Susan Graham

It’s 2011 and the 20th Anniversary of the founding of Project RACE. Thank you to all the advocates, the Project RACE, and Teen Project RACE members, donors, volunteers, and staff for all you have done throughout these 20 years. We have not only survived, we continue to be the only true advocates for the multiracial population. As we move forward, we have a new, updated look as well.

When we officially became a nonprofit corporation in 1991, multiracial people could only check one race on government, census, school, business, and many, many more forms in the United States. Because of the hard work of many dedicated people, Project RACE changed that. Why? Because first and foremost we are advocates for multiracial children, teens, adults, and our families, because we get it; not everyone fits into one neat little box.

We understand, of course, that it is important for multiracial people and interracial families to have conferences, parties, talk shows, and picnics between themselves. We attend them, too! Multiracial celebrities are important role models for our youth, although change won’t happen just because they are stars. But without policy changes, without changes to regular forms that everyday people fill out all the time, without our voices in school board meetings, at state capitol hearings, and in Washington, in hospitals and on medical forms, we cannot have change. Consider the following:

Did the election of a multiracial President stop the one-drop rule? NO.
Did the US Department of Education take the request of our community to incorporate the term “multiracial” into school enrollment forms? NO.
Did the US Bureau of the Census stop calling us “people who check more than one race”? NO.
Are hospitals required to ask you what your race is for important medical data? NO.
Most admissions department personnel in hospitals do gather racial data, but do they tell you that they have chosen for you? NO.
Did the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have honesty in mind when they designed their forms? NO.
Do employers tell employees that they will “offer” self-identification, but if they don’t fill in the form someone at the company will pick their ethnicity and race based on “how you look” or their surname? NO.

Make a promise to yourself, your kids, your grandchildren, or your family today to make a positive change, be proactive, and be an advocate for multiracial generations to come.

Susan