Over the course of four weeks, although I have only published two interviews, I have had many discussions with other biracial people and have learned a lot about the biracial community. There are a lot of questions that we don’t like being asked, but there are a lot of other questions we do enjoy being asked. A lot of our experiences depend on how we were raised, where we were raised, and how people acted around us. If being biracial was a big deal while growing up, then of course it is one of those defining aspects of our childhood.

For me, over the month of February, I have learned that being biracial is both a really big deal and also not at the same time. While it may seem like I am making a mountain out of a mole hill regarding being biracial, and I see that argument as well, I also do believe that it is important that people discuss this. There are certain topics that are really annoying to talk about. For example, one thing that I personally hate being told is my future children are going to look so beautiful because they are going to have “exotic blood” or “exotic features”. Honestly, all people are beautiful no matter what. Beauty is a very subjective topic. In addition to that, I will think my future children, if I do decide to have children, will be beautiful because they will be my children. And all babies are beautiful. They are cute and adorable balls of life that do annoy their parents but also give their parents joy and happiness. While I cannot speak on behalf of all parents and all children, these seem to be generally accepted statements by society.

One thing that I have discovered that I did not think about prior to this month was that our society is evolving to see race less and less. With social movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and other movements similar to that which have come and gone over the years, it is easy to forget that. Within my generation, asking people if they can tell what race someone is becomes a challenge because we have grown to see it less. Whether this is a product of social media, the shows we watched growing up, or how we were raised, I do not know. However, it is apparent. I personally don't see the lack of racial recognition as a problem. Rather, I see it as a benefit to society because now we are seeing people more as people, not what they are made up of or what category they fit in.

While movements like #BlackLivesMatter have been countered with movements like #AllLivesMatter, which does seem valid until further research, I do believe that racism does affect how we see our peers, our leaders, and other figures who affect our lives. I do believe that race does play a part in how we are affected. But I also do believe there is a way for our society to move past it. While we do need to focus on the fact that African Americans are being discriminated against, whether or not you trust the evidence that has been presented for certain cases, there is no denying that racism is still very present in today’s society. And it is not just against African Americans. It is against Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, anyone who is not white. Although there are some who can go undetected by the white radar, there are still obstacles they must face. The fact that we deny racism’s presence in today’s society is unacceptable.

Being biracial has allowed me to see and understand that. As the people I talked to and interviewed mentioned, being biracial gives you two perspectives to look from, learn from, appreciate, and critique. I realize that many of the conflicting feelings I have about racial issues stems from that. Now that I am in college, in a far more liberal environment, and learning how to deal with issues on my own, I am starting to understand both the fact that I see both sides of the argument, and that one side of the argument is not one that should fit in the future of our world. However, in this moment in time, it does because of the way previous generations have been raised. We are breaking a tradition, which in my opinion does need to be broken.

Something very striking I heard in Jogen’s interview was that the lack of a truly pure American culture harbors racism and indifference. I have always noticed that racial groups have a tendency to populate certain areas and not others, but I never really thought much about it. I just always accepted it as the way things are. Once Jogen brought that it was a product of a lack of integration coming from inherent racism, I realized that it is a problem. But it also does make sense because of their need to stay close to their culture and the best way to do that is with other people of a similar background. However, it was the indifference that truly struck me. The fact that not a lot has been done to change that is not appalling, but just interesting. I think it is something that people should look into. But what is even more interesting to me is the fact that people are so indifferent to very obvious problems in our society. The fact that a movement had to be made so that people could see the injustices in our world is rather appalling. The fact that some people just don’t care about that movement or are saying that it is invalid because it only focuses on one minority is shocking. Any movement that focuses on one minority opens the door for other movements to be recognized and added to the movement. One minority’s argument is valid, as are all minorities’. Seeing that some people just don’t care at all is almost heart breaking because when you don’t care about something that affects a stranger that most likely affects someone else you may be close to is saying that you don’t care about how that person, as well as their families and other loved ones. It is saying that you don’t care about how people are treated and affected by the injustices in our lives, as well as how you are affected because without a doubt you are somehow affected by those injustices as well.

Mallory also mentioned something else I found fascinating, regarding the Barbie issue. There are not a lot of representations of color in the media, especially with Barbies. Almost every girl grows up with Barbies or some sort of doll. There have been studies done that children will almost always choose the fairer doll over the darker doll because it has been so ingrained in our systems that color is bad. Color is beautiful and there should be more representation of that, with the dolls our children play with with. There should be more representation in the films or shows our children watch. It was very apparent that there is not enough with the Oscars this year, with no nominations being people of color. It is scary to think that we are still in a very white dominated world, but we are.

In conclusion, doing this exploration of being biracial has allowed me to see that race, although becoming less of a personal issue, is still a very apparent social issue that needs to be addressed. I hope that more people come to understand this as time goes on and more people are willing to speak about race and race issues without screaming and bickering, like we have been seeing in this year’s election campaigns. I hope that more people will come to recognize biracial people as a minority stuck in between, and I hope that more people are willing to talk to each other as people, not as colors.