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C A S E S T U D Y
Black Identity in Bimcial Black/White People: A Comparison of Jacqueline Who Refuses to Be Exclusively Black and Adolphus Who Wishes He Were
ANGELA R. GILLEM LAURA RENEE COHN CAMBRIA THRONE Arcadia University
Two biracial college freshmen, both of whom identify as Black, were chosen from a
larger sample of participants in a qualitative study of biracial identity development to
exemplify the differences in the paths that 2 biracial individuals could take to achieve
racial identity resolution. Through the case study method, the authors describe the
course and progression of racial identity development (RID) in these 2 individuals and
discuss some key themes in their lives that have contributed to the development of their
RID. The purposes are fourfold: to describe nonclinical subjective experiences of being
biracial in the United States, to explore the differences in the paths that 2 biracial indi-
viduals can take to achieve what looks superficially like similar Black racial identity
resolution, to demonstrate how identifying as Black can have different meanings and
consequences for 2 biracial people, and to contribute to the differentiation of Black RID
from biracial Black/White RID. The authors raise questions about the generalizability
of monoracial Black and ethnic identity theories to biracial individuals.
* biracial identity * biracial Black/White * interracial • racial identity • ethnic identity
• Angela R. Gillem, Laura Renee Cohn, and Cambria Throne, Department of Psychology, Arcadia
University. This research was supported by the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, the El-
lington Beavers Fund for Intellectual Inquiry, and the Arcadia University Faculty Development
Fund. Erica Freeman and Michael Mauney, Angela R. Gillem's cousin, who died in a car accident
before he had a chance to see this research computed, shared their insights as biracial people to
help develop the interview schedule. Melissa Bailey and Nancy Grossman Feldman coauthored the interview schedule. Jeff Shultz and Maria Root contributed their time and wisdom to reviewing the
manuscript. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Angela R, Gillem, Arcadia Uni-
versity, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038-3295. Electronic mail may be
sent to [email protected].
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology Copyright 2001 by the Educational Publishing Foundation Vol. 7, No. 2, 182-196 1099-9809/01/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//1099-9809.7.2.182
182
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The racial identity development of those who have one socially defined Black Ameri- can parent and one socially defined White American parent has been of interest to re- searchers primarily because of how U.S. so- ciety constructs race on the basis of the one- drop rule (Gillem, 1996). Until recently, there have been relatively few published em- pirical examinations of racial identity devel- opment (RID) in nonclinical samples of bi- racial people. Although early clinical research on biracial people emphasized negative consequences of being the off- spring of an interracial union, Root (1992) pointed out that racist and antimiscegenist attitudes motivated much of the early re- search. Root (1990) postulated that when racial identity and self-concept are difficult for biracial people, it is because of the ten- sion between the two racial components of the self (which reflects the tension in the greater society between those two "compo- nents"). She asserted that biracial people demonstrate internalized oppression if they reject either part of their heritage. Sebring (1985) suggested that adopting a monora- cial identity can lead to guilt and "feelings of disloyalty" (pp. 6-7), and many biracial people have reported that it is emotionally damaging (Watts, 1991).
Research with nonclinical samples has offered positive portrayals of biracial young- sters as self-confident, creative, and well ad- justed when raised with a supportive family, neighborhood, and social network and in integrated schools (Gibbs & Hines, 1992). When Cauce et al. (1992) compared biracial and monoracial (Black) 11-13-year-olds, they found no significant differences with regard to peer relationships or family rela- tionships on measures of trust, communica- tion, and alienation and with regard to life stress, anxiety and depression. When Field (1996) compared Black, White, and biracial adolescents on general self-concept, self- acceptance, and self-ratings of physical at- tractiveness and romantic appeal, she also found no significant differences.
In this article, we describe the course of RID in two biracial college students and dis-
cuss key themes in their lives. The purpose of this case discussion is fourfold: (a) to de- scribe nonclinical subjective experiences of being biracial in the United States, (b) to explore the differences in the paths that bi- racial individuals can take to achieve what looks superficially like similar Black racial identity resolution, (c) to demonstrate how identifying as Black can have different meanings and consequences for biracial people, and (d) to differentiate monoracial Black RID from biracial Black/White RID and raise questions about the generalizabil- ity of monoracial Black identity theories to biracial individuals. Our purpose is to con- tribute to the complication of the concept of race in a way that helps to get beyond polar- ized, monoracial constructions.
We take a social constructionist perspec- tive on race. We believe that "race" has evolved out of a historical need to create a hierarchy that would maintain the status quo of White supremacy and privilege in the United States. The need to develop a racial identity is a direct response to this hierarchy and the oppression that has resulted from it. Helms (1995) stated:
Racial identity theory evolves out of the tra- dition of treating race as a sociopolitical and . . . cultural construction . . . racial classifica- tions are assumed to be not biological reali- ties, but rather sociopolitical and economic conveniences, membership in which is deter- mined by socially defined inclusion criteria, (p. 181)
This perspective is supported by anthropo- logical and biological studies of racial groups that have found more variation within groups than between them (Zucker- man, 1990), suggesting that races are not biologically distinct. Thus, we presume that the physical characteristics often used to de- fine racial categories bear no significance other than to suggest social realities.
