Princeton Professor tweets about  her views on mixed-race identity

MSNBC contributor,  Princeton University's Associate Professor of Politics & African American Studies and author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought Melissa Harris-Lacewell had a frank  discussion  with a follower on Twitter about the concept of mixed-race identity.

The conversation with Jeff Eddings of Silicon Valley, CA went as follows (published Monday, July 27th):

Eddings: Wrong pres. predictions aside, the biggest missed opp. w/BO as pres. & you in the mix is lack of discussion re: multiracial.

Harris-Lacewell: I'm not sure its a missed opportunity. From my perspective I am not "multi-racial" the term has no meaning for me.

Eddings: We keep talking about race as if it were one thing. e.g. You & pres. are both multiracial, but only self-identify as black.
 

Harris-Lacewell: because race is a social construct it is clear to me that I am constructed as black and self-identify as such.
 

Eddings: Being multiracial & having grown up in both cultures, I can tell you that I'm not constructed as simply one or the other :-)

Harris-Lacewell: Though I respect that ppl have right to think of themselves as anything they like, I think "multi-racial" is a weird idea.
 

Eddings: I look like both or neither, and people usually have trouble putting me in one bucket or the other.

Harris-Lacewell: No I think its much more than that. I don't just self-identify as black. My entire life experience identifies me as black

Eddings: Point well made and taken. Black because how others view and treat you, not because what you are.
 

Harris-Lacewell: I have parents of different race, but that doesn't change the realities of how binary race continues to be in USA.
 

Eddings: Actually, I will insist that race isn't just about how society classifies you--it's also how you self-identify. (cont'd)
 

Eddings: Just because society tells me I'm black doesn't change how I feel and what cultural norms I was raised with.
 

Eddings: In short: I think it's both. :-)

Harris-Lacewell: Ok, hard to do my multi-racial idea in just 140 characts. So i am going to try a few tweets to explain my thoughts. I won't @ OK?
 

Harris-Lacewell: I don't believe multi-racial makes sense by my understanding of race.

Harris-Lacewell: Race is socially constructed and "multi-racial" seems to assume that race is biological: if parents are of different then the kid is "mixed"

Harris-Lacewell: But that is not how race works. Race is constructed through law, history, culture, practice, custom, etc.

Harris-Lacewell: Black does not designate having two parents who are both "un-mixed" descendants of African and African diaspora. Black=derived from society.

Harris-Lacewell: There is no "mixed race" history, institutions, cultural practices. There are mixed race ppl who are part of all these, but no group history

Harris-Lacewell: I believe all people can self-identify themselves in ways that feel comfortable and honest, but the social/political part is bigger.

Harris-Lacewell: I have a white mother and black father, but this doesn't make me mixed race. Race is not biology. In USA this combo makes me black.


Harris-Lacewell:My self-designation: Black with Access to Residual White Privilege (BWATRWP)

Harris-Lacewell: Funny tweeting about mixed-race identity from New Orleans.
 

Harris-Lacewell hope this helps clarify my position.