NPR Tries to Scoop Me, Sparking Much Multiculti Angst

SO I'm sitting in the car yesterday, catching up on a little reading (don't ask), when this story comes on NPR, thereby triggering the aforementioned angst. Apparently a recent study shows that "most people who are biracial self-identify as - wait for it - 'BIRACIAL'"! Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?


Nikki Khanna, the lead author of the terrifically-named study, "Passing As Black: Racial Identity Work Among Biracial Americans," was interviewed, along with Casey Gane-McCalla, a lead blogger at NewsOne (and like I, internationally biracial, though in very interestingly different ways) and artist/professor Kip Fulbeck, whose show, Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids, was published by Chronicle Books. 

Video on the making of Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids

Once NPR opened up the phone lines there were plenty of the usual Tragic Mulattoisms ("Both groups are mean to me!"), as well as the No Contextisms ("I deny race; I love both my parents!"). My fave was a 70-something black woman who called in to say, I've been seeing mixing for half a century; why you all acting like you invented it?!


The Bottom Line: I just need to stop being spiteful about being scooped and finish my book . . . yesterday! In fact, I should call up (and by call, I mean email) my dear-dear friend and former writing partner Deesha Philyaw, who's just launched an hysterically-and-pithily named webinar called Write Your Damned Book Proposal Already! (In the meantime, while you're procrastinating, you can listen to the 30-min NPR segment here.)