Dr Maria Root is a scholar and clinical psychologist who has extensively studied multiracial experiences for more than 20 years. She is also a trainer, educator and public speaker on multiracial families and identities.
The academic has even created the following bill of rights for multiracial people:
“I have the right
to identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify
to identify myself differently than how my parents identify me
to identify myself differently than how my brothers and sisters identify
to identify myself differently in different situationsI have the right
to create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial
to change my identity over my life time—and more than once
to have loyalties and identify with more than one group of people
to freely choose whom I befriend and loveI have the right
not to justify my existence in this world
not to keep the races separate within me
not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical ambiguity
not to justify my ethnic legitimacy”
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