human family

I was reading a blog post this morning on the NYT about raising biracial children.

I grew up in a community where families were often composed of different colors. Lots of kids were "hafu," most commonly with an American dad and Japanese mom. Several American families had adopted Japanese children. My sister's second grade teacher (a Caucasian American raised in the Philippines) and his wife (American raised in Vietnam) had two biological daughters, an adopted Japanese-Filipino son, and an adopted Bulgarian Gypsy son. And then I think they adopted more. Good friends of ours from Norway had a Sri Lankan daughter with beautiful black ringlets (going to an American school in Japan...) and three very blond baby Vikings. This all seemed quite natural.

This summer my brother is marrying a Puerto Rican woman, and I am marrying a Korean-American man. We joke that our little sister now needs to find a black guy to complete our United Colors of Benetton rainbow family. My fiance has cousins who are half African-American, and brother is also married to a redhead and their little boy has a very Korean face--but with green eyes and red hair.

While I realize that "race," "ethnicity,"and "identity" are complex and difficult issues (I was an anthro major, after all), I think I have lived anough of my life negotiating my way as an "other" to be fairly relaxed about it. Yes, I recognize that being a white American other is a privileged position. And the world is full of injustice. But I like the comedian Russell Peters because he makes fun of everyone. People are funny. Accents are funny. All cultures have quirks. And they're often quite funny.

I want my children to grow up proudly--and winsomely--multicultural and multilingual. I don't feel particularly white, and my sweetheart doesn't speak particularly good Korean; I hope our children will be a happy mishmash. I want them to be comfortable in their own skin, and comfortable around any shade of skin, because it all looks like family. I want them to be strong, open-minded, compassionate humans beings.