Friday • October 10, 1997
L The Battalion
IFESTYLES
iday •
RONY ANGKRIWAN^i|9L nne g
Ethnically diverse heritages give Texas A&M students unique
perspective on trying to fit into a black and white society
By Stephen Wells
Staff writer
B lack, White, Red, Yellow, Brown, Other: For most
people, the choice of which box to place a check
mark in is reflexive. The world fits into a nice
scheme of black and white, night and day, yin and yang.
Some people fit comfortably in a pre-technicolor
square hole for which they are the square peg.
However, as racial barriers slowly degrade and inter
racial relationships become more common, a new gen
eration of multiracial children emerges and becomes siz
able enough to defy the classification of “Other.”
The number of interracial marriages and births of
multiracial children increases every year. The magazine
Interrace posted the following figures: From 1976 to
1996, the number of interracial marriages quadrupled.
According to the United States Census Bureau, there
were 1.2 million interracial marriages in 1992, ac
counting for 2.2 percent of the total marriages for that
year. The number of interracial births reflects these sta
tistics. Interracial births are currently increasing 26
times faster than single ethnicity births.
Nadim Nabi, a Jordanian Mexican-American and a
sophomore business administration major, said he
only thinks about his racial identity if he is asked blunt
ly about it.
“I don’t feel my color unless somebody points it out,”
Nabi said.
Being raised in a multicultural environment can also
be beneficial, he said.
“I love having the different cultural backgrounds,”
Nabi said. “I get a lot out of it. I’m more informed about
the world.”
Just as in other families, the children of interracial
relationships pick up different traits from their parents.
Paul Klein, a Filipino Caucasian-American and a
freshman chemical engineering major, said his family
life is probably similar to most students.
“I think it’s an even mix |of personality] as far as the
family goes,” Klein said. “I got a lot of my mother’s traits
and I got a lot of my dad’s traits, too. A lot of my friends
were from single ethnicity families. They had the same
upbringing as me.”
Klein said his parents have always stressed his suc
cess in school.
“My mom’s side of the family all went to college and
became successful and my dad is the only one from his
family that graduated college,” Klein said. “If I don’t
graduate from college, I think both of my parents might
look down on me.”
Sheri Schmidt, Coordinator of Diversity Education,
said growing up in a multicultural environment can be
beneficial to a child.
“There are a lot of benefits to being involved with
people different from yourself,” Schmidt said. “When
you get the chance to be around a variety of people with
different ways of thinking about things and doing
things, it helps you to see the world more clearly.”
Schmidt adds that being raised in a multi-ethnic en
vironment can help eliminate stereotypes later in life.
“Stereotypes held about other groups do influence
us, and that’s probably one of the hardest things to do
in our culture — to not believe stereotypes and not in
ternalize them,” Schmidt said. “Overall, it (being
around other cultures] can be a very positive experi
ence for that person. For a person whose parents are
from different racial groups, it is a good thing because
they can see firsthand through those differences and
not base their thoughts on stereotypes.”
Texas A&M has diversity programs in placelli
er universities lack. Retreats like the University
ness for Cultural Togetherness (U-ACT) j
where students gather to freely discuss theird®™
cc
lot
I love having different
cultural backgrounds. I get a
out of it. I'm more informed
about the world."
Nadim Nabi
Jordanian-Mexican American
Sophomore business administration major
and MOSAIC, which teaches people to create a: )m e have
sive environment in the workplace, are tvvocho; bailed de
dents have to learn about each other. ip u t he 5
“We at Texas A&M have opportunities avail ibie, is sh
cultures to thrive,” Schmidt said. “ We’ve takenaBre Bil
creating this office (Diversity Education) and tel
grams, but there’s still more we can do. However ||
ally glad the administration supports ourdepdjT
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Ree
Bes
Attending Texas A&M may pose problems for mul
ticultural students. As difficult as the transition is for all
new students, multiracial students said they notice one
additional detail.
“You go to U.T. and you see all kinds of races,” Nabi
said. “Here it’s all the ‘white male’ type. I’m not dissing
A&M, it’s just that there’s less diversity here than on
some other campuses.”
and these programs.”
As homogeneous as Texas A&M can seem, lev E
dents encounter racism than suspected.
“I’ve never faced racism,” Nabi said. “I neve; p
deal with racism because I grew up in aninit;|
school. As far as racism here at A&M, I’ve neverti
directed at me.”
Klein said racism is expressed toward son •
combinations more than others. t B
“It depends on what the ethnicity is,” Klein St®
sad as it seems, some people don’t think bl: $ 764.9l
white people should mix, but people like my: f
are okay. Some people just think that some mi l; 3601
socially taboo.”
All of a sudden, checking in a box to describe.j
dividual’s past becomes something ofamooi:|
There are enough “others” to justify castingoffth
ticular box to a bureaucratic afterlife and acceptir
round pegs can fit in square holes.
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