Racial/Ethnic Identity Theory and Research: A Framework
Racial/ethnic identity is a complex, multidi- mensional construct. Attitudes about race/
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ethnicity are fundamental to healthy psycho- logical functioning for people whose ethnic groups are poorly represented and are the object of societal denigration (Phinney, 1990). Phinney conceptualized ethnic iden- tity development as being analogous to Erik- son's ego identity development (Phinney, 1990; Phinney & Tarver, 1988). In this model, identity is achieved through crisis, s e a r c h / e x p l o r a t i o n , and c o m m i t m e n t (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990). Marcia (1980) posited four ego identity statuses based on various combinations of exploration/search and commitment, which Phinney (1990) in- corporated into her own theory of ethnic identity development. In her unexamined eth- nic identity status, there is either little thought or exploration given to ethnicity (Marcia's diffuse status) or an acceptance of socially or familially ascribed ethnic atti- tudes (Marcia's foreclosure status). Ethnic identity search is triggered by an encounter that forces one to deal with ethnicity and actively explore it (Marcia's moratorium sta- tus). Finally, ethnic identity achievement in- volves a deeper understanding and appre- ciation for one's ethnic group (or groups), accepting being ethnically different from the dominant group, and coming to terms with the lower or minority status of one's group (Marcia's achieved identity). The re- sult of this process is a "confident sense of self as a member of an ethnic group" (Phin- ney & Alipuria, 1990, p. 172).
Phinney and her colleagues found evi- dence of these stages in Black and White eighth graders (Phinney & Tarver, 1988) and in Asian American, Black, Hispanic, and White college students (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990). She also found change in ethnic identity statuses over time in a longitudinal study of Asian American, Black, and His- panic 16-19-year-olds (Phinney & Chavira, 1992), which suggests a stagewise progres- sion through the statuses. She observed that all racial/ethnic identity models have ele- ments of these three stages in common (Phinney, 1990). For this reason, her model provides the framework for our analysis of the RID of our participants.
Because Black is the identity into which biracial people have been forced by current racial identity models and by the principle of hypodescent, we discuss Black racial iden- tity theory as currently conceptualized by Cross (1995a, 1995b) and Helms (1995). In their Preencounter/Conformity status, the person holds racial attitudes that range from low salience of race to anti-Black, self-hating attitudes. People in this status may idealize Eurocentric cultural norms. In the Encoun- ter/Dissonance status, the person experi- ences a racial encounter or series of encoun- ters that initiates a metamorphosis of identity and a questioning of his or her be- liefs about race. In the I m m e r s i o n / Emersion status, the person "immerses him- or herself in the world of Blackness" (Cross, 1995b, p. 107), denigrating all that is White and idealizing all that is Black. This is an externally defined, oppositional identity, based more on opposition to White stan- dards than on the affirmation of what it is to be Black. The Internalization status occurs when the person has resolved the disso- nance of the previous statuses, bases her or his identity on personal experience, and de- velops, according to Jackson (1976), a "total identity matrix" in which multiple identity demands are balanced and synthesized (as cited in Cross, 1995b, p. 116). Although the RID statuses seem to develop sequentially in many people, measurement of racial iden- tity attitudes suggests that these statuses are not mutually exclusive and that a person may display attitudes characteristic of more than one status at a time (Helms, 1995).
Helms (1995; Helms & Cook, 1999) be- lieved that her model of racial identity theory can be applied to all people of color, including biracial people. Cross and Jackson (Oldershaw, 1994) expressed discomfort with developing minority identity theories that are one-size-fits-all. Cross (1991) sug- gested that it is problematic to judge even Black people against a monoracial standard and to draw conclusions about their mental health on the basis of the assumption that a monoracial reference group orientation in- dicates healthy identity resolution. He sug-
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gested "that the mentally healthy person has some reference group or groups to which he or she is anchored, but one's emotional health does not require that it be the refer- ence group to which one is publicly as- cribed" (p. 126). We believe that applying monoracial models to biracial people and relegating them to the "least sophisticated status" as Helms did (see Helms, 1995, p. 186; Helms & Cook, 1999, p. 86-87) is equivalent to judging Blacks by White stan- dards and finding them deficient; it ignores the complexity of biracial experiences.
To counter efforts to squeeze biracial people into existing monoracial models of racial identity, several authors have at- tempted to explore and conceptualize what happens in the course of identity develop- ment for biracial people (see Table 1). Most
of these models suggest that healthy biracial identity development (BiRID) moves from a nonracially defined personal identity through an externally defined monoracial identity perspective, often involving some identity ambivalence and struggle, to an in- ternally defined multicultural one. These models have merit because they were de- rived from research using nonclinical samples of biracial people and they take their unique statuses and experiences into account.
