Though I have heard her nom de Internet from alt-right bloggers, I had never watched one of her videos until recently. (Full disclosure: I did not know that RM was a woman–and quite a woman.) The above video appeared in the “Up next” column while watching this Lauren Southern video.  Intrigued by the title, I clicked on the racial bait, and, (mixed) baby, I am so glad that I did. Being Eurasian myself, I am usually interested in hearing/reading about the Eurasian experiences of others, especially when they are easy on the eyes and soft on the ears. I immediately connected with her pointing out that, while this seems not to be the case with most Eurasian children, she is the product of a Caucasian woman/Asian man coupling, as am I. In her case, people usually assume that her mother is the Asian in the relationship. I suppose that there is a certain level of racial security in the West in such an arrangement. While I have not experienced this too frequently, given that most people who currently know me know who my father is or simply look at my last name, my brother has commented on having had people ask him this while he was working in construction–when they were not assuming that he was an illegal Mexican worker. This is another point that I really enjoyed about this video: though neither my brother nor I look Mexican, much like with RM,  since people often have only three categories of racial reference in their daily experiences: white, black, and Mexican, they assume that we must be Choice C.

Having bounced back and forth between Canada and China, RM grew up in diverse environments, leading her never to feel as if she did not belong because she was surrounded by others who may not have “belonged” (*not her words*–my interpretation). She does admit that her experiences were very different from what she would have likely experienced had she grown up in Missouri, where she would have been a lone exotic (a description she does not mind, so we are cool) flower. She maintains that biracial children who feel identity torn are more than likely children who would be insecure regardless and often use being biracial as a way of acquiring victimhood status. While she may very well be correct, given our tendency to use anything we can to acquire more leverage in the social dynamic realm, I believe that we must look at the studies that reportedly correlate biracial identity with depression or behavioral problems. The presence of studies that support this theory cannot be wished away (for example, here  or here or here). I have also seen a study–that I cannot currently locate–that claims that the evidence is conjectural, arguing that biracial children experience the same type of identity-formation struggles that are common to monoracial children and adolescents.

Perhaps, as a result of identity-formation struggles, biracial children may develop a type of anti-fragility that may suite them well for this coming world of racial swirls, but this development depends upon a willingness to accept the fact that they are biracial and, thus, must acknowledge all the possibly disparate or grafted limbs of their family tree. Those biracial children who suffer from depression or mental illness may suffer because this is an existentially ancestry.com-esque task they are not able to do. (Any discussion that it is not fair to ask children to do such is meaningless in my way of reckoning, given that, strictly speaking, it is not fair to bring children into the world and to ask children to suffer anything, which is the inevitable result of living, regardless of who one is racially.) Returning to RM, while I agree that biracial children should not project themselves as victims, RM’s denying that there may be profoundly powerful and common struggles for biracial children strikes me as naive.

Recently, I publicly defended an obviously troubled young biracial man (black/white mix) who was found guilty of spray painting, of all things, anti-black graffiti (along with swastikas) at a predominantly black school. Given that he is a legal adult, he was looking at possible hate crime charges. I must admit that I did play the identity-confusion card in order to make my case that he should not be charged with hate crimes but rather should be treated as one in need of therapy. As far as I know, no hate crime charges were filed, but I do not know if my public defense played any role in the matter. While this young man may be juggling any number of issues, I cannot help but believe that his biracial identity played the determining factor in his choice of vandalism literature and its location.

While I do believe that biracial and mixed-race children face unique identity-formation struggles, I agree with RM that regardless of one’s identity, other children (and childish posters online) are going to find whatever they can to exclude one from the tribe and make one feel inherently inferior. I gleefully imagine the Caucasoid conniption fits that she must have given any ideologically-driven viewers when she stated that she hopes to have a big brood of mixed babies. (However, I greatly doubt that such viewers would turn down a wild night in Shanghai with her, though only for non-procreative purposes we are assured.)

All this to say: RM, if you ever come across my ‘umble blog, let us start making babies.