Passing or Being Passive?

Racial identity is very much a black and white world. The reality is that society wants to believe that every individual has one identity and only one. People like to think that everyone fits in categories of race. However, it gets more complicated when people from multiracial backgrounds come into play. Looking back in history, multiracial people feel compelled to accept their "tainted" identity. In the video below, Elizabeth Alexander explains the idea of the one drop law in which "one drop of black blood makes a person black." A prime example of this in play is Barack Obama who is from black and white backgrounds but is considered an entirely black individual in society. The action of assuming one racial identity is a very common occurrence in the past and persists today.

This attitude of choosing one side seems outlandish but it has existed for a very long time. In the novel Passing by Nella Larsen, Irene Redfield and Claire Kendry were good friends who are both of mixed white and black backgrounds. Irene identified herself as a black individual but Claire lived her life passing as a white woman. Irene prided herself in her acceptance of her black race but in actuality, she was not entirely faithful to her black backgrounds. When the opportunity called for it, Irene passed herself as a white individual out of fear and anxiety that she would be victimized because of her other race. Larsen writes, “It wasn’t that she was ashamed of being a Negro, or even having declared it. It was the idea of getting ejected from any place” (Larson 19). On many occasions, people assumed that Irene was entirely white and she never bothered to correct them. It is clear that Irene uses her dual background to her advantage by constantly adjusting herself to the environment that she is in. 

On the other hand, Claire Kendry passed herself as a white person because she feels that being subjected to a black racial distinction limited her to a life that she would not be satisfied with. Having married a wealthy white man and given birth to a child with a fair complexion, Claire starts to feel regretful and apprehensive of the decision she had made to pass. It was revealed that Claire was terrified throughout the pregnancy of her child that her baby would appear more black than white. If that were to happen, her secret was out and she would be done for. Having gone through nine months of anxiety, she claims that she does not want any more children. In the end, Claire is torn between the superficial and wealthy life that she has and the life in which she could fully express her identity without the fear of being outed. The psychologist J.D. Teicher once said, "Although the burden of the Negro child is recognized as a heavy one, that of the Negro-white child is seen to be even heavier" (Source).