More biracial Americans experiment with fluid identity

The World

A research paper published by the Social Psychology Quarterly drew some interesting conclusions about the way that members of our increasingly diverse society are experiencing and experimenting with structures of identity. Titled ?Passing as Black: Racial Identity Work Among Biracial Americans,? the paper argues that with less stigma attached to any one race, people of mixed heritage are, more frequently than before, declaring themselves biracial one day, or all one race the next. But what does this fluidity mean to the idea of race in our country at all? And How does one rationally and honestly navigate the conundrums of identity?

For that we speak to Michelle Hughes, founder of the Biracial and Friends Social Group in Chicago, who currently serves on the board of the Chicago Biracial Family Network, and David Matthews, author of the memoir Ace of Spades.

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