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“What are you?” is a question I have often heard innocently asked by tactless people to my biracial friends. Biracial folk can be easily, though not always, recognizable with their hybrid color of eyes, skin tone, and hair. Being biracial must be pretty neat – you are in on two cultures with different perspectives and customs, instead of just one. Which is not to say that being biracial is totally easy.

Being “different” is a subjective thing. Second-year Towana Catley, a proud Blackanese, says she never even noticed that she was different from those around her. Mark Asanpras on the other hand had a different experience. “I grew up in all-white neighborhoods so I’ve always noticed that I looked different from other people…I found out I was part Filipino early on… I was just an average white guy underneath the skin.”

The United States society has certainly had its issues with inter-race relations and the subsequent offspring. It was not until 1968 – a mere 35 years ago – with the Supreme Court case of Loving vs. Virginia that inter-racial marriage was even legalized throughout the country. But then how to classify the children? Would they be counted as black, white, pink? Everyone has had to bubble in Race surveys which appear on the SATs and US Census. For many, marking only one will accurately represent you. Biracial people on the other hand are vastly under-represented. This tradition of categorizing and neatly packaging people goes back to the Civil War and beyond. During the post-Civil War period, 22 states enacted a One-Drop Rule.

This stated that a person was considered black if they had even one drop of African-American blood in them. This insidious law has subtly persisted through society today. It is socially acceptable for a “white” woman to give birth to a “black” child, but if a black woman gives birth the child is automatically acknowledged as a black child. In 1990 some 9 million people marked “Other” when they got to the Race box for lack of an accurate option. Thankfully, the census is slowly being changed. In the 2000 census a total of 126 racial combinations were set as options in the Race category by providing six general race categories and a multiple-check option. This is another step towards recognizing that more and more people are comprised of many different races and cultures and that they deserved to be recognized as such.

Societal changes are slow, but sure. The biracial population is growing and is hopefully pushing the ignorance down and out. Catley agreed that yes, people do ask her to side more with her Japanese half or her Black half. She states clearly however, “They’re stupid!” Being biracial is nothing abnormal. It’s a beautiful combination of two people making another beautiful person – which is the same process of creation for anyone and everyone. In terms of statistics and the census, people should be permitted to accurately represent themselves and the culture they come from.