OPINION
Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
June 20, 2016
Volume 26 Number 12
June 20, 2016
ISSN: 1094-9453
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n Dmae Roberts
Mixed-race in Oregon
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MY TURN
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received some exciting news this month. I was
selected as one of the speakers for the Oregon
Humanities Conversation Project, a program
that brings people together to talk about current
issues and ideas.
Participating in the program wasn’t something I
was eager to do at first, since I’ve always seen
myself as a bit shy. Although as an actor I’ve
performed Shakespeare on Portland stages,
typically I’m more of a wallflower. As I’ve gotten
older, however, I found it wasn’t that I didn’t like
talking to people. Instead, I realized I only enjoy
talking when there’s an intriguing subject.
During the past decade, I’ve gravitated toward
discussing the meaning of my mixed-race identity.
While growing up in rural Oregon, there were few
people of color. In my small school in the 1970s, I
suspected I had mixed-race classmates, but it was a
taboo subject, so it was not talked about. Students
who could not pass as white, like my younger
brother, endured racism. I, on the other hand, who
appeared white to others, felt like a secret Asian
girl. In my 40-plus years of adulthood, I’ve experi-
enced shifts in the understanding of and attitude
around multiracial identity and also witnessed the
transformation in terminology for race and
ethnicity from derogatory slurs to an expanding list
of proud names.
The number of mixed-race people in America is
quickly increasing. According to a 2015 Pew Re-
search report, the number of multiracial Americans
is growing at a rate “three times as fast as the
population as a whole” and 60 percent of mixed-race
American adults are proud of their multiracial
heritage. At the same time, however, 55 percent say
they’ve been subjected to racial slurs and jokes. In
2013, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that about 9
million Americans selected two or more racial
categories to describe themselves. Nearly half (46
percent) are younger than 18 years old. Also,
between 2000 and 2010, adults with a “white and
Asian background increased by 87 percent.”
During my life, the names and categories availa-
ble to describe multiracial Americans have ad-
vanced from invisibility to the point that now there
are multiple classifications on the U.S. Census
form. But, of course, that evolution has experienced
growing pains and a sordid state history.
The Oregon Department of Education has pub-
lished a history of state exclusion and anti-mis-
cegenation laws many might find shocking. The
first law, passed in 1848 by Oregon’s provisional
government, stated it was unlawful for any “Negro
or Mulatto (of mixed ethnic heritage) to reside in
I
Oregon Territory.” Several years later, in 1854,
Oregon’s exclusion law was repealed. The following
year saw a new law preventing mixed-race males
from becoming citizens. Then in 1862, interracial
marriage between blacks and whites was banned in
Oregon; the legislation said it was against the law
for whites to marry anyone who was “one-quarter or
more black.”
Finally, in 1951, Oregon repealed its laws pro-
hibiting interracial marriage. The U.S. Supreme
Court overturned the ban on interracial marriage in
1967 with the famous Loving v. Virginia case, which
was filed on behalf of a white man named Richard
Loving and a black woman, Mildred Jeter, who were
arrested in their home in Virginia shortly after their
marriage. Many interracial families now celebrate
“Loving Day” with picnics and parties on or around
June 12 (the date of the Supreme Court decision). In
addition, a new movie about the couple called Lov-
ing has been released and is receiving Oscar buzz.
There’s no doubt the multiracial population in
Oregon will expand as indicated by the many stu-
dents of color now registering in schools. Portland
Public Schools reported that 44.1 percent of student
enrollments during the 2015-2016 schoolyear were
children of color; statewide, the figure was about
36.57 percent. As Oregon’s minority population
grows and interracial marriage continues to become
commonplace, the multiracial student population
will increase.
We’ve come a long way since Oregon’s first exclu-
sion and anti-miscegenation laws, yet misunder-
standings still exist. Unfortunately, it’s still
common to be discounted on the subject of racism
and non-acceptance by monoracial Americans, even
by one’s own family members.
Whenever dialogue about racial understanding
takes place, often there are more questions than an-
swers. Racial understanding can only happen with
questioning, which begins by looking at one’s own
actions and biases. But by talking about it, we can
evolve. One person cannot “fix” racism permanent-
ly, but if we continually practice self-investigation,
we can change our own attitudes, assumptions, and
biases. It begins with conversations and listening. I
hope discourse encourages healing and more
tolerance and an understanding that there are no
easy answers.
While travelling to different communities around
the state with the Oregon Humanities Conversation
Project leading discussions about issues surround-
ing interracial families and mixed-race Oregonians,
I hope I can make a difference. I want to be a part of
that change.
Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication.