Helping mixed-race Asian kids navigate a world that isn’t post-racial |
Helping mixed-race Asian kids navigate a world that isn’t post-racial
The Seattle Times
2016-03-16
Jerry Large, Columnist
 Sharon H. Chang is author of “Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Children in a Post-Racial World.” (Courtesy of Sheila Addleman) |
Seattle author writes about the challenges of raising multiracial Asian children in America and helping then overcome racial biases.
If you have mixed-race kids, teach mixed-race kids or know any mixed-race kids, you should read Sharon Chang’s book. Chang is a local writer and mom who saw a vacuum and tried to fill it with information she wishes her own parents had.
The book is “Raising Mixed Race: Multiracial Asian Children in a Post-Racial World,” and yes, that last phrase is meant tongue in cheek. This definitely is not a post-racial world, and one of the strengths of Chang’s book is that it helps people see how race continues to shape our lives.
Chang grew up in Southern California, the daughter of a Taiwanese father and white American mother. She’s lived in Seattle for 16 years and is married to a man who grew up on Vashon Island. His father is white and his mother is from Japan, so they’ve had lots of conversations about growing up mixed and not having anyone explain how people might react to them, or why.
How does a kid feel when relatives, or strangers, openly comment on their features — “That’s a good nose” or “Too bad about the eyes”? What does a parent say when a child says, “Mommy, I want blond hair”?…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Jerry Large, Seattle, Seattle Times, Sharon Chang, Sharon H. Chang, The Seattle Times, Washington