“OH, so you’re a ‘windian’!” A new friend recently told me. “A what?” I sputtered. “A ‘windian’! Like a white Indian!” she explained.
Wow. I could think of a million things that I identify as — a hardworking student, a sushi-lover, a curious traveler, an artist, a writer, a cat-lady and, yes, ethnically half-French and half-Indian — but at no point in my life had I resigned myself to the single story of a “white Indian.” Both words apply differently to parts of my multicultural heritage, but none of them capture my experiences, or how I appear to others.
Such is the confusion that many mixed-race or mixed-ethnic individuals feel in attempting to develop their identities, especially throughout their childhood and adolescence. It’s one of the reasons that it is so important for us to be able to see other mixed-race and mixed-ethnic people in positions of positive authority or influence. We are thus given role models whom we can admire, as well as inspiration to create or follow paths like theirs.
It’s another reason that I find the implications of Meghan Markle’s recently-announced pregnancy important. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not obsessed with the royals’ celebrity status or paparazzi-stalked life. I’m not attempting to create salacious predictions surrounding the future royal baby’s gender, race or publicized role in representing the United Kingdom. To be honest, I didn’t even watch Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry’s globally-broadcasted wedding this past May.
I do think, however, that their expected child, its mother being, as she defines herself, “half-black and half-white," and its father Caucasian, has the potential to expand society’s perspective of those entitled to royal status and other leadership roles.
Other mixed-race and mixed-ethnic children can positively benefit from seeing that it is, in fact, possible for history to contain multiple races and ethnicities within the same royal lines or, more generally, within other representations of power, tradition, authority and national identity.
Multiracial children and adolescents are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States, increasing by 32 percent between the 2000 and 2010 census. According to research by Marc Johnston and Kevin Nadal, multiracial youth and mixed families often experience different types of discriminations and microaggressions; as a result of the lack of media representation, individuals who identify as multi-racial and/or multiethnic may feel that they lack a community and necessary role models to help them better perceive their mixed identities. Thus, multiracial role models are shown to have a psychologically beneficial impact for mixed children and teens.
It’s confusing as a child to decide what race to put down on census-type documents—and later, to understand what it means to check the box for “Other." The royals’ first child and its multiracial heritage could significantly help young people who identify as either multiracial and/or multiethnic avoid the negative self-esteem and self-awareness that accompanies the ambiguous, isolating label of “Other."
Of course, the child should not be forced to craft its image as a “role model” in terms of its morals or values. There’s no telling how this royal child will be raised or what it will choose to do with its life in the future. Yet, it is important to acknowledge the role—however unconsciously it is understood by society—that this individual will retain in expanding horizons for mixed-race and mixed-ethnic youth.