Method
Through case studies, we demonstrate that biracial people do not fit comfortably into monoracial categories, and we raise ques- tions about the plausibility of applying monoracial theories to biracial people. This
TABLE 1 Summary of Models of Biracial Identity Development
Model Stages"
Poston (1990)
Jacobs" (1992)
Kich (1992)
Kerwin and Ponterotto (1995)
1. Personal identity 2. Choice of group categorization (monoracial identity) 3. Enmeshment and denial (guilt over denial of one parent's heritage) 4. Appreciation of multiple identity and exploration of heritages (monoracial
identity) 5. Integration and valuing of multicultural identity
1. Precolor constancy—color viewed nonevaluatively (up to 4>/2 years old) 2. Postcolor constancy—biracial label and racial ambivalence—rejects one group
and then the other (4!/2 years and older) 3. Biracial identity based on parentage, not color, with a unified ego identity (age
8-12 years) and renewed racial ambivalence in adolescence
1. Awareness of differentness and dissonance between self-perceptions and others' perceptions of them (3-10 years)
2. Struggle for acceptance from others as a way to understand self (age 8-late adolescence)
3. Self-acceptance and assertion of a valued biracial/bicultural identity (adult)
1. Awareness of parental physical differences (preschool) 2. Begin use of descriptive terms and labels provided by family to define self (entry
to school) 3. Awareness that physical appearance represents group membership—may be
triggered by event (preadolescence) 4. Pressure from peers to choose causes conflict over identifying with only one
parent—dating brings race to forefront (adolescence) 5. Immersion in one culture and rejection of the other gives way to increasing
resistance to pressure to identify monoracially (college/young adult) 6. Ongoing integration of biracial identity and increasing interpersonal flexibility if
earlier stages successfully resolved (adult)
"Models vary in number of stages. ^Jacobs's study included only preadolescent participants under 12 years old.
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goal is consistent with Neuman's (1997) be- lief that qualitative methods allow us to eliminate a theory (Black RID) by showing that an array of evidence contradicts it and renders it less plausible as an explanation for a particular phenomenon (BiRID).
We used a semistructured interview schedule designed to elicit life experiences related to racial awareness and RID. We composed the open-ended questions in con- sultation with biracial friends and family. We asked the informants about their current identity; about parent, family, and peer in- fluences on their identity development; and about their experiences of being biracial.
Data Analysis
A three-woman team consisting of an Afri- can American, a visually impaired European American, and a multiracial woman con- ducted the data analysis. We used grounded theory analysis in which themes and patterns in the data are identified, and then hypoth- eses are developed inductively and con- firmed or modified using the data (Huber- man & Miles, 1994). With each pass through the transcripts, we collected new data and gained new insights, moving from vague ideas and descriptions of concrete details to an explanatory analysis with causal state- ments (Huberman &: Miles, 1994; Neuman, 1997). This method allows for complexity of concept development based on intimate fa- miliarity with the data (Strauss & Corbin, 1994).
Limitations of the Study
First, although the presentation of only two cases allows for a greater understanding of the depth and complexity of the experi- ences of being biracial, it is not expected to provide the breadth of understanding that can be obtained from a much larger sample. Second, the interviewer is a Black woman, which may have influenced how the partici- pants responded to her questions. Finally, we use a research design that relies on ret- rospective recall, which may be subject to memory distortion. However, our purpose is
not to obtain objective truth; we are more concerned with achieving an empathic un- derstanding of participants' lived experi- ences. It is understood that the findings de- scribed herein may not be applicable to other biracial individuals, particularly those who are demographically different from our 2 participants, Jacqueline and Adolphus. However, by demonstrating that the theo- ries of Black identity development and reso- lution discussed earlier misrepresent two bi- racial people, it becomes questionable whether they can be applied to any biracial people.
Case Studies
Jacqueline
Jacqueline was a 17-year-old, short, attrac- tive, light-skinned young woman with wavy/ curly brown hair whom one might assume to be a light-skinned African American or Latina. She spoke in a quiet, matter-of-fact tone as she discussed her life. Although not overly talkative, she was willing to discuss the details of her experiences without being prompted. She seemed to be a strong-willed young woman who is bright and thoughtful about her identity and her experiences growing up biracial.
Jacqueline was raised in a working-to- middle-class family in which her mother, a White woman of German and Scottish-Irish descent, is the primary breadwinner. Her Af- rican American stepfather is a retired mili- tary serviceman and the homemaker. Her biological father, also African American, died of liver cancer when she was 1 year old.
Jacqueline never knew her stepfather's family. He was cut off from them. She knows much more about her mother's family, who were opposed to her mother's marriage to a Black man:
They were completely against [the marriage]. I don't even think they wanted her to have Black friends, let alone a Black boyfriend. . . .
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But they were accepting of my brother and myself being their grandkids.
During her early years, she spent a great amount of time in the summers with her German immigrant grandmother and Scot- tish-Irish American grandfather. She re- ceived much more exposure to her Euro- pean heritage than to her African American heritage.
When asked about her relationship with her mother and stepfather, she indicated that her mother has always been very active in her schooling and with her friends. In contrast, she really does not have a relation- ship with her stepfather because he is very closed about his feelings and thoughts:
Well my father . . . he um, basically taught me to stand up for myself, and . . . um . . . don't let anyone control any part of your life . . . it's up to you, everything . . . he's real indepen- dent when it comes to that. My mom, on the other hand, she's . . . be nice to people. If someone does something wrong to you, smile at them . . . because it makes them more agitated. . . . Everything was just . . . be nice, and be calm, and in school . . . just con- form . . . to whatever the major group is doing unless it's wrong.
