If you look at the history of people in the Americas, there already HAS been a large amount of admixture, so I have no clue why mixed people are today seen as some kind of new phenomenon. Nobody has mentioned, for example, all of the children born to white men and black women over the centuries in the US, when were they ever a uniting force between the races of their two parents? Their white ancestry was instead, dismissed and denied by white people, so obsessed with their notion of “racial purity”. Any “bridges” will start to be built when people start seeing each other as equals instead of distant caricatures. This starts with friendships and frank discussions, not babymaking.

I just get frustrated with the critique of parent’s hoping their children will be some sort of catalyst for change. I think secretly we all would like to believe that it could be true. But Merq’s response under the Hines Ward article about the cop out theory helped shine some light on how/why this could be detrimental. Thanks for that.

Oh, and about that bridge. I’m mixed…I already have one:)

I hear what you’re saying, but my comment was mostly geared at jb’s wide-eyed, optimistic “What he has done by just living his life and doing what it is he does, HAS changed beliefs and ideas about race.”

A “half-black” person excelling at sports. Wow… way to change people’s stereotypical beliefs!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what he’s done, and impressed with the steps being taken in Korea, but I refuse to accept the notion that his MVP title has “changed beliefs and ideas about race.”

Noone is saying that things will change overnight, noone is saying that it is ALL 100% genuine, and noone is saying that he can do it alone.

We are not disagreeing here. But there is no doubt Hines Ward has brought attention to a problem with his combination of star power and being from bi-racial background where common people (even those of mixed ancestry) would not be able to and where a person not of Korean descent would not be able.

Sure, there may be a percentage truly moved by his accomplishment (and chances are, that percentage was already somewhat uncomfortable with systematic racism in Korea), but do you really believe the sporting accomplishments of one half-Korean individual can, presto change-O, change the long-held prejudices of staunch Korean nationalists?

It’s about success, and being linked to success. Definitely, the hope is that a great deal of change for the better will come of all this, but let’s not be naive.

Whether you want to admit it or not, bi-racial individuals ARE bridges between races. Good or bad, it is necessary to bridge those worlds internally in order to function. That internal work has nowhere else to go except out. If you are comfortable with who you are, others will see it and act accordingly.

Besides, aren’t we the mixed people they are talking about? We are the future right now. The babies coming after us will be better off because of the work we are doing right now.