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- I am OTHER
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The Untold Story of Latinos in America “We are all Americans of the New World, and our most dangerous enemies are not each other, but the great wall of ignorance between us.”
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Showing posts with label Maria P. P. Root. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria P. P. Root. Show all posts
Monday, February 28, 2011
Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage
I
HAVE THE RIGHT...
Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
Not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with
my physical or ethnic ambiguity.
I
HAVE THE RIGHT...
To identify myself differently than strangers
expect me to identify.
To identify myself differently than how my parents
identify me.
To identify myself differently than my brothers and
sisters.
To identify myself differently in different
situations.
I
HAVE THE RIGHT...
To create a vocabulary to communicate about
being multiracial or multiethnic.
To change my identity over my lifetime--and more
than once.
To have loyalties and identification with more
than one group of people.
To freely choose whom I befriend and love.
© Maria P. P. Root, PhD, 1993, 1994
Multiracial Oath of Social Responsibility
I want to make a difference in this world. Therefore:
I strive to improve race relations.
I know that race and ethnicity are not solely defined by one’s genetic heritage;
I refuse to confine my choices in love or loyalty to a single race;
I make efforts to increase my knowledge of U.S. racial history;
I know that race and ethnicity can be used as political, economic, and social tools of
oppression.
I recognize the people who have made it possible for me to affirm my
multiracial identity.
They are my relatives, friends, and mentors;
They are people who have crossed color lines to fight discrimination;
They are people who identified as multiracial before this choice was recognized;
They are people who have exposed and explained the suppression of multiraciality.
I must fight all forms of oppression as the oppression of one is the
oppression of all.
I recognize that oppression thrives on fear and ignorance;
I seek to recognize my prejudices and change them;
I know that it is neither helpful nor productive to argue over who is more oppressed;
I recognize that my life interconnects with all other lives.
I will make a difference!
2004, Maria P. P. Root
I strive to improve race relations.
I know that race and ethnicity are not solely defined by one’s genetic heritage;
I refuse to confine my choices in love or loyalty to a single race;
I make efforts to increase my knowledge of U.S. racial history;
I know that race and ethnicity can be used as political, economic, and social tools of
oppression.
I recognize the people who have made it possible for me to affirm my
multiracial identity.
They are my relatives, friends, and mentors;
They are people who have crossed color lines to fight discrimination;
They are people who identified as multiracial before this choice was recognized;
They are people who have exposed and explained the suppression of multiraciality.
I must fight all forms of oppression as the oppression of one is the
oppression of all.
I recognize that oppression thrives on fear and ignorance;
I seek to recognize my prejudices and change them;
I know that it is neither helpful nor productive to argue over who is more oppressed;
I recognize that my life interconnects with all other lives.
I will make a difference!
2004, Maria P. P. Root
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