Black or White?

I am multiracial. Or rather, I have no race. My father is a black immigrant — his family is originally from Jamaica — and my mother is a white native-born American. When I applied to Princeton, I checked the "Other" box and wrote "Black/White," but when I arrived at Princeton that fall, I found that my race had become "Black" on my registration form. I tried to check two options on the form, but the attendant allowed me to check only one.

This irked me, though it turned out to be something of a bittersweet deal with the University. Princeton got to add another successful black student to its miniscule minority population — at least in its record books — and I got all the benefits derived from being a minority at Princeton. At first I thought about sticking it to the system and checking "Black" for my first two years here, and then "White" for my second two years, but the advantages of being a minority at Princeton are simply too great, and I've stayed black.

At times I have been deluged with offers of scholarships, internships and even academic awards, all available only for members of minority groups. I approach them with contradictory feelings. Of any minority at Princeton, I do not need affirmative action or special treatment. I come from an upper middle class family in a fairly well-off suburb of Boston. My parents both have Ph.Ds. I am not, nor have I ever been, disadvantaged. I have never felt the sting of overt racism directed at me personally — though most people can generally tell that I'm not white, no one has ever correctly guessed my ethnic makeup.

The ugly legacy of slavery has never been relevant to me. There is no particular reason for me to receive any special treatment other than having a black heritage. Skin color and being disadvantaged are irrelevant. I have never really been involved in the black community. The Third World Center is alien territory to me. I've never been to a Black Men's Awareness Group meeting. I am a minority at Princeton, but not quite.

In conversations with other multiracial students at Princeton, I've often found these sorts of paradoxes. Whatever the University might say in order to pad its statistics, many multiracial students at Princeton simply don't identify with their minority communities, or feel like minorities deserving of special attention. Matt Nickens '01, who is half-black and half-white, is one such person. "I don't feel like part of the minority community. Black people who know I'm half-black treat me like a brother, but I don't feel like a black person walking around a white campus. Due to my situation growing up, I've associated mostly with white people. Personally, I don't think I deserve affirmative action," Nickens says, though he is a supporter of affirmative action in general.

Alysia Franklin '03, who is also half-black and half-white, agrees. "I have friends who are African-American, but I don't think of myself as part of the community," she says. She cites multiracial friends who "never really considered themselves minorities until the University said they were."

These sentiments are widespread among all types of multiracial students at Princeton. John Paul Chou '02 doesn't consider himself to be Asian.

"I consider myself part-Asian/part-American, with a flair of Argentinian. I don't want to do the 'Asian thing' and only associate with Asians."

Jeannette Dickerson '01, who is half-Korean, has similar experiences. "I certainly have Asian friends, but I wouldn't say I'm actively involved with that community. I don't really identify with that culture any more than the next guy. I went to a KASA meeting once and realized that I don't relate to this culture at all."

Princeton gets its minorities, but it doesn't get what it bargained for. Many multiracial students come to Princeton, and place themselves outside the realm of easy categorization or exclusive minority communities. "Usually when people ask me [what I am], I try to explain the whole melting pot of my background because I don't feel like a short answer fits who I am," Dickerson says.

In its almost desperate attempt to make the campus appear more diverse, the administration has made multiracial students into an invisible minority group. They can't be classified; they don't form a coherent community, and they don't even necessarily feel like minorities. But if being black, Hispanic, Asian or belonging to another group at Princeton isn't about skin color, self-identity, disadvantaged socioeconomic status or contributing to an ethnic community, what is it about?

Whatever the answer, it is clear that Princeton's current solution to its diversity problems and campus views on ethnicity are not fully in accord with reality. Justin Hastings is a Wilson School major from Bedford, Mass. He can be reached at justinh@princeton.edu.