nothing hostile about this thread. You obviously have not bothered to read my posts.

Totally and absolutely agree with your last sentence- and if you did take the trouble to read posts, instead of jumping to the wrong conclusions- you would know that.