She described her composite style drawn from her parents' different styles of coping:
Well in school, [I do] like she says most of the time . . . well I don't conform to like, peers, or whatever, but I don't go against the teachers deliberately either. That kind of thing . . . but I do stand up for myself. . . like if a teacher was, you know, saying something out of the ordinary to me I would say something out of the ordinary to them . . . cause, you know, it's only right . . . she hates that . . . but my dad applauds it.
Jacqueline said that up until the sixth grade, she had no awareness that her family was different and that her parents were of dif- ferent races:
It was Mom and Dad; that was it. I didn't even really notice them as being Black and White. Just didn't cross my mind until I got to sixth grade and came home one day. Cause, um, some—somebody had called me a name or
something like that. [Someone had called her a wigger, a "White nigger."] . . . mom was like, oh, people are just mean, you just have to get over it. My dad, he was like, well, the world sees you as being Black. So that's what you are . . . and at the time I didn't know. I didn't feel myself to be anything.
Jacqueline attended an all-White school up to the sixth grade where most of her friends were White. She experienced another en- counter at a friend's house in which her friend's father made a comment about Black people, calling them "niggers." She said, "And I just looked at him and he said, 'Oh, well you're different.'"
It was at this point in her life that she began to grapple with identity for the first time, largely at her stepfather's urging:
He thought I had to choose between the two. . . . He said I won't be accepted by the Whites cause I'm not White enough and I won't be accepted by the Blacks because I'm not Black enough and they look upon me as being different.
These sixth-grade experiences were the cata- lyst for a new racial awareness and the be- ginning of a theme that permeates Jacque- line's history—her stepfather urging her to take on the identity that society will ascribe to her because of her looks, and her mother wanting her to have more White friends and to feel more affinity with Whites. She said,
When I was going through I guess that iden- tity crisis where I was trying on different roles? My mom . . . had got offended at one point because . . . like, on, on all applications I always put Black and I didn't put White— she felt as though I didn't acknowledge her.
When Jacqueline entered junior high, she spent a lonely seventh-grade year. She lost touch with the White friends who entered junior high with her. She said,
Like I had the White friends I brought over from elementary school. But I didn't really consider them friends once we got to junior high. It was like a difference between us. So I was basically a loner in 7th grade. Yeah, it was awful. . . . I had real low self-esteem. But
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schoolwise I was great. I always did love school. But as far as social, I used to walk with my head down. . . . But my dad . . . had a discussion with me about how, you know, be proud of who you are. Who cares what other people think. . . . now I, I can care less what someone thinks of me. And, walk with your head up and be proud of who you are—don't care—and he just—um, he turned it all around to ... you're this greatest thing in the world and everyone's jealous of you so of course they're gonna act like this. That's how he was.
But then I was like "yeah, yeah," you know, cause I thought I was an ugly duckling. I hated myself. I thought my shape of my body was just awful. My appearance, my voice— hated everything. And when I felt—it was when I was in the car with my mom and people would look in the car—they were looking at me because I was like so different and so much, I thought, uglier than everyone else because I wasn't like everyone else.
Jacqueline believed her difference was evi- dence of her ugliness. Her stepfather's sup- port and encouragement helped to turn this around:
Then I made like a conscious decision that when I would go to the eighth grade I wouldn't care what the people thought, 'cause like a lot of the Black people didn't like me because I was light skinned. I was one of the only like mixed kids. There was maybe about five of them in my school. So I just made the conscious effort to just not care what they thought and after I got over being so self-conscious about who I was, . . . I had friends from both, both sides.
In the eighth grade, once she began to make connections with Black students, she re- ceived a lot of pressure to join the Black student organization. She did not want to join because she did not consider herself just Black and because of the strong anti- White bent of the group. She felt, again, the pressure to choose between racial loyalties.
I didn't choose. I stayed in the group and I just voiced my opinion all the time. And we never got out of meetings on time because
Jacqueline had to get her last word about why everything was wrong.
So Jacqueline became the voice of racial har- mony and reason in the Black organization, not accepting Black students' efforts to ex- clude or put down Whites. At the same time, she was also beginning to identify more vis- ibly as Black, and, in her words,
I think I took it to the extreme. Like the ste- reotypical Black female that kind of—I wanted the jet black hair. I didn't want brown hair. I didn't want to wear normal clothes. I wanted to wear the clothes that fall o f f . . . so I just took it to the extreme at one point.
Although she didn't see herself as just Black at this point, having recognized how much this hurt her mother, she was strongly iden- tifying with Black students as her reference group. She later put it into context and ex- plained that, as she made more Black friends and spent more time at their homes, she began to feel much more comfortable with Blacks than with Whites:
Because most of my Black friends, like when I come in, they just accept you as part of their family, and once you come around so often, they just consider you part of the family. It's just, "oh, hi, Miss Jacqueline, hello, have a seat. Eat dinner." . . . I think it's more a re- laxed atmosphere than in, you know, White houses. I feel as though [in White houses, you] sit on the couch, sit proper. Just sit there. But in the other—you can roll around on the floor, play with the kids. There's always like a lot of kids around.
