Allison Barker COUNSELING INDIVIDUALS OF MULTIRACIAL DESCENT

 Hector- 16-year-old-boy European/Mexican American  Halle Berry- One-drop theory, self-identifies as black  Adult male- Latino/Middle Eastern American celebrating El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) COUNSELING INDIVIDUALS OF MULTIRACIAL DESCENT

 1967-Biracial Baby Boom  2010-Nine million report more than one race on census  Some only identify one race  Marriages  Implications What Would You Do? MULTIRACIALISM IN THE US

 Alvin Poussaint  African American Harvard psychiatrist  “Do you know how powerful Black blood is?”  Hypodescent  Implications THE “ONE DROP OF BLOOD” RULE

“Why is the person asking?” “Does it really matter?” “Are they really interested in the answer, or am I going to violate their expectations?” “Do they see me as an oddity?” RACIAL/ETHNIC AMBIGUITY: “WHAT ARE YOU?”

 Accepts the identity assigned by society  Identification with both groups  Choose a single racial identity  Mixed-race heritage or mulitiracial identity EXISTING BETWEEN THE MARGINS

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 Children are inferior  Prone to major social and psychological problems  Interracial unions are unhappy and unstable  People who marry outside of their race are deficient, lack self-esteem, or harbor feelings of inferiority  Rebelling against parental authority or experiencing mental problems  A white person might be seen as experimenting with the “exotic”, attempting to express a liberal view, possessing low self-esteem, or being a social/occupational failure unable to attract a member of his or her own race STEREOTYPES AND MYTHS

 Resistance  I have a right not to:  Justify my existence in this world  Keep the races separate within me  Be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical ambiguity  Justify my ethic legitimacy MULTIRACIAL BILL OF RIGHTS

 Revolution  I have the right to:  Identify myself differently than strangers expect me to  Identify myself differently from how my parents identify me  Identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters  Identify myself differently in different situations MULTIRACIAL BILL OF RIGHTS CONTD

 Change  I have the right to:  Create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial  Change my identity over my lifetime-and more than once  Have loyalties and identify with more than one group of people  Choose freely whom I befriend and love MULTIRACIAL BILL OF RIGHTS CONT

 Have several cultural communities for support  Greater acceptance of interracial marriages  More presence on TV, movies, and advertising  Feel comfortable in multiple cultural settings  Support groups MULTIRACIAL STRENGTHS

 Become aware of your own stereotypes and preconceptions  Avoid stereotyping  View in a holistic fashion rather than as fractions  Identify strengths and challenges  Emphasize freedom to choose identity  Take an active psychoeducational approach  Stress positive attributes  Family counseling  Learn the real history behind each race IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

2015 THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA

REAL LIFE

REFERENCES Sue, D. W. & Sue, D. (2013). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Hobeken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc