Crossing the colour line: Interracial marriage and biracial identity

By James Omolo

This book is about interracial family unit, compiling personal stories and analysis to project myriad ways race ,skin color affect family dynamics in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Sweden. It focuses on how biracial individuals manage and negotiate a wide spectrum of Black identity politics in parallel with race, culture, nationality and gender.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Omolo
• Release date: Jun 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9788394711818

James Omolo

James Omolo studied in Kenya, India and Poland. He is the founder of Africa Connect Foundation, a radio host at imiradio and an activist on Human Rights related issues affecting People of African Descent. He also lectured at the University of Social Asciences and Humanities (SWPS), Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Training on ‘Africa Business and Beyond’. He has also contributed to publications in local academic journals.

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James Omolo

Edition published by

Cosmodernity Consultants

Copyright © 2019 by James Omolo

An imprint of Cosmodernity Consultants LLC

All rights reserved

No part of this document may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without prior written permission of

James Omolo.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part

of the work should be submitted to the publisher or to the author: [e-mail].

Cover credit: Samir Saadi

Editing: Jaycen Demetrius

First printing: 2019

ISBN-978-83-947118-1-8

Printed in Poland by: Totem.com.pl

The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.

― W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

Contents

FORWARD

INTRODUCTION

AIM

RESEARCH PROBLEMS

RESEARCH METHODS

RESEARCH PROCEDURE

COUNTRY OVERVIEW

Sweden

Denmark

Austria

Germany

Poland

CHAPTER ONE

RESEARCH RESULTS: BIRACIAL INDIVIDUALS

CHAPTER TWO

RESEARCH RESULTS: INTER-RACIAL RELATIONSHIP

CHAPTER THREE

DISCUSSION: RACIAL SOCIALIZATION

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

ANNEX

QUESTIONNAIRES

NOTES AND RESOURCES

LIST OF TABLE

Table 1: How you classify your racial identity

Table 2: I struggle to understand where I belong

Table 3: I have values that relate to a particular racial group

Table 4: Do people classify your race incorrectly

Table 5: I feel like a racial minority

Table 6: Are you familiar with the culture of the group you identify with?

Table 7: Have you experienced identity issues as a person of colour?

Table 8: What race do you consider your children?

Table 9: What identity issues have

Table 10: It is important for me that I find a racial group that I can identify with.

Table 11: I struggle to understand where I belong.

Table 12: Do you believe that one racial group describes you.

Table 13: I often feel conflict between my racial or cultural group.

Table 14:I have a clear understanding of my race

Table 15: Do you believe people treat you unfairly because you are biracial.

Table 16: Do you believe you are given preferential treatment because you are biracial.

Table 17: Do you believe your racial category defines who you are.

Table 18: What was your families’ response to you having biracial children?

Table 19: Do you feel appearance impacts the racial categorization of your child?

COMMONLY USED TERMS TO DISCRIBE PEOPLE OF MIXED-RACE IN EUROPE

The following terms are often used to describe individuals of mixed race. During the interview, most of the respondents used varied descriptive terms such as Mixed, Biracial, Half-caste, Chocolate, Mulatto, and Matisse (French for Mulatto).

Bi-racial: referring to two races

Black: Not a real skin colour but as a social construct of race.

Brown babies:[1]

Brownie[2]

Coloured: refers to mixed group of People of African Descent.

Chocolate

Half-breed

Half Black

Hybrid: Generally refers to something of mixed origin or composition-a mix of two different species.

Half-caste: also referred to as half-breed

Métis/Matisse: French for mixed blood, a Portuguese for a dog.

Mulatto: Small Mule in Spanish

Mixed-race: a person of mixed heritage.

Mixed Heritage: a person from different heritage backgrounds

Mongrel: of mixed breed or origin, relates to dogs[3]

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am fortunate to have friends and no shame in soliciting their help. Once I had the idea of writing this book, I approached many of my friends and acquaintance who are biracial and also those in a mixed relationship and having children with request for information and referrals. It all worked out well. I apologize for not listing them here due to the confidentiality of their identity. A few individuals also played a role in making this book happen. My thanks go first to my Son, Jason and daughter, Aidah, they are the greatest inspiration for writing this book. Jaycen Demetrius, throughout, he has been generous with his editorial guidance and desirable intellect and sentences he recommended dot the book. Last but not least, Dr. Margaret Omaha-Nowak who reviewed this book and provided a sharp critical eye

FORWARD

Dr. Margaret Amaha Ohia-Nowak

––––––––

In the introduction to the Colourline; Interracial Marriage and Biracial Identity James Omolo argues: Being of African origin relegates mixed race individuals in Europe to a lower social status which is promoted by White racial attitudes and structural policies, barring their full participation in the society- prejudice manifests in a number of surprising ways. They become ostracized and gain widespread apathy from the host community. Needless to say, being of mixed heritage makes one a veritable outsider. To be an outsider might not be one’s choice. But since that is who one is, it helps one understand other outsiders, and speak on their behalf.

In his book James Omolo brings together voices of Afro-Europeans, Africans and Europeans in interracial marriages and parents of biracial children, to bring the complex perspectives on how biracial members of the society construe their being and how the perception of the society influences particularly a child of a black and a white parent. Despite the substantial growth of People of African Descent individuals and mixed race couples in Central and Western Europe, little has been written on their existence and everyday experience, especially in countries like Poland where the author lives. Hence this book is an indispensable publication that fills a huge gap in the area of contemporary Afro-Europeans studies.

