Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage
© Maria P. P. Root, PhD, 1993, 1994
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
- Not to justify my existence in this world.
- Not to keep the races separate within me.
- Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
- Not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical or ethnic ambiguity.
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 my brothers and sisters.
- To identify myself differently in different situations.
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
- To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial or multiethnic.
- To change my identity over my lifetime--and more than once.
- To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.
- To freely choose whom I befriend and love.