At the time of the interview, Jacqueline iden- tified as Black, but if asked further what she was, she explained that she was biracial with a stronger sense of comfort and connection to Black people. She prefers dating Black men and says that she would like her chil- dren to identify as Black. She accepts both parts of her heritage: "like if someone says 'you're acting so White,' well, I can't help that, I am. I say stuff like that." Her friend- ship network is multicultural and she says "to me it's, um, you talk to people that are nice to you—and, no matter what race it is, it shouldn't matter." She does not allow
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Blacks or Whites to make racial comments around her without challenging them. She is also able to see both the benefits and problems of being biracial. She describes one benefit:
I'm happy being mixed cause to me it seems like Whites have like a one-sided view of how things are being and so do Blacks. If you're mixed, you, you know, have both sides 'cause it's in the same household, you see it both ways.
The major problems she sees with being biracial are the struggle to acquire an identity and the discrimination that she experienced:
When I was young, and couldn't—and didn't know where—what identity to turn to—when I was confronted with that little problem [the "wigger" incident] . . . it took a while to forget cause when you're so young I guess you're impressionable to comments like that. I think that's the only negative thing in childhood.
She sees being biracial as the ideal and su- perior position to being White or Black. She concludes that
It's like best to be of a biracial—just because you get—you experience so much. And it's— to me I think it would be hard to be preju- diced against either one of what your parents are because that's part of you, too. I don't think you can show too much prejudice against it. So I think if a lot more people were biracial, you know, there would be less preju- dice. I think that's the 100 percent best choice to go.
Adolphus
Adolphus is a handsome 19-year-old of me- dium height and build, with short-cropped, dark brown hair, who appears to be Latino. He was talkative throughout the interview, speaking in assertive tones. He often devi- ated from the topic at hand to explain an event in great detail and frequently had to be brought back on track. He spoke like someone with unyielding beliefs about the issues we were discussing, although as the interview continued, a sense of his vulner-
ability became more apparent. He was raised by working-class parents. His mother is a White woman of Italian descent from Brooklyn, New York, and his father is a Black man of Louisiana Creole descent. Adolphus moved back and forth between his parents several times throughout his childhood and adolescent years. His parents were divorced when he was 5 years old and from then until the 5th grade, Adolphus lived with his fa- ther. From the 5th to the 9th grades he lived with his mother; and because he was having difficulty in his relationship with her, he moved back to his father's from the 9th to the llth grades. Then, because of his fa- ther's financial troubles, Adolphus moved in with his mother in the 12th grade.
The families of both parents accepted the marriage. His mother and paternal grandmother got along well. He indicated that there was a high degree of racial iden- tity confusion within his father's family. He attributed this confusion to his grand- mother, whose ethnic heritage is unclear.
She was raised by a man, a Jewish man that owned a furniture store, but he owned a lot of s t u f f . . . so he was like real powerful. So he in fact married a Black woman . . . they claim my grandma's adopted. She might not even be. She has two different birth certificates from two different states. So nobody knows anything about my grandmother. My grand- mother was a little bit darker 'an me but she had, she had nappy hair . . . she used to say she was Spanish, but she wasn't. And so when the kids were growing up, she fed this into the kids too, so now the kids don't identify at all either.
Adolphus believes that his grandmother's confusion regarding her identity has created a legacy of confusion for her descendants. This legacy left him to struggle with his iden- tity alone with no one to talk to about it because neither parent could or would af- firm his identity.
And then, um, it's hard with my parents, be- cause my parents have always told me you're not White and you're not Black. And I said, well, what am I? We don't know what you are
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but you're not White and you're not Black. And my dad, my dad, he doesn't say he's Black either.
Adolphus seems disturbed by his grand- mother's lack of identity and is determined not to let his own family "grow up all con- fused" about identity. His belief is so strong that he has gone so far as to advise friends not to date interracially: "Don't have no kids, 'cause your kids is gonna grow up fucked up. Trust me, don't have no kids."
Adolphus grew up in predominately low- income Black neighborhoods with little ex- posure to White people. Until about the sixth or seventh grade, he had little aware- ness that his family's racial composition was unusual. At that time he began to question his racial identity.
When you're little, [you don't] realize anyway about race. It's not even a big deal. But when you hit—well, it must have been about when I hit about sixth, seventh grade things started changing. . . . So at that point, um, I never really had to make a choice because all of my friends have always been Black—always. . . . So once race started becoming an issue I, I mean I always fit in fine. I've always been around Black people although that started to change in high school. It got a little bit more difficult for me because my hair is straight and I am so light that they, you know . . . they're still my friends, but they, you know, start calling me cracker and White boy and whatnot.
He began to feel conflicted about racial identity as his (Black) peers began to tease him about his appearance. This disturbed him because he did not like being associated with Whites. Despite their teasing, Adolphus remained devoted to his friends.
They didn't change. . . .They didn't really change 'cause they were still the same friends. They were still very um, very loving to me . . . like one of my friends . . . he was the worst one. Always, White, White, White, White boy. But when it came down to it, he was always there for me. I mean, any- time. . . . Yeah, and it just bothered me be- cause I didn't like hearing that because, not a lot of Black people like White people, so
you're around Black people all the time and they're calling you White, which you know is something despised. You don't want to be something despised, you know.
At around the age of 14, Adolphus began behaving more culturally Black, perhaps in response to the name-calling, and this caused tensions between him and his mother. He attributes this to his association with a gang and his increasing use of Black slang. Adolphus believes that his mother felt he was behaving in a "one-sided" manner, favoring his Black heritage over his White heritage.