The main goal of the book is to provide a comprehensive study about various ways in which mixed race people across five European countries (Poland, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Denmark) identify themselves and describe their sense of belonging among the society. The book presents a wide range of racial experiences of the individuals who live in predominantly white countries but whose identities are largely ambiguous and cannot be easily defined within the racially homogenous environments.

The author talks largely about different ways parents of biracial children help them cope with racism embedded in the society. He purposely says his book is targeted at mixed race individuals and their families as it offers some practical guidance on general strategies for coping with stereotypes and prejudice people of colour encounter on a daily basis.

Dozens of in-depth interviews and carefully crafted quantitative surveys with biracial individuals of African-European descent, people in interracial couples and parents of Afro-Europeans were conducted in order to cite a wide spectrum of stories, thoughts, insights, reflections and to name the variety of feelings both black, white and biracial people experience in relation to their mixed heritage.

The author aims to present narratives not known to the general public. However, the majority of stories could be well recognized by those who empathize with the mixed-race experience. For example, he provides a useful list of commonly used terms to name people of mixed race in Europe many of which are derogatory in meaning (e.g. Mulatto, Chocolate, Mongrel).

INTRODUCTION

Vitality has been a vibrant force in my emancipation, and when I take a critical examination of my social environment, it continues to dawn on me that while sometimes I have been made to feel like a hidden lumbering monster - because of the color of my skin. I have also become inoculated against the phenomenon and start developing this nagging curiosity of going beyond my own self to those who receive disproportionate recognition.

Individuals from mixed parentage have been victims of the societal misrecognition which wishes to repudiate them with vile, hateful rhetoric and actions. Being a father of two mixed race kids, I believe my children do not see themselves Black in the same way I see myself, nor do they feel the same as their mother. There is more pressure for individuals of mixed parentage to identify as monoracial- a condition destitute of merit. It is equally preposterous to subjugate individuals from mixed parentage.

Being of African origin relegates mixed-race individuals in Europe to a lower social status which is promoted by White racial attitudes and structural policies, barring their full participation in the society- prejudice manifests in a number of surprising ways. They become ostracized and gain widespread apathy from the host community.

About 10 years ago the sight of a mixed-race individual was very rare in Poland. Now, I see them far more frequently on the streets and in social places. Ten years ago, whenever I spotted an individual of mixed parentage, I would think oh, there are a white mother and a black father. Now, interracial relationships between black women and white men are ubiquitous in most parts of Europe. Now when I see mixed-race children, and I would imagine what they have to go through being so visible. I would also think of their parents and what they have to put up with while trying to maintain their marriage. The most faithful account I can give of the world is with me at the center, in parallel with the rest who receive a colossal proportion of bigotry.

Every time I look at my children - who are three and seven years old at the time of writing this book - I see how innocent they are. How incognizant they are of the madness of this world we have shaped for them. How important it is for everyone to cease questioning the marriage of two people in love and accept the children from this union devoid of conditions, into the sphere of our hospitality. A malfunction of this gesture drives them into choosing either black or white, and with a little push of this button of insanity, the pressure builds up in them to a point that they become prisoners of race.

With the increasing number of Africans in Europe and subsequent upsurge in intermarriages, there has been a rise of biracial children and adults in most countries in Europe who do not fit in the realm of society’s social stratum.

Marriages transverse ethnic borders, rising in frequency, yet the cognitive debate on ethnicity, race, migration, and how these variables affect couples and their children from these interracial marriages is a serious hassle – love is not all you need in interracial marriage. This book, therefore, delves into the multiple realities of interracial marriages through personal narratives of those engaged in it and who go through it on a daily basis.

I find that biracial individuals define their identities in different ways likewise. I also find that their parents define them in various ways too. Some biracial individuals are strongly attached to their Black racial identity, while others engage in contextual and situational racial identity work, in spite of how the society perceives them. Affinity to Blackness encompasses a lot of competing identities such as gender, age, and exposure to non-Blacks.

Being biracial invites a myriad of stereotypes and definitions which has been propagated by society. Most Individuals of biracial background at varied points face identity crisis and sense of belonging. Many of them invariably struggle to cope with the challenges posed by how society identifies them racially because they are not monoracial but are actually torn between two races. Sometimes, neither society nor their extended family has a place for them. The study, therefore, covers the multiple realities of racial identity and a sense of belonging among biracial individuals.

This is also a case study about a biracial family unit, compiling the data to gain considerable knowledge of biracial families; how parents perceive the race of their children and the challenges they face every day in the wake of raising their biracial children.

There is a great perception that interracial marriages are doomed to fail due to the social challenges that come with the union, the off-springs of Black and white couples are, therefore, compelled to a despondent life and disorientation due to their confusing binary heritage – a flawless public facade masked by stereotypical innuendos.

This research is also designed to understand how Black-White interracial parents categorize and reconcile their children’s racial identity. Moreover, the objective of this research book is to expose some of the approaches and strategies parents of biracial individuals convey to their children in order to influence or trivialize their racial identity.

Parents of biracial children were interviewed with the expectation of uncovering a correlation between them and the impact they have on their children’s identity so that it establishes the way they support their children to cope with their racial identity and in addition, their concern for their biracial children.

We live in a monoracial society, therefore, this case study additionally uncovers how parents help their children with understanding their racial identity and challenges their children are facing through different stages as they grow up.

The outcome of the survey affirms the main themes related to interracial couples and how they apprehend and strategize for the survival of their biracial children. The topics include the support they get from their families, their strategies, how they see their children especially on their children’s physical outlook, some tips on (although not exclusive to) child-rearing and recommendation.

Social identity is quintessential of any individual – especially when one belongs to two social groups where one is dominant and considered superior and the other a minority. Furthermore, social identity establishes whether