CVK
Here are several articles I’ve come across recently, all out of California, all on issues related to mixed race identity and interracial relationships:

State may start counting its mixed-race residents
Contra Costa Times
“California is poised to become the first state in the nation to allow people of mixed ethnicity to officially identify with more than one race. A state Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, that would allow people to choose more than one race when filling out official state government forms. It would also require the state to record and report the number of those who identify with multiple ethnic or racial backgrounds…”

The great cultural divide: Multiethnic teens struggle with self-identity, others’ perceptions
Contra Costa Times
“Irau Brooks juggles two cultural backgrounds. “I have dark skin, but long wavy Pacific Islander hair. I have the African-American nose, but I have the slightly slanted Pacific Islander/Asian eyes,” she said. A senior at the Urban School of San Francisco, she says she is perceived differently by those in each culture. “The Pacific Islanders consider me one of their own, while African-Americans recognize that I am of a mixed background by my dress and speech,” she said. Irau is like many teenagers who are struggling to define themselves. Yet, pinpointing one’s identity is often a challenge for those who represent contrasting cultures…”

Young Love, Old Divisions
The Los Angeles Times 
(Thanks to T and Tariq for this one!) “For weeks, Lionel Kelly studied the shy girl sitting a row ahead of him instead of his earth science lessons. As any 14-year-old boy would, he first noticed how cute she was. Her smooth skin, pink as seashells. Black hair dyed the color of applesauce, curls sprayed stiff, twisted into a long ponytail. It did not matter that he was black and she was a Latina, even on this Jefferson High School campus scarred by last year’s violent student clashes that cut through black and brown like barbed wire. It did not matter to him, even as stories of racial brawls leaked out of other schools, jails, and juvenile halls…”