JC
Juan Esparza of the Fresno Bee talks with a couple of Californians about the growth of the multiethnic population there.

When Fresno school board candidate Valerie Davis fielded a question about cultural diversity at a forum last October, she talked about her own identity. “You’re looking at a culturally diverse rich woman,” said Davis, who went on to win the District 3 race. “My father is Hawaiian and Filipino, and my mother is Mexican-American and African-American, and I’m married to a garden-variety white guy. So I tell my children that they’ve been blessed and cursed.”

Davis, a longtime educator who left her teaching post when she campaigned for the school board, has belonged to Latino, black and Asian organizations. Her mixed ethnic background has been a big help for her in teaching “because it throws the kids off….I am really able to interact with all groups,” says Davis. “I was embraced by all ethnic groups.”

That multiracial label is rapidly becoming the new face of California. In the San Joaquín Valley, about 5% of respondents in the 2000 census marked down that they were of two races or more. The national average is 2.4%.

In California, multiracial babies make up 14% of all births. Almost three of every 10 marriages involving a Latino or an Asian is interracial.