New study: biracial asian-americans are more likely to be sad

You could argue that the problem isn’t the study, but the media’s depiction of it. I would say yes – but at the same time it is the researchers’ responsibility to ensure their press releases emphasise all the important info – like the possible fact that culture and not just genetics is a culprit.

It took me a while to figure out that what I disliked was not being mixed race, but being mixed race in a racist culture that fetishises or misunderstands the mixed race experience. What I mean is, the problem isn’t me and my mixed race self, it’s the culture I live in.

It was actually a disability activist who helped me to understand this difference. She has a mobility disability and she commented that what she disliked was not being disabled – that was a part of her identity and experience that made her, her – but being disabled within a culture and infrastructure that ignored her right to her basic needs.

I don’t mind the suggestion that mixed race people might have a hard time. Hey, it’s true! This study, if couched in different terms, could actually be helpful and validating to communities of biracial Asian Americans who struggle with their position in a race-obsessed society.

What I mind is the suggestion that mixed race people are innately defective. This kind of conversation that mislocates the problem in the person of colour rather than the society is what creates self-hatred. This is why it’s so heartbreaking when, for eg, East Asian men or Black women talk about how they see themselves as impossibly ugly. We’re hoodwinked into thinking that we’re the ones who are bad and gross, instead of the culture we live in.

But then again, you can’t trust me. Statistically I’m a loonie.

Sidebar: Let’s also note that defining “biracial” as half-white and half-something else is not accurate! Like you could be half Pakistani and half Malaysian. You’d still be biracial! Let’s stop ignoring the experiences of people who are mixed race but have two parents of colour. Doing otherwise makes it seem like the mixed race experience is only remarkable when a white person is involved – it insists white experiences be included.

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