Race Remixed Rhetorical Analysis

The article “Race Remixed” by Susan Saulny provides an insight on the mixed race population of the United States, and the growing support they are receiving from each other. The piece is a nonfiction article that was written for the New York Times, and I think it was meant to bring awareness of the growing population of mixed race people today. Although it is nonfiction, it does reflect the opinions of the author and interviewees in some aspects. Because of this, the genre determination is more fluid.

In the article, the author focuses on the question “ What are you?” and what that means to mixed race Americans in today’s society. She talks to many college students, most of whom are involved in a mixed race student group on campus. Through these groups, the students find support in people who “look like” them, and can talk about the pros and cons of identifying with more than one race. Saulny also talks about the demographics of the U.S. and how “the mixed race population has grown by roughly 35 percent since 2000.” With these observations, she explores the possibilities of either an increasingly mixed American society, or a more stratified society, focused on keeping people under labels.

Because parts of the article were opinion-based, I would not be surprised if a reader looked at some of the issues with a different approach. For example, towards the end, Saulny writes about a mixed race woman who questions President Obama’s decision to only check black on the census. In a discussion, a good amount of the mixed race people in the room agree that although he did only check black, he could (or should) identify as black and white. Others, however, argued using the “one drop rule,” which says that if you are any portion black, you are to identify as black. This could prove offensive to mixed race people, who, because they are in fact two or more races, will identify with all of them and refuse to be categorized as just one. Because race is such an important but controversial part of our society, in a way, it is understood that the discussion about this would be extensive and heavily debated.