How do we describe people of multiple races? Why are some terms considered offensive and others not? Who gets to decide which words work and which don't? These are the questions that Leah Donnella attempts to uncover the answers to in her article All Mixed Up. The article was written for NPR's Code Switch, a team of NPR journalists who cover various aspects of race, ethnicity, and culture. Donnella has a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies, and works as a news assistant on the Code Switch team. All Mixed Up attempts to weed through the misconceptions of 'multiculturalism' and provide answers for a country who has found itself unprepared for the amount of diversity present today.
Donnella starts off with an anecdote that is all too familiar for people of mixed race - the dreaded "What are you?" conversation with a stranger. She describes her mother's ferocity in answering such questions, saying "You're not some chocolate-vanilla swirl cone... you're human children" (5). Donnella lives most of her life believing that calling someone 'mixed' is intrusive and dehumanizing. However, as she enters college, she realizes the prevalence of the word being used by biracial people to describe themselves. She describes the sense of confusion she felt upon the realization that the term 'mixed' is becoming more and more popular in social circles. For audiences that have dealt with this same issue of identity as Donnella has, these anecdotes are relatable. For audiences of a single race, they feel the same sense of confusion regarding the 'correct' or 'proper' terms to refer to someone of multiple races.
Donnella's search for a word to define her race begins by studying semantics, and the various connotations that words have had over the years. She describes the use of words like "amalgamation" and "miscegenation", relating their history to the present-day connotations we have associated with such words. Donnella writes, "miscegenation's' scientific connotation — and the fact that it has the same prefix as 'mistake' or 'misbegotten' — planted the notion that races represented different species that should be separated" (30). Her powerful knowledge of semantics allows readers to see how race issues in America have evolved over time, and the various factors that have gone into making present-day America.
Leah Donnella crafts a powerful essay, leaving readers with something to think about long after they have read the last word. Donnella accomplishes this purpose effectively through her use of anecdotes and her studies of semantics and linguistic connotations. In questioning her own race and the role that labels have to play in her life, she opens the door for communication and discussion about how to define ourselves and others in a changing world.
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