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My channel 4 interview on mixed race identity

September 29, 2011 By MsAfropolitan 12 Comments

My parents

How can someone who claims to be a chosen messenger of god advocate such divisive, confused and love-lacking opinion as Pastor Tapiwa Muzvidziwa?
“God”, he says, disapproves of mixed marriages as these are “wrong” and detrimental to the children born of such relationships. Doesn’t he understand that the whole idea of banning interracial and interfaith relationships is deep rooted in racist doctrine to keep the white race “pure”?

I feature in the same Channel 4 4thought series Should we raise children in mixed marriages? this week. My segment airs on Sunday evening but will also be online for readers based outside of the UK who would like to tune in to the debate.

I’ve written about how I grew up in an interfaith and interracial family before and about issues interracial children might face in the Mixed Race series. So I’m not denying that there are complexities that people like myself must deal with, but the fact is that everyone has to come to grips with who they are, even our dear pastor who as a born again Christian assumedly hasn’t always had all the answers available in this beautiful kaleidoscope of experience that we call life.

BBC 2 is also running a mixed race season starting today. Britain in 2011 has proportionately one of the largest mixed population in the Western world, and the season explores the mixed race experience in Britain – and around the world – from the distant past to the present-day, to analyse the mixed race story.

Here are seven stats from the BBC programme website about Mixed Race population in UK that you may not know and that I’d love you to discuss:

Minority ethnic men mix more than minority ethnic women
Minority ethnic men from all groups are more likely to be in inter-ethnic relationships than minority ethnic women. The exception to this are Chinese women who are more likely to be in an inter ethnic relationship than Chinese men. (Source: Lucinda Platt: Ethnicity & Family Relationships within and between ethnic groups. Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex).

Full “Mixed” category was first introduced ten years ago
Categorisation for the full ‘Mixed’ group was introduced for the first time in 2001, before which there had been no reliable estimate of the size of the mixed race population (Source: Peter J Aspinall 2000)

Mixed Race are considered most beautiful
This was the conclusion of a major research study, the largest of its kind, undertaken by Dr Michael Lewis, (School of Psychology, Cardiff University) in March 2010.(Source: https://www.perceptionweb.com/abstract.cgi?id=p6626)

Legislation to prohibit race mixing has only recently been abolished in some parts of the world
In several parts of the world, including South Africa during the apartheid era, governments introduced legislation to prohibit race mixing. Laws against “miscegenation” were still in force in 16 American states until they were declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court’s verdict in the Loving v Virginia case of 1967. (Source: Loving V Virginia).

Mixed Race is one of the fastest growing minority groups
Growth between 1991 and 2001 for mixed-race was 150% making it the fastest growing minority group. Currently the largest group is the Black Caribbean/White group, however the fastest growing group is Chinese/White. (Source: NS 2001).

Black Caribbeans most likely of Minority Ethnic Groups (BME) to be in inter-ethnic relationships
Black Caribbean men and women were the most likely of any group to be in an inter-ethnic relationship (48% of black Caribbean men and 34 % of black Caribbean women were in inter-ethnic relationships) (Source: Lucinda Platt: Ethnicity & Family Relationships within and between ethnic groups. Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex).

Mixed Race at greater risk of violence
In 2002/03, adults from a Mixed Race or Asian background were more likely than those from other ethnic groups to be victims of crime in England and Wales. Almost half (46 per cent) of mixed race adults had been the victim of a crime. (Source: ONS 2003).

Thoughts on any of these or on mixed race in general?

Filed Under: Decolonisation, events, Mixed Race series Tagged With: Africa, decolonisation, mixed race, Religion, Spirituality, stereotypes

Comments

  1. Waiki says

    September 29, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    Thanks for the facts, I did not know any of these things. As for Pastor Tapiwa Muzvidziwa, I disagree with him completely and I don’t think he has a point, at all. His views made me feel angry, to be honest.

    Reply
  2. Waiki says

    September 29, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Oh, and I love that pic of your parents! Beautiful!

    Reply
    • MsAfropolitan says

      October 1, 2011 at 12:14 am

      thanks Waiki, I hope they don’t mind me exposing them 😉

      Reply
  3. Poto says

    September 30, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    If I ever get to meet your father I think I would call him Daddy Cool. What a gentleman. Your father must feel like the happiest man on earth. he sure looks that way. I can identify with guys like this.

    I didn’t get to read the whole article but I will also give it a read and see what this Pastor Tap is talking about. Immediately though, I think when people come together out of mutual love and respect it’s always blessed.

    I mean looks don’t matter, race don’t matter, past history may not matter, etc. I think it’s just like that.

    Reply
    • MsAfropolitan says

      October 1, 2011 at 12:13 am

      this is the thing, it simply is so: “I mean looks don’t matter, race don’t matter, past history may not matter, etc. I think it’s just like that.” thanks!

      Reply
  4. Malinga says

    September 30, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    I’m confused, I thought he was talking about faith not race?

    Reply
    • MsAfropolitan says

      October 1, 2011 at 12:20 am

      hey Malinga,
      in my segment i address both race and faith, unless it’s cut different.
      he is perhaps mainly asked about faith? i don’t know but I am referring to the intolerance in his opinion

      Reply
  5. M says

    September 30, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    Maybe he haven’t heard of the biblical story Moses and Zipporah. If he looked in the book of Numbers( Specially verse 12), Muzvidziwa would know god’s true feelings about mixed unions and secondly,if he also read the book of Colossians..he would know that god said that we are
    “one” people. He has no picks when it comes to people.

    I bet he probably use that “yoke with your own clan” verse as most races do and get it wrong all of the time. If god was against mixed unions, he would have his expressed his feelings against it. If anything, he was angry with people like him.

    Reply
    • MsAfropolitan says

      October 1, 2011 at 12:25 am

      thanks for sharing your insights,
      the bible, like other religious scriptures are up for so much interpretation and sometimes the outcome is frightening.
      his comment infuriates me only because he is influential and who knows how many of his followers will as a result become intolerant. sad.
      thanks for stopping by :_)

      Reply
  6. E A says

    October 5, 2011 at 2:58 am

    I love this picture and am happy people like your parents laid the groundwork for my husband and me.

    What really bothers me is that so called Christians like Pastor Tapiwa Muzvidziwa are the main ones keeping hate and misunderstanding alive. Talk about irony!

    Reply
    • MsAfropolitan says

      December 5, 2011 at 4:06 pm

      Thanks for your kind comment E A

      Reply
  7. B says

    March 12, 2012 at 11:53 pm

    You were great on that channel four show, parents probably recorded it and sent it to relatives eh!
    On the point of mixed people are seen as more beautiful, I can honestly say a lot of people think that! People – lets be honest, MEN -sometimes think my mums mixed black and White cos she’s light skinned, so when I tell them no I’m fully black, they say stuff like oh man if only you were mixed! Cos even if I looked the same it would just be better to have that white quota in me
    I also have black friends who’ve got White baby daddys just so thy could have mixed kids with good hair, and light skin and more prospects in life lol

    Reply

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Feminism. African Studies. Social Criticism.

Hi! I'm Minna Salami, I'm a Nigerian-Finnish and Swedish writer and social critic, and the founder of this blog. Read my full bio here

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