Multiracials and Civil Rights: Mixed-Race Stories of Discrimination

Multiracial people face discrimination due to their non-whiteness, and traditional civil rights laws need to be reformed to account for these cases. Tanya Katerí Hernández's book Multiracials and Civil Rights debunks the idea that racial mixture will destroy racism and shows how multiracials face the same types of discrimination as other racial groups. Hernández's own personal narrative as a mixed-race Afro-Latina enriches the legal and political analysis.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 19 January 2021
Publisher: New York University Press

Mixed-race people in the United States have faced discrimination in court, challenging traditional understandings of civil rights law. While the mixed-race population has grown, public fascination with multiracial identity has led to the belief that racial mixture will destroy racism. However, multiracial people still face discrimination, and legal scholars argue that this is distinct from the discrimination faced by people of other races. Tanya Katerí Hernández's book, Multiracials and Civil Rights, debunks this idea and draws on a plethora of court cases to demonstrate that multiracials face the same types of discrimination as other racial groups. Hernández argues that multiracial people are primarily targeted for discrimination due to their non-whiteness and shows how the cases highlight the need to support the existing legal structures instead of a new understanding of civil rights law. Her legal and political analysis is enriched with her own personal narrative as a mixed-race Afro-Latina, coming at a time when explicit racism is resurfacing. Hernández's look at multiracial discrimination cases is essential for fortifying the focus of civil rights law on racial privilege and the lingering legacy of bias against non-whites, and has much to teach us about how to move towards a more egalitarian society.

Weight: 336g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479806065