Mixed-ish before Mixed-ish

So, there is a new show coming on television this fall called Mixed-ish. The main subject-matter of the show is dealing with the issues of being born of parents of different ethnic backgrounds. In this case black and white.

This may be new to some, but it has been something that all sides of my family have lived with for many years. Here is one article from the Oskaloosa, Kansas, Oskaloosa Times dated 01 February 1890.

I remember an occasion while living in San Antonio and riding the school bus to high school when one gentleman decided to standup and count the number of blacks on the bus. When he got to me, I only counted as half. At the time it didn’t bother me, but it must have had some deep impact since I remember it vividly to this day.

Being an Army brat, we moved a lot. When we moved to Frankfurt, Germany it was not uncommon to see kids in school whose parents were of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, Black, white, Japanese, Filipino and others I don’t know. We all got along so well it was crazy.

Now it seems to be a thing. When I fill out job applications, I see all kinds of boxes you can “X” out. Black (but not Latino or Hispanic), White (but not Latino or Hispanic), Latino or Hispanic, Native American, and two or more races. This is a way for companies to help track the ethic diversity that applies to their positions and they interview and hire.

I have always known that I come from a mixed family background and have not really given it much thought over the years. Recently I did the DNA test with Ancestry.com and 23andme. Both showing close to the same results. My next blog will talk about these results.

Mixed-ish is not a new thing. It has been around a long time. The good thing is that it is being talked about since the mixed-ish population is growing rapidly.