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We, the People…

Spanish Translation

By Ritu Upadhyay

"My name is Sophia Wang. I am 10 years old, and I live in Brooklyn, New York. My mom is black, Korean and Native American. My dad is white and Jewish. When people ask me what race I am, I think to myself, 'Why does that matter?' I haven't had any bad experiences being a mixed-race person, maybe because I live in New York, where there are many kinds of people. When I go to Hebrew school, I rarely see anyone who looks like me, but that doesn't bother me. Everywhere I go, I feel comfortable. Maybe that's because I'm a little bit of everything."

Sophia is part of a fast-growing group of Americans who cannot label themselves as belonging to just one race. Last week the government released new statistics from the 2000 Census. They show the biggest racial, cultural and ethnic shift in U.S. history. "It is the clearest impression of America that we've ever had," said John Long of the Census Bureau.

The latest numbers reflect a country growing in diversity. Nearly 7 million people identified themselves as multiracial. Officials say one reason is that the number of interracial couples in America has more than quadrupled. Also, for the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau allowed families like Sophia's to choose more than one racial group on the Census form. The result is the most complex picture ever of the nation's racial and ethnic makeup. This raises new questions about how we Americans define ourselves.

Hannah Motley, 14, who is Irish and African American, has heard such questions over and over. "White people tend to see me as black, and black people tend to see me as white. I don't identify with either one more than the other," says the New York City teen. "When people ask me what I am, I say, 'I'm human, just like you.'"

The Census figures show that the number of Hispanics has risen 58% in the past 10 years, to a total of 35 million. They are the fastest-growing ethnic group. People from many races consider themselves Hispanic. The number of Asians has risen 48%, to 12 million.

One reason for these increases is the flow of immigrants to the U.S. Now 28.4 million people born outside the U.S. live here. That is the largest number ever recorded in the nation's history. One in every 10 residents in America is an immigrant.

Rolling With The Changes
Many communities must adapt to a degree of diversity they never expected. In Collinsville, Alabama, a small town with a population of just 1,500, Hispanics now make up more than 30% of the population. Donny Jones has been the assistant principal of Collinsville High School for more than 10 years. "When I first came here," he says, "there were just a few Hispanics." Today there are 214 Hispanics out of a total of 598 students. The school has hired several Spanish-speaking teachers to work with kids who have yet to master English.

In Dearborn, Michigan, where there has been a gigantic increase in the Arab population, 54% of the students in the school district are Muslim. One high school is adapting its cafeteria menu for the changing student body. All the lunches will be prepared according to the rules of the Muslim religion-meat prepared according to religious rituals, and no pork. "The district has tried to accommodate the needs of these foreign-born students," says Wageh Saad, director of student services for Dearborn public schools.

Many multiracial kids glide easily between their mixed cultures. Kelly Dubé, 12, of Los Angeles is half Korean and half French Canadian. His mother takes him to a Buddhist temple, where he has learned how to meditate. He can understand and speak some Korean and knows a little French. Most of the time, though, he doesn't think about his bi-racial status: "If anything, I think I'm more American."

The America today's young people live in is one that their parents could never have imagined. It is one that allows them to create a new definition of what it means to be American. "You meet people from all different backgrounds. That's why growing up in America is so special," says Margaret Greenberg, 11, who is half Asian. "It really opens your eyes."

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"The best part about being biracial is that you get to look into two different worlds and also have a whole new one of your own."
-Margaret Greenberg, 11, of Houston, Texas

"People who don't know me that well have seen my mom pick me up from school and ask if she's my baby-sitter. When I explain it to them, sometimes they feel embarrassed."
-Hannah Motley, 14, with her younger brother Ian

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