Passing: A Continuing Reality
In 2015, racial passing still goes on in this day and age. A woman’s 62 year-old brother’s adult child is “passing.” Racial passing occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of another racial group. Generally, “passing” is done to make a person’s life easier. However, the sense of loss may not be understood. Her nephew is of mixed racial ancestry, African-American and Caucasian. His parents were still in high school when he was born. The young couple wanted to get married, but her father forbid such an interracial union during the late 1960’s. To this day, the adult child has not met his father or the black side of his family. “Passing” may not have been the …show more content…
In 2007, she wrote a memoir about her father’s life and family mysteries titled One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life-A Story of Race and Family
Secrets. While her father denied her knowledge of their black heritage as a way to protect her from racism and discrimination, he also denied her of her birthright. He did not understand its importance to her true identity. Finally knowing her black ancestry likely affected how she lived her life afterwards. As he faced life choices, he struggled with issues of race. The secret that Broyard kept from his daughter and society was not uncommon for that time. Herriman and Broyard were in a chosen exile driven from their black heritage when they “passed.” “Passing” was also common for everyday people. When a black woman was hospitalized, a fair skinned nurse approached her. The nurse identified herself as her cousin and told the ill woman that she was passing as white. She asked the patient not to divulge her black race. The nurse’s life with her white physician husband and their two children was ideal. Hiding her racial identity was a way of …show more content…
At a young age, she was orphaned and she believed she was the last of her people to live on the New Westminster Reserve. When she went to the Kamloops Indian Residential School, she was overworked and punished for speaking her native language. The school tried to mainstream her to fit into that society. As an adult, Lee Bandura moved to Vancouver’s Chinatown and married a Chinese man. She had features similar to those of the Chinese. They raised their four children as Chinese because Marie was ashamed of her Native American heritage. In response to her daughter Rhonda’s repeated questions about her mother’s background, Marie told her about her heritage, “I will tell you once, but you must never ask me again.” Marie said that because she felt it was so painful to talk about her past. After Marie’s death in 1985, Rhonda’s father figure encouraged her to delve into her maternal background. He also told her, “It’s time somebody made her proud…so go ahead and do it.” Rhonda and her family have registered as Indians of the New Westminister Indian Band of British Columbia. They have established a land base for the New Westminister Indians, which brings pride to their
In 2015, racial passing still goes on in this day and age. A woman’s 62 year-old brother’s adult child is “passing.” Racial passing occurs when a person classified as a member of one racial group is also accepted as a member of another racial group. Generally, “passing” is done to make a person’s life easier. However, the sense of loss may not be understood. Her nephew is of mixed racial ancestry, African-American and Caucasian. His parents were still in high school when he was born. The young couple wanted to get married, but her father forbid such an interracial union during the late 1960’s. To this day, the adult child has not met his father or the black side of his family. “Passing” may not have been the …show more content…
In 2007, she wrote a memoir about her father’s life and family mysteries titled One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life-A Story of Race and Family
Secrets. While her father denied her knowledge of their black heritage as a way to protect her from racism and discrimination, he also denied her of her birthright. He did not understand its importance to her true identity. Finally knowing her black ancestry likely affected how she lived her life afterwards. As he faced life choices, he struggled with issues of race. The secret that Broyard kept from his daughter and society was not uncommon for that time. Herriman and Broyard were in a chosen exile driven from their black heritage when they “passed.” “Passing” was also common for everyday people. When a black woman was hospitalized, a fair skinned nurse approached her. The nurse identified herself as her cousin and told the ill woman that she was passing as white. She asked the patient not to divulge her black race. The nurse’s life with her white physician husband and their two children was ideal. Hiding her racial identity was a way of …show more content…
At a young age, she was orphaned and she believed she was the last of her people to live on the New Westminster Reserve. When she went to the Kamloops Indian Residential School, she was overworked and punished for speaking her native language. The school tried to mainstream her to fit into that society. As an adult, Lee Bandura moved to Vancouver’s Chinatown and married a Chinese man. She had features similar to those of the Chinese. They raised their four children as Chinese because Marie was ashamed of her Native American heritage. In response to her daughter Rhonda’s repeated questions about her mother’s background, Marie told her about her heritage, “I will tell you once, but you must never ask me again.” Marie said that because she felt it was so painful to talk about her past. After Marie’s death in 1985, Rhonda’s father figure encouraged her to delve into her maternal background. He also told her, “It’s time somebody made her proud…so go ahead and do it.” Rhonda and her family have registered as Indians of the New Westminister Indian Band of British Columbia. They have established a land base for the New Westminister Indians, which brings pride to their