More than Black?: Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order (review)

Most books on multiracial matters are as fluffy as a goose-down pillow. These books are often edited collections in which personal narratives by multiracial people from middle-class backgrounds are paraded with very little historical analysis to provide context, no theoretical argument on how multiracialism fits in the larger racial system, and no regard for how representative the stories are. Fortunately, this is not the case with G. Reginald Daniel's book, More than Black? Multiracial Identity and the New Racial Order.This is a sophisticated, historically complex, and theoretically driven analysis of multiracialism in the U.S.

In the first chapters of the book, Daniel outlines the origins of Eurocentrism as well as the establishment of binary and ternary racial orders in the New World. According to Daniel, differing demographics produced different racial formations. In places with few whites (particularly, few white women), "flexible" racial formations emerged in which "integrated" multiracials served as a social buffer between whites and blacks (or Indians) that helped maintain white domination (e.g., Latin America and the Caribbean). In contrast, in settler colonies such as the U.S., with enough whites to preserve white rule, restrictive, "one-drop rule" systems emerged that kept all nonwhites in a subordinate position (but see chapter 4 for a discussion of how "triracial isolates" carved an intermediary status for themselves throughout much of American history).

Daniel contends that the United States' binary racial order led to various forms of "resistance" from segments of the multiracial community from day one. This resistance, however, was predicated in their acceptance of the logic of white supremacy and hence on denying blackness. For example, a number of multiracials passed for white temporarily to attain better jobs or to avoid insult. A smaller number even passed in a continuous fashion. Those who could not pass, or did not want to pass, formed elitist societies (blue-vein groups) to differentiate themselves from blacks. In time, however, Daniel contends this elite became "black" (both socially and politically) and served as the vanguard for the African American community.

But Daniel's main concern in this book is showing that multiracials have in fact become a social group in America that could potentially mobilize to transform (and he hopes, destroy) the racial order by challenging the binary racial classification system. The chapters dealing with this concern (chapters 6 and 7), however, are unsatisfactory as the data Daniel uses is not random and his analysis is somewhat naive. On the first point, Daniel relies on interviews with multiracials on various campuses on the West Coast, participant observation in multiracial support group meetings and conferences, and his own involvement in various multiracial organizations (for a more rigorous attempt at examining the racial identity of multiracials in contemporary America, see Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America, Kerry Ann Rockquemore and David L. Brunsma. 2002. Sage.). Thus, his data is plagued with self-selection, limiting the possibility of accepting the idea that multiracials form a social group. On the latter point, I found little analysis of important matters, such as why certain multiracial people (mostly white women married to black men) are central to the various organizations attempting to change the way we classify people in the U.S., or why certain political actors (the Republican Party) have supported the efforts of these organizations, or how do whites position themselves regarding the multiracials' attempts of changing the racial classification system.

Daniel concludes his book by forecasting a brighter racial future that will spring out of the new multiracial consciousness. Yet, his prediction seems as romantic as it is devoid of evidence to support it. A more likely future, based on the strength of the various racial projects at play in contemporary America, is that the forces pushing for the elimination of race-based social policy will help shape a color...