A Beautiful Blend, Mixed Race in America, DVD is a documentary that explores multiracial people in America. The DVD also includes the program, Hapa, One Step at a Time. Buy the DVD for $19.95
Visit: http://www.kviestore.org/dvbeblmirain.html

 

Multi-ethnic personalities are everywhere: on magazine covers, in movies, and on television. There are a number of celebrities, such as actress Halle Barry and golfer Tiger Woods who don’t quite fit the familiar racial categories. They are part of a growing number of people—famous and not so famous, who have inherited a beautiful genetic blend from parents of diverse origin. Many share the experience of being approached by total strangers who want to know what they are, not who they are. But mixed race people want to celebrate all oftheir ethnicities. They want to be part of mainstream society, not treated as a curiosity.

KVIE public television will explore this issue with the debut of its newest production, A Beautiful Blend: Mixed Race in America. (check your local listings)

In 1948 California became the first state to end laws that made interracial marriage illegal. In 1967 the Supreme Court followed. The highest percentage of multiracial people live in the western United States, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, where one in six babies born is more than one race. As the level of immigration increases, it is expected that the number of multiracial couples will continue to rise.

Dorothy and Jerry Enomoto didn’t know many interracial couples when they married in 1982. Dorothy is African American and Jerry is Japanese. The Enomotos know the importance of breaking down barriers, each having lived through the horror of racism. Dorothy, the granddaughter of a former slave, witnessed a lynching when she was six years old. Husband, Jerry, was one of 120,000 Japanese Americans banished to internment camps during World War II. The experience didn’t cripple him. Jerry retired as a U.S. Marshall after becoming California’s first Asian American director of the State Department of Corrections. That’s where he met Dorothy, who rose to become the first African American woman to serve as deputy director.

The Enomotos have made it their life’s work to build bridges. Dorothy is a longtime community activist, voted one of the 10 most influential women in Sacramento. A childhood friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King, inspired her to join forces with her husband to create Sacramento’s annual King tribute. This impressive pair has traveled quite a road together and no doubt there are more trails to blaze for those that come behind them, like Eric and Lorene Matsumoto.

Eric Matsumoto, associate professor in the department of engineering at California State University, Sacramento, is Japanese and American. His wife Lorene, a high school teacher, came to this country from Taiwan when she was a teenager. At first her parents were less than thrilled when she married Eric. “Our concept is if you marry someone who’s not Chinese the marriage may not last,” said Lorene. But they proved her family wrong, and their 17-year marriage produced four charming children. The Matsumotos are trying to teach their children to appreciate their complete heritage. Teaching children to be proud of their ethnicities is one way to help ensure multiracial children get along better in the world.

Many multiracial youths say they come into their own understanding and acceptance of their mixed heritage when they are in college. Mixed race students on University campuses are increasingly forming their own student groups. Today more than 25, including the University of California, Davis, have multiracial organizations. “I’m proud to be a mix of Filipino, French, and American. I think it makes me an interesting person,” said Sarah Emory, who is portrayed in the documentary.

Today’s multiracial youth reflect the changing faces of America. The numbers continue to bear that out. It’s expected nearly 75 million Americans will identify with more than one race by 2050. It’s a powerful new force that cannot be ignored.

A Beautiful Blend: Mixed Race in America will debut on public television station KVIE (Channel 6) in October 2004. For more information about KVIE programs and events, visit www.kvie.org.