Census: At what point do you stop being Mixed?

[SteveBuscemisRheumyEye]

Morning musing...

I am "mixed" (Latina-Carribean and White Irish): 1/2 white My daughter is White (Welsh) on father's side: 3/4 white Would you put mixed or white? If she had children with a white partner, would they be "mixed" 7/8 White?

At what point would you say that they were white, and not mixed?

You are whatever you want to be.

I'd put what you feel yourself or your children to be.

It's up to the individual surely? How you think of yourself.

My family all put White British. They were born here and don't have many cultural ties to the other part of their heritage.
Others with a similar ethnic background and perhaps who feel more of a cultural link would perhaps put mixed.

There's no right or wrong answer, it's how you consider yourself.

I guess it's up to the child to decide once they're old enough. I'm white/Asian mixed and have put mixed for my DC (quarter Asian) in the past when i've filled in forms for them.

If they decide to identify as white when they're filling forms in for themselves i'd have no problem with it (even though my DS is actually darker than me).

Do you get a fine if you don’t take part?

@Breastfeedingworries

Do you get a fine if you don’t take part?

Yes.

@DinosaurDiana

You are whatever you want to be.

So if I'm white but I want to be South-Asian, I can put South-Asian? Sweet.

I've wondered this, being mixed heritage myself and DC being a three quarters white British, but having none of the other quarter in a meaningful way.

It's a judgement call.

One of my friends says that as a black woman the one thing she never thought she would do is give birth to a white child.

Thanks for the responses! I actually don't have any connection to my Latina/Caribbean side, and I think I think of DD as being white. She doesn't have much concept of "race" (and I know there's lots to suggest that race is a social construct!

This may be a simple way of looking at it but I've always thought:

Eg:
1 white parent + 1 black parent = mixed/biracial (50/50 Black and white).

1 black parent + 1 biracial parent (50/50 black/white) = mixed 75% black + 25% white but not biracial. So could identify more with black than white. Same if the opposite is the case.

So, the more mixed or the farther you go from one race, the less you are that race even if you share or identify with the culture of some people from that race.

But we're told to identify as we wish so...

Same if the opposite is the case

By this, I mean could identify more with White than black if 75% white + 25% black.

I would assume if you had mixed heritage and you identify as mixed - they you are mixed.

If you are mixed heritage but identified as one race - then that’s what you would identify as.

Race is indeed a social construct based on looks. You can put whatever you look like or identify as. So even if a black person and a white person had a baby and the baby looked either completely black or white with no visual suggestion of being mixed, you can just put black or white as that’s what s/he looks like. Since race has no real genetic meaning, looks is a perfectly fine thing to base your answer on.

And to the poster who asked about a fine: yes it’s a crime not to complete the census. Mind you, not all the questions are compulsory I believe.

Interesting question. My dd is mixed (50/50). I would definitely see her future dc as being mixed, regardless of who she marries, because grandparents are quite close relatives.

Further down the line, unless there are different elements that come into the mix through dd's future partner and/or the partners of her children, then I would say that dd's grandchildren would no longer be regarded as mixed but monoracial (either my or DH's ethnicity, depending on who dd marries iyswim). 1/8 seems pretty minor, but it would also depend on the strength of the cultural connection etc.

Obviously, it goes without saying that it would ultimately be for the individuals to decide, but just saying it how I see it.