Cultural mix between whites and blacks and the rise of biracial mulatto identity

How does the cultural mix of the parents affect the racial identity of biracial mulatto children? No one doubts that racial miscegenation between different racial  groups results in cultural miscegenation or cultural mixing between different groups, creating the conditions for the birth of a new racial identity, but also a new cultural identity. Just as different racial mixtures produce a genetically hybrid person, they also produce a person with a hybrid culture.

Just as a new racial identity is born as a result of the mixture of race, a new mixture of culture is also born among these groups, a process of cultural mixing from which a new culture emerges that is different from the primary culture in which the biracial mulattoes have a different from their parents.

Subculture of people of mixed race which is part of two cultures in the same way that the biracial mulatto identity is part of two dominant racial groups. This is where deeply analyzing how this hybrid culture, which is part of the mentality, affects the behavior, aspirations, sense of belonging, personal value, personality, intelligence and sense of identity of biracial mulattoes. as extremely important to understand the origin of the racial identity crisis that some biracial mulattoes have.

As a way to stop racial miscegenation between different racial groups, whites people created the black code, Jim Crow laws and racial segregation, but they also dehumanized  biracial mulattoes from the right to racial self-identification, which deprived them of create a new community of people different from both dominant racial groups, which attempted against the idea of ​​racial superiority of whites over blacks.

As a way to stop cultural mixing, blacks used emotional manipulation and family exclusion in which self-hatred of being black or being anti-black is the weapon used to stop the right to self-determination of biracial mulattoes as a way to stop the supposed negative effects that the hybrid sub culture of the biracial mulattoes  could produce in the "culture of the blacks".

Many social science scholars, when they analyze social behavior, population migration and cultural integration processes, know that when two cultures collide, there is the possibility that one culture absorbs another culture (assimilation), there is also the possibility that the combination of both cultures (amalgamation) produces another culture different  from the original one and let's not talk about when a culture takes elements from other cultures (transculturation).

When a process of miscegenation occurs between two different racial groups who culturally have some notable differences, apart from producing a new racial identity, it also produces a new cultural identity. The union of a white American with a European mindset with a black woman with an African-American mindset. You must assume that the racial results will be different but also the cultural result of intercultural mixing.

The majority of young biracial mulatto boys or girls have a behavior, personal value, racial identity and vision of themselves which is different from both parents.  In the same way that black youth feel out of place when raised by a white family, white youth raised by a black family feel the same way. That tells you that biracial mulatto boys or girls feel the same  when they are raised by couples from different racial groups  in which the sense of belonging is compromised..

Many psychologists who study cognitive development conclude that infants tend to imitate the behavior of their caregivers, which is later an element that can determine the type of behavior, personality and personal assessment that the male or female infant has of himself or her itself imitating, assimilating and learning the cultural customs of the main caregiver. 

When a family of people of mixed race have a child, racial miscegenation is inevitable, contrary to cultural miscegenation or cultural mixing which is  associated with the upbringing and presence of both parents culturally different for this to be a reality.

In the case of a biracial child, the racial identity and culture of the primary caregiver greatly conditions the development of the biracial mulatto child's personality, but also cultural exposure. If the black mother is the first caregiver of the biracial child, this biracial child, as part of the development process during childhood, will imitate all that is related to the mother's personality, but also cultural customs.

When the mother is white and the father is black, the reverse effect is produced in the cultural miscegenation process of the biracial child, in which the biracial child tends to identify with the culture of the white mother, more than that of the black father. 

If the white father or the black father is part of the process of emotional and cognitive development of the biracial child, this diminishes the cultural influence of the black mother  during upbringing, creating the conditions so that apart from being a biracial child genetically speaking, this child will also have a mixed culture, which is a subculture to those of their parents. 

Young biracial boys and girls, product of racial miscegenation as a form of adaptation mechanism and acceptance with family, tend to create a vision of themselves which is a hybrid of both parents, where apart from accepting an identity with the dominant race, they also tend without knowing it. , to integrate in a single cultural identity, the cultural differences of both parents. Children of mixed-race parents tend to have a different culture than their parents, which is the result of the integration of the parent's primary culture.

How much can the mulatto culture impact the black community? 

In order to know the impact of a culture, we must first recognize it. If it has been difficult to recognize the racial differences within the United States between a biracial mulatto, a light-skinned black person, and a white person, that tells you that recognizing the existence of a culture that is the product of this racial miscegenation is almost impossible.

The biracial mulattoes have never seen themselves as part of an independent community on its own. Product of the emotional, family and historical connection that exists between a biracial mulatto and black parents, biracial mulattoes have always been included and seen by whites as part of the black community, which integrates the mulatto culture with the culture black.

Right now there are many biracial mulatto historians, scientists, politicians, business owners, entrepreneurs, famous writers and artistic figures who are seen as  part of the black community, which diminishes the visibility and recognition of mulatto culture in the United States, which limits the mulattos in the creation of their own community. Creation of a community which may or may not weaken the black community in general, but it is one of the political blackmails that black leaders have always used against biracial mulattoes to keep them in line.

Many would say that black culture is only a subculture within American culture dominated by whites. The mulatto culture would also become one more subculture in  the United States which is dominated by the white culture and the black subculture. Just as many cannot distinguish the Afro-American culture from the American culture, so many do not know how to distinguish the biracial mulatto culture from the black culture.

When you look at the behavior of biracial mulattoes and compare them to the behavior of dark-skinned blacks and whites in tone how they talk, what topics they talk about, what kind of clothes they wear, what kind of music they listen to, what they enjoy doing , attitudes towards life, but also the way they see themselves. You can clearly observe the differences between these three racial groups, which translates into cultural differences, within the same culture.

Some time in the future African-Americans and whites will recognize the contributions and existence of biracial mulattoes in the construction of American society. This process is inevitable and more so when you recognize the contributions of other subcultures in American culture. Biracial mulattoes cannot live forever under the shadow of the black community.

The racial identity and cultural contribution of biracial mulattoes is something that will be a reality in the future, regardless of whether or not blacks and whites recognize biracial mulattoes as an independent community, where biracial can find a place where each of the Members have the same racial mix, personal experience, self-respect, self-acceptance, goals, dreams, and sense of identity that they can embrace and not be forced to pretend to be who they are not.

Right now, biracial mulattoes do not possess the sense of identity associated with a community that represents them as a racial group of people of mixed race, but also, a biracial mulatto community where biracial mulattoes can use as a forum for discussion, social support, economic advice, emotional assistance, support group and  political vision that promotes the ideas, dreams, needs, culture, lifestyle, problems and challenges facing biracial mulattoes in the United States.

I have always believed that racism, discrimination or exclusion and lack of access to opportunities are not the main reasons for the situation of inequality in which  blacks find themselves, compared to whites. Until you analyze how the black subculture is part of the reason for this racial disparity between blacks and whites, there will be no recognizable changes, especially the ghetto culture in the most impoverished black neighborhoods. Negative elements of the black subculture that can only be neutralized through education.

Racial miscegenation between blacks and whites is not the solution to the problems of inequality facing blacks right now. There are elements of the black subculture which are holding blacks back in achieving economic and social goals which can be considered as responsible for the situation. Biracial children tend not to be negatively influenced by negative elements of the  black subculture to the same extent as children with both black parents, product of cultural mixing between parents of different racial groups.

In another future work we will focus on analyzing what are the elements of the black subculture (ghetto culture) which are partly responsible for the economic inequality that exists between blacks and whites. black poverty some sociologists consider that it is associated with the "ghetto culture," failure to marry, but also the problems faced by the black population such as absent fathers, single mothers and problems associated with non-standard family structure.