h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mother is English, my father (who I never met) was Nigerian.

I guess I'm not a good example of a mixed race child on the grounds that I only really know anything about one of the races that went into the mix.

The only negatives I've experienced are the odd bits of racism, a little when I was in primary school, and a little a few weeks ago as I was walking in the street. But neither of them are mixed-race specific, so I guess they don't count

The confusing thing was dealing with other African/West Indian girls in secondary school, because although my skin colour quite clearly declares my mixed heritage, I don't actually know anything about Nigeria, or Being Black, or Having Pride in My Black Ancestors, & stuffl like that. These seemed to be issues for some of the girls at school, and I felt ignorant. But not enough to do anything about it
So me: mixed race and generally unscarred

Actually, I forgot to put down the thing which most annoys me about being mixed race:
Those equal opportnuity forms with boxes for

"white", "black - african" "black - west indian" "asian" "other" (or somesuch)

which only want you to tick one box. Grrr ! Bearing in mind how many mixed race people there are in the UK, I think that's discrimination in itself, even though they've been put there to stop discrimination.

The question is, what do I put? Because I'm white in practically all but my skin colour, but I'd be lying if I ticked that box, I'm sort of "black - african" but not, and "other" seems such a cop out - I'm not other, I'm English!

I've always hated those stupid forms. Why do I NEED to put my race down? Does it matter?

I also despise the way they ask for my religion on hospital forms. I once put "born again pagan" in a fit of rebellion and got away with it...

I think it's so that they don't offend your sensibilities, by for example feeding you beef if you're hindu and also if the worst happens they know which sort of funeral director to call. Though they don't tell you that. (also if you're catholic you need to have the last rites)

I don't see why you shouldn't put born again pagan, (my ex girlfriend was one)

I always have a problem as I was raised in a hippy commune, that practiced a form of hinduism exactly what do I put as religion, "strange cult, if I die my parents want to sprikle my ashes on the ganges, don't let them it's a stupid idea and they can't afford the plane fare" but that never fits in the line next to other.



Z

My mother and I had a discussion about those forms. The trouble is, trying to work out if they're merely interested in race/skin colour (and if so, why exactly??) or if they're interested in culture, for lack of a better term (in which case, how is a white person from Finland's culture the same as one from Italy)
Then there's: "does my answer to this affect how much money they're going to get"
and "are they trying to prove that they're multi-ethnic? why? do i think that they genuinely are multi-ethnic?"

I looked ethnic up in the OED. The first meaning listed was Non-Christian or Non-Jew - Heathen, or pagan. THe term was originally generally an insult!

One of the things I personally find most daft about those forms is that they have slots for white, black, asian and Chinese, but only slots for white/black, white/asian. I always have to tick 'other'. That just makes me feel as if the information they collect about me is of no consequence. I was also peeved recently when I was in accident and emergency having busted my wrist, and the staff filled in my ethnic background - incorrectly - without asking me.

I think that someone (prefereably the equal opportunities commision) should consult with community leaders, and normal people who don't fit in the forms and try to make a standardised version which can cope with mixed race and thus needn't annoy anyone.
Something standard which lets you know 'race' and 'culture'.
I also think that they should all drop the word 'ethnic' because I think that too many people use it as a euphonism for race. If you want to know my race, ask about my race, not my ethnicity.
It would be good if they had a number system, so you could just memorize what number you are, and leave it at that....

You mean like UCAS does? I didn't fit any of those criteria either. I have a friend whose mother's from Denmark and whose father's from Ghana - I doubt she would, either. Still - would be better than nothing...

One of the problems I find is that many people don't know what to describe you as, and use archaic or offensive terms. I've been called a 'half-caste' quite recently, which I would deem rather offensive...

I used to get 'half-caste' at primary school where the majority of kids were asian. They didn't use it as an insult because they were putting it into a context that they could understand, but from a certain age and upwards, it is insulting.
As well as incredibly inaccurate - we'd both have to be Indian for that to be meaningful...

I've just been looking at the Commision for Racial Equality (CRE)'s homepage. They have the census question on it. Its dippy.

http://www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/em_cat_ew.html

neither of us fit: me because my ethnic group and my cultural background are aparently mutually exclusive, you because you have to write in the 'Mixed: other' box because they don't seem to think that Chinese/white people are numerous enough to have a box for themselves.

*dangerous glint in eye* I want to know exactly how many mixed race people there are supposed to be in this country... I want to know how many unrepresented people like us are out there...