I was growing, um, into a teenager or adult or whatever . .. stage that is in your life, 14 years old. Used to get into fights with my mom a lot. . . .Um, she didn't like the way I was start- ing to carry myself, ah, and I think I, my lan- guage started changing. Not, not that I was swearing but my language started, you know, more of a more of accent. (Slang?). Yeah, and it just started changing and so she just, everything I started identifying with was defi- nitely to one side. . . . I think it was hurting her and real angry to her that I wasn't iden- tifying with her.
He also indicated that his mother "couldn't fathom" that he could not get along with Whites and that he believed that Whites would not accept him.
While involved with gang activity, Adol- phus began to feel that his association with this peer group was having a negative effect on him.
On my own I was like, this is, this is not right. This is not cool. Um, saw a lot of my friends get arrested. Saw a lot of my friends get shot. Saw a lot of my friends shoot other people. I was like, no, this isn't cool. This is not right. So, I needed a way out of that school. . . . So I took myself out . . . for a long time I didn't even talk to none of my old friends cause I just couldn't ah, I'm, I'm, I'm real susceptible to peer pressure.
Adolphus severed his relationships with gang members by choosing to attend a dif- ferent high school for the 10th grade. Throughout that year his academic perfor-
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mance was poor, he struggled with depres- sion, and he began to think more about his future. He made the decision to attend a private school for the llth grade.
See, I had real bad grades 9th grade. And I had real bad grades 10th grade . . . they were at the point where I was starting to think, what am I gonna do when I graduate from high school? . . . I was like, what can I do to uplift my situation?
This setting was different from any Adol- phus had previously experienced, because he was one of the few people of color in the private school. This experience increased his race consciousness to the point of recog- nizing how angry and resentful of Whites and of his White heritage and traits he was.
I was like angry at—probably angry at White people because I was . . . part White . . . and in my being part White I didn't even get to be born with the traits that . . . Black people have . . . , it's not enough that I look White because my skin is dark enough that you can tell, he's not, he's not White. What is he? You know, what is he? But at the same time, like my hair. You know, my nose and my lips maybe, but the hair and the hair—and the hair—that's the first thing people look at any- way to give something away, so I've always, I've always been angry at my hair.
His straight hair disturbs him so much that he keeps his hair cut extremely short to pre- vent people from seeing how straight it is. During his senior year in high school, he and his mother became close.
By then my mom and I had became real close because she started understanding . . . that I'm different from her. Um, I'm not her and I'm different from my father too. I'm . . . I'm . . . I'm . . . I'm a product of both of them and I ... I have different issues that I need to deal with and whatnot and now she's real sup- portive. And she understands that there's a lot of racial issues, a lot of stuff that I have to deal with that she never had to deal with.
According to Adolphus, his mother took him to Italy with the hope of bolstering his appreciation for his Italian heritage.
See, she took me to Italy for my senior gift, hoping that that would open my eyes and it did nothing for me. It did absolutely nothing for me. Other than . . . a newfound respect for White people. [Prior to this trip, I] ... was seeing White people as oppressors and evil people. . . . Then I realized well, wait a minute, there's some, you know, there's some cool White cats that you know, they, they're making some nice art, you know, and they wasn't interested in hurting anybody.
Despite his newfound appreciation for the contributions made by Whites, Adolphus ad- mitted that he still has difficulty interacting with Whites.
O t h e r t h a n m y m o t h e r a n d a f e w friends . . . , I've never associated with White people. I see that—that's a lack of experience for me that I need to overcome but at this point in my life it's too difficult. . . . I don't know what's going on in their world, and I don't know how to get in their world, and I'm not sure if I want to get in their world.
After graduating from high school, Adol- phus attended a college on the East Coast where he felt conspicuous because of his ambiguous appearance. He described some unpleasant incidents that took place on his college campus, which he believes were ra- cially motivated.
Walking around campus here—the White people for some reason never mistake me as being White. They know. And not only do they know but I get looks and stuff out of the corner of my eye. . . .You can feel when there's tension. . . .You can feel it when people don't like you. One night I was sleep- ing here and . . . some people come in [the dorm hallway] and I don't know who they were but they were talking about me . . . and I know that the next day . . . they were up in my face smiling. So I mean, I know it exists . . . another day my roommate claims that some kid called him a nigger and we went upstairs and confronted him about that. And they were like that's, that's not right that you guys have confronted us 'cause you know we all have to live in the same house. Like that's not the issue. The issue is if you have said that word then we're gonna have a prob- lem. Then there's gonna be a definite prob-
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lem that needs to be solved. . . . If you're walking around here everyday thinking I'm a nigger, then let me know. Let me know so I know right where to put you.
In addition to feeling isolated from Whites, Adolphus also felt a sense of isolation from Blacks: "This place is racist. Wow! And I'm not even talking. I'm not even talking about White people. I'm talking about Blacks." Dating in college seemed to exacerbate his sense of isolation. He believed that rejec- tions by Black women were due to his light skin. He commented that he is now plagued by that doubt whenever he approaches a woman.
