What's good for the biracial goose may not be good for the black gander

I've wanted to write a little something about mixed race identity in America for a while. No, no I'm not tragic, or confused, and contrary to Peace Justice Bardwell's unselfish concern for others I think I ended up pretty ok. There seems to be a growing mixed raced identified movement taking place in America. I remember speaking about Obama being the first black president, and suddenly being chided by a mixed race women, protesting that he was in fact biracial. I guess growing up where I did and having always been the only brown boy, being able to identify as biracial or mixed race was always a decision made by others. I'm not complaining about that option being taken away from me, I in fact think it helped me circumvent some of the identity perils that mixed race folks go through growing up in such a racially polarized society, but I have to admit I do find this increasingly popular way of self identifying a bit jarring. It still feels a bit foreign to me. I cautiously support people identifying anyway they see fit, but I stress CAUTION. Let me explain. Government monies are allocated to different communities based on population. In this context race is largely political. So it seems counterproductive to have 25% of African Americans claiming mixed ancestry because Grandma says there’s some Cherokee somewhere in the family. Not to mention that there is now a push to have Latinos identify themselves along racial lines and not ethnic ones. So what does this mean? Simply put it means less monies going into communities of color where it’s needed most. I also wonder what role culture plays in this. So I've heard that I have a little Seminole Indian in me (no really I do, seriously), but never having grown up with that culture is it fair for me to claim it as my own? I've probably been impacted more by Puerto Rican culture than my own 1/32nd Seminole Native American culture. It seems only fair that one must live the culture first hand, before you can claim it. Please rest assured people, I’m not advocating the rule of hypo descent, I don’t think having dual identities are mutually exclusive. You can be both black and biracial, or hapa, and Asian all at the same time. I guess the point of this entry is to frame the mixed race movement in a macro context; what’s good for the individual may not be best for the community. If you're interested in mixed race identity check out this video, starring a friend of mine. (Props to Charles!)