Privilege and Power: The role of mixed-raced people in the anti-racism movement

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece but please do call me out on any way I’ve messed up here.

During this article, I am using mixed to describe anyone of mixed raced heritage but mainly those of us who are Black/white mixed. I will be using the term Black to describe people whose heritage is not mixed with a white ethnicity. I don’t mean this to say that mixed people cannot identify as Black but to distinguish. I love my blackness and this is a nuanced conversation.

Some background for those of you who don’t know me. I was born and raised in London. I have a white British mum. My dad is a second generation immigrant from London, whose heritage is Guyanese (the heritage of this country is incredibly interesting so please have a google if that interests you). I’m the mixed white/Black Caribbean on the diversity forms. I have 3a hair and am very much brown in terms of skin colour. I am aware that mixed folk around the world identify very differently to mixed Brits (and particularly Londoners) so please allow me to sit in my context.

I used to feel a bit lost in times like this but I’ve read and listened a lot and feel like I know where I can stand here.

The understanding of our own privilege

A definition of colourism, for those of us who are unfamiliar: Colourism is prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group.

The most important thing that I think we can do is acknowledge our own privilege and do so openly and generously. I say the following assuming that you understand that we suffer at the hands of racism.

Firstly I think it is important to acknowledge privilege do because we are privileged and we can’t exactly claim to be anti-racist if we don’t openly understand the ways that we benefit from white supremacy. Mixed people exist on a spectrum, so this will vary hugely between people but we are all better off than our Black counterparts, whether that be through colourism, economically (one white parent isn’t exactly hurting us) or culturally. By culturally, I mean that we are often second or third generation plus immigrants and are therefore culturally ingrained in white culture (think access to education, use of language in a way that white people approve of, even the food we eat).

I don’t think this needs to come with guilt, I think recognising privilege is incredibly productive, should alleviate guilt and make us productive within a movement. It is powerful for us to openly show that we know we are privileged because it will be seen by white people. Understanding of our own privilege is the first step in combating the problem and we (ideally) need every single white people to do that. They will see us saying that we, people you probably see as Black, benefit from white supremacy too and will not stand for it anymore. That is powerful.

We have to make colourism our problem

Calling out our own privilege is also incredibly important because mixed people perpetuate colourism. It’s something I know I’ve been doing of years without having a clue that I was. When we call for diversity and settle for the light skin offering because we see ourselves in it, we aren't doing well enough. When we accept or congratulate brands because they’ve produced products adapted to light skin blackness, we are not doing well enough. When we do not use Black owned brands because we are served just fine by the white ones, we are not doing well enough. We all do these or similar things and we must be hyper aware of it.

We also suffer from colourism and for me that’s definitely manifested as internalised racism in the past. The fear of tanning, the brightening of photos, the weird acceptance of racist microaggressions by our friends. It’s bad for us, our identity and self-esteem but it’s worse for out Black counterparts because they only ever see the suffering from it. Colourism lives within us and its got to go. We need to mop that nonsense up, do the work, read all the books and fully engage with this movement.

Our existence in Black spaces

How heavily we should be visible in black spaces is a really loaded debate and rightfully so. Exploring it fully is beyond the scope of this and I do not feel well read about to provide any actual answers. What I will say is that the rights of Black folk will never be equal until all of us are represented. Should mixed people take the place of a darker black person? No. Never ever.

Us mixed folk may feel unrepresented in Black spaces but we are overrepresented or misrepresenting Black folk in white spaces. These are separate issues. I think Black visibility in white spaces is what matters to push this progress right now. We have to be aware of this and why we are being asked into a space. We cannot take a spot away from a Black person (by all means suggest that you’d love to be there to provide a mixed perspective because that conversation needs to happen and one person cannot speak for a diverse group).

This is an incredibly nuanced conversation that I really want Black folk to engage with us in. I’ve talked about this here. I think we need to be aware that mixed inclusion in black spaces is a different issue to racism. In-fighting about it needs to happen compassionately and not in front of white folk because we’re on the same side.

The use of our privilege

Once we’ve done the work to check our own privilege, we should be excited because we have an amazing opportunity. Those ways that we benefit from white supremacy and colourism must be harnessed. We need to be using our privilege to open up conversations in spaces that Black folk may never be invited into.

We are related to people who uphold white supremacy. For some people, your blood relation will not be enough to listen to you but for many it will be. I’m sure we’ve all experienced white silence and ostracising for calling out racism within the white side of our families (this is racism btw, tell them this constantly, they’ll either start to learn or at least you’ll ruin their day). It isn’t fun for us but we do find ourselves in those spaces with very little effort. Let's use those spaces until we’re sure that every person is anti-racist. Call out microaggressions, ruin Christmas dinner.

I also think we need to make sure we equip our white relatives who are allies with resources, an understanding of their importance and a constant push to be the voice for us when the racist relatives do not think we are listening. They are also doing important work and although it isn’t our responsibility to be thankful for it, letting someone you love know that you see them is energising for both of you.

Whichever parent of yours is white must be as divisive as you when you’re not there and if they’re not already doing that, explain why they must be. Remind them that silence is violence. Decent parents aren’t going to want to do that to their kids. Make your cousin's into anti-racist spies and have them call out nonsense when your racist aunts and uncles are most relaxed in their white bubble. This is how we can mobilise into their spaces and this is a unique position.

Another thing that I think we should appreciate about ourselves is that we are able to hold conversations with just enough white-washing that people who would not usually do so, are willing to engage. We also do this with very little effort due to our cultural privilege. Look after yourselves as we will be emotionally affected by having to do this (anger, frustration, hopelessness) but we do know how to do this. Believe me, I am terrible at not getting angry and just being frank but I also know that it isn’t helpful when they’ve not even acknowledged that they have white privilege. We’ve grown up around these people before we realised that they were actually racists so we know how they speak and what they like to hear.

I think the most important thing to say is to keep the momentum going. Be relentless. Let’s make it impossible for our white family to not see our blackness but harness the white privilege we benefit from to create real progress. We all have a place in this movement and we can harness magic.