THE BEIGING OF AMERICA, BEING MIXED RACE IN THE 21ST CENTURY, takes on “race matters” and considers them through the firsthand accounts of mixed race people in the United States. Edited by mixed race scholars Cathy J. Schlund-Vials, Sean Frederick Forbes and Tara Betts, this collection consists of 39 poets, writers, teachers, professors, artists and activists, whose personal narratives articulate the complexities of interracial life. Discrimination, instilling pride in family settings, sorting out the terms and names that people call themselves and their relatives, tackling colorism within communities of color, and childhood recollections fill these pages with compelling stories that speak to lived experiences, mapping a new ethnic terrain that transcends racial and cultural division. THE BEIGING OF AMERICA was prompted by cultural critic/scholar Hua Hsu, who contemplated the changing face and race of U.S. demographics in his 2009 The Atlantic article provocatively titled “The End of White America.” In it, Hsu acknowledged “steadily ascending rates of interracial marriage” that undergirded assertions about the “beiging of America.”
As one flips through the pages of THE BEIGING OF AMERICA, one discovers contributors’ shared exasperation with the inevitable and preposterous question – “What are you?” – simply because they do not fit neatly into any one racial category. This in itself is a reflection of how the black-white paradigm in America continues to obfuscate and distort rigid constructs and systemic racism, reminding readers that race – even in a post-racial imaginary – still matters. THE BEIGING OF AMERICA is an absorbing and thought-provoking collection of stories that explore racial identity, alienation, with people often forced to choose between races and cultures in their search for self-identity. While underscoring the complexity of the mixed race experience, these unadorned voices offer a genuine, poignant, enlightening and empowering message to all readers. Cover design: Cathy J. Schlund-Vials.
Cover art: Laura Kina. Reprinted with permission from artist. Copyright © 2006 by Laura Kina. All rights reserved.
Contributors
Afterword by Heidi W. Durrow
HEIDI W. DURROW is mixed-race of Danish and African-American descent. She is The New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (2010), which received writer Barbara Kingsolver’s PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, and is a book club favorite. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky has been hailed as one of the Best Novels of 2010 by the Washington Post, a Top 10 Book of 2010 by The Oregonian, and named a Top 10 Debut of 2010 by Booklist. Durrow received BA in English at Stanford University, earned her MS at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and received her JD at Yale Law School. She has worked as a corporate attorney, a Life Skills trainer to professional athletes, cohost of the award-winning weekly podcast “Mixed Chicks Chat,” and is the founder and executive producer of the Mixed Remixed Festival. http://heidiwdurrow.com.
Find out more information about THE BEIGING OF AMERICA contributors.
Carlos Adams
Dedria Humphries Barker
Carly Bates
Jackson Bliss
F. Douglas Brown
Alison Carr
Mona Lisa Chavez Esqueda
Fredrick D. Kakinami Cloyd
Santana Dempsey
Timeka Drew
Naomi Raquel Enright
Anika Fajardo
Liberty Ferda
Chelsea Lemon Fetzer
Wayne Freeman
Frances Frost
Wendy A. Gaudin
Herbert Harris
Rena Heinrich
Velina Hasu Houston
Mark S. James
Allyson Jeffredo
Nadine M. Knight
Kyla Kupferstein
Jewel Love
devorah major
Jane Marchant
Rachel Masilamani
Jeni McFarland
Abra Mims
Via Perkins
Eman Rimawi
Charles Matthew Snyder
Lily Anne Welty Tamai
Diana Emiko Tsuchida
Jenny Turner
Maya Washington
Shiane Wilcoxen
Jessica Williams
Readers' Reviews
AMAZON
The contributors to this excellent anthology recall painful schoolyard taunts (“you look like burnt toast!”), challenges (“If there were a race war, what side would you be on?”), nosy questions (“What ARE you?” and compliments like “exotic” that don’t feel complimentary. Their experiences show how deeply words (“What ARE You?”) can hurt – or help: it wasn’t until Jackson Bliss discovered words like happa [Hawaiian pidgin for mixed race], multiracial, and Nikkejin [people of the Japanese diaspora] that he “felt real in an existential sense.” Read this book and you will “get” Diane Tsuchida’s advice: “No one will write a handbook telling you the correct questions to ask when you’re curious about someone’s racial background. So perhaps the key to your curiosity is to silence it.” Barbara (9/21/17)
AMAZON
I love that this is a compilation of stories and poems. It is easy to read in short sessions and the content is superb! So many voices and each tells a very real story. Many perspectives represented that we may otherwise not hear. Sydney S. (2/2/19)
AMAZON
Events from everyday life have given me a much more well rounded view of issues the authors themselves have experienced. Thank you all for sharing and to the editors for their contributions. Jan Idema (8/25/17)
AMAZON
I believe that all readers will relate to and enjoy “The Beiging of America.” I highly recommend this book. It offers novel insight that informs our understanding of how mixed race individuals are perceived in the United States, how these individuals manage the challenges they face on a daily basis, and how this shapes the choices they make. Importantly, “The Beiging of America” also reminds us of the universality of human nature. [Excerpt] E.M. Rogers (2/12/18)
Here's What People Are Saying
“Race in America has been changing for a while now. Racism is far from gone — it is no less pervasive and vicious than ever it was. But in the current generation have arisen the insistent voices of people whose ancestries and identities are more complex than we ever thought possible. They are not just black, nor just white, nor just brown or yellow or red. They frequently own two or more racial identities — and one of those identities often is mixed. The contributors in THE BEIGING OF AMERICA tells us their stories, in their own voices. Every American should read this book and heed these voices. This is our racial future.” ~Paul Spickard, professor of History, Asian American Studies, and Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and author of Race in Mind: Critical Essays (2015)
“THE BEIGING OF AMERICA points towards the next generation of first-person narratives about the ‘mixed race experience,’ including those stories that go beyond the usual handwringing over census boxes to consider, more pressingly, the where and when of racial justice for peoples of color, ‘mixed’ or not.” ~Michele Elam, professor at Stanford University, author of The Souls of Mixed Folk: Race, Politics, and Aesthetics in the New Millennium (2011)
“THE BEIGING OF AMERICA shows the country in full color. The essays successfully crumble dichotomies and reveal the shared humanity underneath.” ~Shannon Luders-Manuel, writer, editor, and author of Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide: Educators’ Guide (2016)
“THE BEIGING OF AMERICA is a wonderful addition to the canon of mixed race literature. This fine collection of personal narratives further demonstrates both the complexities of the mixed-race experience and how multiplicity can be a source of pain and ridicule, as well as pride and self-acceptance. These stories remind us that the fluidity of identities and the demographic shifts that are occurring in the U.S. are not to be ignored or buried, but rather discussed openly and honestly, engaging in the uncomfortable discussions of racism, white supremacy and the power words have even in the most intimate spaces, such as family. These testimonies remind us of the importance to acknowledge and embrace our differences both within ourselves and collectively if we are to become a post-racist society. Bravo!” ~Rudy P. Guevarra Jr., author of Becoming Mexpino: Multiethnic Identities and Communities in San Diego (2012)
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