Read an article about mixed race children in our paper yeaterday. Since we have discussed mixed race marriages in here already I thought I would share the link.

The title of the article is, "A New Generation Is Leading The Way", by, Donna Jackson Nakazawa.

The writer is Caucasian and married a Japanese-American man. They are raising a multi-racial family.

Due to the questions, comments, and stares her family got, she chose to do a little research by asking children what it is like for them to be be raised in America as a multiracial youth.

She states that there are 4.5 million children under 18 who are multiracial.

To read the article and hear what the kids are saying check out, www.parade.com. If you check this week, 7/7/03, you will see the link on the opening page at the site.

It is likely that my granchildren will fall into this category so I read with interest. The sad part is the middle school years where they feel they don't belong to either racial group. That time in life can be tough without any added issues.

What I found most encouraging was the gal who stated: "Being multiracial has allowed me to see things from both sides of the color line," she says, "It opens my mind to differences of all types, so that I don't prejudge anything or anyone." Now that is something to strive for no matter what race we are!

She also said she thinks we would be surprised at how many more genuine friends we would have if we met in the dark!

I read the article and really felt encouraged by what so many young people said about being multi-racial. It definitely made me feel like that within one or two more generations, multi-racial and minority children will be viewed as nothing more than children.

What was interesting was the next day I read an opinion piece in "Education Week" about what the authors call the "racial generation gap." What the authors discussed was that while boomers (who are predominately white) are getting older, the multi-racial and minority poluation is growing, but in the younger generation. They said this gap could prove very divisive as each group pulls for their policies of interest to them. While the authors went off on how this could be potentially bad for education policy since most younger, multiracial people don't vote and the deecisions made about their future would be made by older white people who may not understand their problems, I sort of see this division like a pendulum. A good example of this would be Southern California. In the 1990s we would hear on the news about race riots and such. The pendulum certainly swung toward devision, with the final push over being the propositions that kept illegal immigrants from using public services and abolished affirmitive action programs in California public institutions.

Since the late 1990s, politics have shifted in California, and many minorities have taken keep political positions throughout the state.

So while I do believe this "racial generational gap" does exists, I think it will settle somewhere in the middle, rather than create an us vs. them mentality. Especially if more young people become involved in the policies that affect them.