When I first got here. This girl—I thought she was attractive so I walked up to her and I start talking to her. . . . She was like, you're too light skinned. Something like that. I said, what? I said, what the fuck does that matter? You know. I got angry. I was, what the hell does that matter? . . . And she, she asked me one day. She asked me what I was and I told her. And she said, "not Black." So how you gonna tell me what I am. I mean, you ain't fly then. Go on. Go ahead with yourself. I mean, man. How you gonna tell me. But I mean, I got that a couple of times to the point where now, when I, when I approach a lady here now, I don't even know.
This experience profoundly changed his perspective on relationships with Blacks, es- pecially Black women: "I always, now I always refer back to that question. Is that because, you know, I'm light skinned? And that was never in my head before." He feels that hav- ing to deal with people's reactions to him being biracial is hard and hinders his devel- opment. It makes him feel tense and lonely, and it's "painful to be in solitude all the time." Sometimes he questions his own san- ity and feels like he's losing his mind. He has considered leaving school to return home where he feels more comfortable. Through this experience, his mother has been an im- portant support for him.
Now, now I can talk to my mom about any- thing now and she said, . . . it's not a Black thing. It's not a White thing. It's just igno-
rance. She said a lot of people grow up igno- rant . . . and she said don't worry cause you'll meet, you'll meet a educated person and . . . and educated people can look past color and that's . . . that's . . . that's . . . that's what you should look for. If anybody's ignorant then you don't need them anyway because you're beyond that . . . you're too intelligent for them. You'll surpass them in a relationship anyway. They won't be able to keep up with you.
Adolphus identified as Black at the time of the interview, and his feelings about being biracial appear to be somewhat contradictory:
There's nothing wrong with being bira- cial . . . biracial doesn't exist to me. . . . I do feel that there's a problem when you're real light and you don't carry on the [Black] traits. Because then you're not accepted by either side and that's . . . shameful. That's sad. . . . It's hell.
Discussion
Both participants have a Black father and a White mother and both identify as Black. Both had an unexplored, nonracially de- fined personal identity until the sixth grade, which is consistent with the biracial identity models as well as the Phinney (1990) and Cross/Helms (Cross, 1995b; Helms, 1995) models. Unlike Helms's Black model, there was no evidence of idealization of Eurocen- tric cultural norms or denigration of Black c u l t u r e . Both reported having White friends, but neither seemed to idealize Whiteness.
Both participants had encounter experi- ences in the sixth or seventh grade. How- ever, what followed these encounters differs for the two individuals. For Jacqueline, these encounters thrust her into a painful period of low self-esteem during the seventh grade, which she refers to as her "identity crisis." This crisis differed from the Cross/Helms encounter/dissonance stage in that she did not express guilt about overvaluing Whites. Beyond the encounter stage, Jacqueline's experience differed substantially from the
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Cross/Helms model in that she did not ex- perience a classic immersion status: She did not denigrate Whites and she did not ideal- ize Blacks. Instead, she began to identify as biracial or mixed and she spoke up for Whites in the Black student organization. At the same time, she was immersing herself in Black culture through her behavior, her dress, and her choice of almost exclusively Black friends in high school. She did not see this immersion as a rejection of Whites, nor was her defense of Whites in all-Black set- tings during this time a preencounter ideal- ization. This was not an oppositional Black identity. She was aware of the importance of maintaining her loyalty to her White heri- tage because of her close tie with her mother, and because she knew how much it hurt her mother when she failed to acknowl- edge her mother's contribution to her heri- tage. She saw this period as an exploration of Black heritage and culture to which she had previously not been exposed. This next step after her encounters and dissonance was consistent with biracial identity models, which involve exploring externally defined monoracial identity perspectives with some ambivalence and struggle, eventually com- mitting to an internally defined multiracial one.
The forthright style that Jacqueline learned from her stepfather seems signifi- cant in her ability to defend her biracial identity against challengers. She is aware of the implications of color and cultural differ- ences but does not allow them to dictate her relationships. She is well adjusted and likes being biracial in spite of the social difficul- ties she has encountered. She has a flexibil- ity of identity that serves her well in her mixed racial world. Her experience is con- sistent with Field's (1996) findings that bira- cial teens had diverse reference group ori- entations and felt comfortable with their mixed racial heritage.
On the other hand, the racial encoun- ters that began in the 6th and 7th grades thrust Adolphus into a classic Cross/Helms immersion status in which he idealized a gang-oriented definition of Blackness and
denigrated all that was White. This opposi- tional posture was intensified when he was accepted into a predominately White upper- class private school in the llth grade where he got "real racial" and fought with White students whom he perceived as racist. Al- though his trip to Italy awakened in him new appreciation for White artistic contribu- tions, it did not soften his anger at Whites as a race. He recognized the need to explore his White heritage, but he acknowledged that it was too difficult for him. He main- tained an externally defined monoracial Black identity. This was accompanied by am- bivalence and struggle with his White heri- tage, which is consistent with the biracial models of identity development. His experi- ence of his mixed heritage caused him great loneliness, anger, and disconnection, which rendered him unable to move beyond the Black immersion status to explore his mul- tiracial identity. This could be due to a num- ber of factors: his broken home and un- stable parenting; his parents' lack of information, support, and position regard- ing his racial identity; and growing up in a predominantly Black neighborhood where he experienced pressure to disassociate him- self from anything White. Although Adol- phus experienced a classic immersion status and got stuck there, his motivation for his immersion attitudes is different from that of monoracial Blacks. At his own admission, his anger is at the White in himself because it prevents him from having full membership and acceptance in the Black community.
