| | |  From the Greatest American Hero to Steve Urkel, during my childhood I watched more than my fair share of television. My family, however, was quite different than anything I saw on the tube; it was made up of a black father, a white mother and two biracial children, Between the countless commercials for the FlowBee and the ChiaPet, the only people on TV that resembled the person I saw when I looked in the mirror were Denise and Sondra on the Cosby show. And the only families that even slightly resembled mine were on Webster and Different Strokes— two comedies about African American children who were adopted into the white upper class. I looked for light brown skin and big brown curly locks of hair, but I rarely found them. I had no representation on TV.
Over the past few years, though, I've noticed a dramatic change. Every time I flick through the channels or page through a magazine I see more mixed raced couples and more people of a multi-racial or multi-ethnic background. So why does it appear that film and media industries have finally embraced interracial groups and people with open arms? Do we really have that large of an effect on the marketplace? How reflective is this of the acceptance level in the United States toward interracial families?
Let's consider some facts: |  |
| • | The 2000 US Census shows that there are approximately 6.8 million people who consider themselves more than one race. This constitutes around 2.4 percent of the total population making it the fourth largest racial group in the country. |
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| • | The average age of this group falls right around 27 years old, making them a prime target for the marketing of new products. |
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| • | 43 percent of mixed-race individuals are under the age of 18, a sign that the above numbers will see an increase as this group grows and begins to have children. |
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| • | Interracial marriage seems to be becoming more and more common. According to the 1998 Census 2.4 percent of all married couples are also of mixed race, an increase of more than three hundred percent since 1970. |
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| These are all some of the tasty reasons why this group might appeal to the appetite of the consumer dollar; but there are other, more subtle bottom-line reasons. Marilyn Halter of Boston University points out that by utilizing people with a more racially ambiguous look, you can sell to a "mosaic" marketplace. In this way one person can be used to broadcast a product more effectively for a company by representing a broader spectrum of race without having to devote individual ad campaigns to each separate racial grouping; an all-in-one diversity tour de force.
So, does the increase of interracial people in the media reflect, not only a corporate awareness of changing demographics, but, more importantly an increase in tolerance in America towards mixed-race individuals in general? I believe it has. The days where the only biracial characters in film were "Tragic Mulattoes," portrayed as people whose struggle with their identity crisis ultimately led them to the life of a seductress or a hoodlum, are in the past. There has been a tremendous deal of progress over the past thirty years and we're beginning to accept that our future will be made up of more and more mixed ethnicities.
However, one frontier for this new acceptance is the issue of interracial coupling. One of the most recent public examples happened during an advertisement during a cross promotion for the show "Desperate Housewives" during "Monday Night Football". The spot featured Nicollette Sheridan (a white actress on Desperate Housewives) flirting with black NFL receiver Terrell Owens. At the end of the spot Sheridan dropped the towel she was wearing and jumped into the wide-receiver's arms. Immediately after it aired, ABC was flooded with complaints about the inappropriateness of the segment and in fact soon issued an apology for the piece. Many critiques have suggested that this backlash stemmed from disapproval over their cross-racial "coupling" more than the mildly steamy nature of the commercial.
Despite the staying power of fear against miscegenation, I think the prevalence of ads combining people of all races and the increased popularity of multiracial stars such as Halle Berry, Terrance Howard, Jessica Alba, and Tiger Woods, are a sign of progress. We are moving towards a world where, as the multiracial Bob Marley would say, "the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes." I'm proud to know that one day if I have children they will be able to turn on the television or go to the movies and find themselves represented. My belief is that the real world will welcome them with arms that are just a little softer and warmer than the arms that embraced me. Of course, I also hope they don't watch as much television… |
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