This is your regular reminder that race is a construct. That most biologists and anthropologists do not recognize race as a biologically valid classification, in part because there is more genetic variation within groups than between them. That some people just look different and are not easily classifiable. That some people who have multiple ethnicities in their linage may not look like it. Thus, any classification you may attempt is likely wrong. In fact, when one assumes someone of mixed heritage is only one of those based on how they look, you ignore and/or erase a part of that person’s identity. A part that is as equally meaningful and a part of their whole person. That making such assumptions based on how someone looks is the very definition of racism and your doing so only participates in and perpetuates a construct that was largely created to divide, classify, marginalize, erase, devalue, and suppress.
This reminder brought to you by my daughter who must face this daily and does so with strength, grace, wisdom, and pride.
