Conference

When Race Becomes More Complex: Giving Light to Racially Mixed People ‘Bill of Rights’

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Abstract

Educating multiracial youth about issues they might be confronted with in the future will enable them to be more open-minded and more effectively cope with future racial dilemmas. Multiracial children are the fourth largest group in America, but little has been done to explore multiracial peoples’ lives beyond identity formation. We plan on examining literature about multiracial experiences to seek specific issues faced by them and using the Bill of Rights for Racially Mixed People as a platform to frame the conversation. By better understanding a multiracial standpoint, we can begin to further complicate related issues and formulate ideas we deem important to teach children at an early age. In order to cultivate change, we believe it is important to educate children when they are young—especially those who feel obligated to behave differently among relatives and peers belonging to different racial groups. This is a constant issue that many people of multiracial backgrounds have to deal with throughout their lives, differently at multiple points in their lives.