Adolphus is marginally adjusted, does not feel accepted by Blacks or Whites, and hates being biracial. He understands that there are issues to be dealt with as a biracial person, but he does not know how to deal with them. Being biracial means being "con- fused" and "growfing] up fucked up." Iden- tifying as biracial would mean dealing with being part White, which he has fought against all of his life. He attempts to over- come his negative reactions to Whites through the use of his intellect by reading and learning about White people and he seems to have taken on Black identity to fit
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in, but these strategies are not working well for him. He still has a lot of rage.
Jacqueline searched and achieved a Black/multiracial identity, moving through the identity process as predicted by the bi- racial identity models. Her Black identity represents her greater sense of comfort with Black people, and her biracial identity rep- resents her acceptance of her multiracial heritage and her refusal to reject any part of it. Adolphus foreclosed on his identity ex- ploration (Marcia, 1980) by committing to the Black racial identity that was required of him by his peers. Although he has teetered on the edge of moratorium status (Marcia, 1980), he decided that it was too difficult for him to explore his White heritage. Perhaps this is because continuing his identity search might lead to abandoning his commitment to a monoracial Black identity, which has served as a safety net and a source of (mini- mal) acceptance and belonging in a racially hostile world.
Conclusions
We conclude that the Cross/Helms Black RID model may not be an accurate repre- sentation of RID for biracial people, even if they are Black identified. The monoracial identity models do not take into account the complex forces that bear on biracial people as they search for an identity in a monora- cially defined world. Poston (1990) pointed out that the monoracial identity models do not allow for the integration of more than one group identity. They imply that those who are biracial must reject half of their heritage, as Adolphus did at the expense of being consumed by anger and disappoint- ment with a Black identity betrayed by White physical traits. Adolphus's rejection of bira- cial identity represents a disconnection from who he is, in contrast to Jacqueline, who em- braces both heritages and experiences greater connection to all of who she is. Field (1996) found similar disconnection in her White-identified biracial participants who
rejected their Black heritage and had lower self-concept than Black or biracially identi- fied participants.
Poston (1990) pointed out that current racial identity models assume acceptance from the minority group of origin, which is not available for biracial people who are dis- criminated against by both Blacks and Whites. This was painfully demonstrated in the case of Adolphus, who experienced name calling from his Black friends, rejec- tion from Black women, and racism from White classmates.
Finally, the monoracial identity models do not take into account that biracial Black/ White individuals have both a White and a Black parent. In the context of a positive relationship with a White parent, the expres- sion of positive, accepting, or defensive atti- tudes about Whites by biracial people may not represent conformity attitudes as im- plied by Helms (1995; Helms & Cook, 1999). It may simply represent that individu- al's loyalty and love for her White parent, as evidenced by Jacqueline. This love may be potent enough to allow biracial individuals to put oppressive experiences in perspective and avoid generalizing their anger about op- pression to all Whites (M. P. P. Root, per- sonal communication, September 1998; C. Thompson, personal communication, Janu- ary 1999).
Instead of forcing biracial people to choose, current research suggests that it is better to support biracial people in explor- ing both sides of their heritage in order to develop positive biracial identities and healthy psychological adjustment. In fact, taking on a biracial identity is related to a more positive sense of identity, fewer psy- chological problems, and greater self- confidence than adopting a monoracial la- bel (Arnold, 1984; Watts, 1991). Root (1990) suggested that regardless of how bi- racial people identify, they must always ac- cept both sides of their heritage, make their own unforced choices, and develop ways to deal with others' perceptions of them. They need to cope within mainstream society without sacrificing the integrity of their ra-
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cial/ethnic identities (Brown, 1990). Our case studies are consistent with these conclu- sions.
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Members of Underrepresented Groups: Reviewers for Journal Manuscripts Wanted
If you are interested in reviewing manuscripts for APA journals, the APA Publications and Communications Board would like to invite your participation. Manuscript re- viewers are vital to the publications process. As a reviewer, you would gain valuable experience in publishing. The P&C Board is particularly interested in encouraging members of underrepresented groups to participate more in this process.
If you are interested in reviewing manuscripts, please write to Demarie Jackson at the address below. Please note the following important points:
• To be selected as a reviewer, you must have published articles in peer-reviewed journals. The experience of publishing provides a reviewer with the basis for preparing a thorough, objective review.
• To be selected, it is critical to be a regular reader of the five to six empirical jour- nals that are most central to the area or journal for which you would like to review. Current knowledge of recently published research provides a reviewer with the knowledge base to evaluate a new submission within the context of existing re- search.
• To select the appropriate reviewers for each manuscript, the editor needs detailed information. Please include with your letter your vita. In your letter, please iden- tify which APA journal(s) you are interested in, and describe your area of exper- tise. Be as specific as possible. For example, "social psychology" is not suffi- cient—you would need to specify "social cognition" or "attitude change" as well.
• Reviewing a manuscript takes time (1-4 hours per manuscript reviewed). If you are selected to review a manuscript, be prepared to invest the necessary time to evaluate the manuscript thoroughly.
Write to Demarie Jackson, Journals Office, American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242.
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