Number of multiracial people grows in Oneida County |
Number of multiracial people grows in Oneida County
The Observer-Dispatch
Utica, New York
2011-07-14
Elizabeth Cooper
UTICA — Nisa Duong is part Vietnamese, part black, part American Indian and part white.
But the 19-year-old Utica resident said her racial and ethnic identity isn’t at the forefront of her mind, and if it comes up, it’s in positive ways.
“I feel really unique because of all those cultures being bundled up together,” she said. “It sets you apart from other people. It makes you who you are.”
Duong is one of a growing number of multiracial people living in Oneida County.
New census figures show the number of people identifying themselves as mixed race has risen about 35 percent since the 2000 Census, from 3,583 to 4,865.
Combinations of white, black and Asian are turning up in greater numbers, and each statistic illuminates a different aspect of the region’s ever-changing mosaic.
- The number of Oneida County residents who said they are a combination of black and white jumped from 831 to 2,157.
- The number of those saying they are white and Asian rose from 388 to 586.
- The number saying they are part black and part Asian went from 18 to 51.
Those numbers still make up a small portion of the total population of the county, which stands at 234,878. Still, they echo a transformation going on across the nation.
Experts attributed the change to several factors, Hamilton College Associate Professor of Sociology Jenny Irons said…
…The Obama factor
Even as attitudes toward race change, there are ways people’s attitudes have remained the same.
Irons noted that even though President Barack Obama has been clear about his biracial background, he still is talked about as the nation’s first black president.
“In our society we still think of race in pretty rigid, fixed categories,” she said…
…Black and white
Michael Fenimore, 31, is half black and half white, but when it came to filling out the census form, he said he was black.
“One thing my mom always told me is the color of my skin is black,” he said. “I always put myself down as a black male and am proud of that. I know who my parents are and I’m proud of who I am.”…
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Tags: Elizabeth Cooper, Jenny Irons, New York, Oneida County, The Observer-Dispatch