I hate all this stuff. 'Race' has got as much relevence to people as persons as bloody eye colour. We hardly need to put that on the form, do we?! Why is everyone so sensitive about it?

Yeah, you've got good points about those forms not taking into account mixed race people. Whta I find inulting however is that while their are boxes for Black - Caribben, Black - African, Asian - Pakistani, Asian - Indian etc. there is only one box for White.
So are they saying that there are differences between Pakistanis ad Indians (yes I know about the religon issue) but no difference between say a Briton and a Russian, culturaly or otherwise. I am personally of the view that they should be scrapped totally, and people just picked because of their sutibality, and if there are lees people of a certain race suitable, and so lees get the place/job etc. that's just the way it is and what happens wth true equal opportunities

I see that they need to still have these forms in place. Although we may not like it, racism is a fact in our society (as I found out just a few weeks ago whilst walking in the street) and we should be making an effort to stamp it out.

In an ideal world we wouldn't need the forms, and we also wouldn't have racism.

By collecting statistics on racial origin of employees, companies can try to stop themselves discriminating (If for example, good workers from ethnic minorities are routinely passed over for promotion, despite being as good as their 'white - british' counterparts, then thats not fair, and shouldn't be allowed).



But here's the big but - Racism, 'ethnicity' (whatever that means - it seems to be race sometimes, and culture sometimes) is a highly emotive and complex issue. I realise as well that they can't possibly find a box for every single person in the UK. But they should do better.

Both Emily and I feel like ticking the 'other' box means that we don't matter. Because no one can produce statistics about what we write on that line, and check that we're being given a fair deal, because they've no idea who we are, and to produce meaningful statistics you really need to control the outcome.

As I see it, there are two things that people might need to know about you, to ensure everyone's getting a fair deal. One is race - companies need to monitor to make sure none of their employees are racist, and health care professionals need to know what race you are in order to see if you are statistically more likely to develop osteoperosis, or lactose intolerance, because of your race.

Schools need to know what your cultural background is. My mother and I were incensed when I was offered extra help with my English because of (essentially) the colour of my skin. If anyone had looked at my grades they'd have seen that I could get A+ perfectly adequately by myself, but they didn't. Really, they should have asked about my cultural background, and they'd have found that was no different to any of the other 'white - british' children in the class. The colour of my skin didn't come into it.

The government needs I guess to keep a track of both, but not by using the form that I linked to in a previous post, because loads of people don't fit it. I read (on the CRE website, in a pdf document, but I forget where from) some Jewish guy who didn't want to list himself as white, with its aryan connotations.



If they feel that they can only monitor race, then so be it. They shouldn't put culture on the question, though, unless they're going to do it properly. And they should give the appropriate white classifications, and a chance for all mixed people not to be other.

- My or (dependent on your currency )
J'au-æmne, who really wants to count.

We get those census forms we have to fill in so that the government can say what percentage of the population is black and white, don't we? I think that's basically stupid, as well... because, again, it's about as useful as announcing what percentage of the population has black hair. There is absolutely no reason or need for it.

Well you might say, why have a census at all?

Everyone monitoring ethnicity needs census data as a comparison.
And race, while it doesn't affect who a person is, does affect if they'll suffer from certain diseases...

huh. i can't believe that i'm arguing for this question... but statistics matter! for all sorts of reasons. Raw data doesn't lie...
and I'm sure that there's someone out there who'd like to collect data on your eye colour, too.

Much as I hate this particular question, I think in some form it is important. Look at the statistics in Oldham - it was found that a disproportionate number of asian people were to be found in the poorest standard of housing in comparison to white people. Much as these questions are intrusive and annoying, the information they yield can be of great importance in finding the cause of problems and their possible solutions.

I always thought the trouble with the question is that they can't seem to decide what they mean by it. As already noted, no difference is made between, say, Icelanders and Greeks (who generally have quite different culture, appearance and religious traditions), whereas some get to define themselves minutely by religion, place of origin etc. Having little or no provision for those of mixed race is just another problem. I suspect the question was supposed to be designed so as not to offend anyone, instead of which more people have been offended than if they'd just sat down and said "What are the criteria people might be interested in?"

Oh, and despite the category on the UK census, I'm not convinced you can be "ethnicly Irish".

By the way, I'd read about the Jewish guy (or someone similar), the point he made was that he was an atheist, so he would be listed as simply white, with no religion, which would make the stats useless if you wanted to check about anti-Semitic discrimination.