Bi-racial Identities

Many people identify strongly with the ethnic or racial group to which they belong -- as Jews, or African-Americans, or Latinos. But to which groups does a person truly belong? President Obama has a white mother from Kansas and an African father from Kenya. Why is he seen as our first African-American President, rather than our forty-fourth white president? How does racial identity work? Is such identification a positive or a negative factor in a person's life? Must we choose among our potential identities? Ken and John discuss racial and bi-racial identity with Michele Elam from Stanford University, author of "The Souls of Mixed Folk: Race, Aesthetics, and Politics in the New Millennium."

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• biracial
• michele
• elam
• black
• white
• race

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Latino is NOT a race!