The Politics of Multiracialism: Challenging Racial Thinking

6. DECONSTRUCTING TIGER WOODS: THE PROMISE AND THE PITFALLS OF MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY

SIX DECONSTRUCTING TIGER WOODS: THE PROMISE AND THE PITFALLS OF MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY KERRY ANN ROCKQUEMORE THE COLLECTION OF ACTIVISTS, parents, and support groups that make up the Multiracial Movement were seemingly given a “gift from heaven” in April 1997 in the form of Tiger Woods. At twenty-two, Woods won the Masters Golf Tournament and quickly became a media superstar. Shortly after his win he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show and announced to the American public that he was, in fact, not black, but “Cablinasian.” In one fell swoop, the Multiracial Movement, which had been working diligently at the grassroots level for the previous decade to get a particular multiracial agenda into public consciousness, had an unsolicited and unexpected poster child for multiracialism. On the surface, Tiger Woods seems to be the ideal symbol of multiracialism in the United States, representing all of the hopes and desires of various wings of the movement. This chapter will scratch that surface in order to problematize the symbol of Tiger Woods, the discourse surrounding his refusal to accept a black identity, and his attempts at racial self-identification. Multiracial celebrities make numerous choices about their racial identity . In fact, their varied racial identities reflect the multifaceted nature of multiracialism. While Tiger Woods may be the most visible, and the one 125 126 KERRY ANN ROCKQUEMORE most frequently cited by many multiracial activists, he is by no means the only multiracial celebrity, nor is his choice of racial identity the only choice that multiracial people make. Therefore, it is necessary to first explore what is known about how mixed-race people understand their racial identity in the United States. After a brief explanation of the various choices that multiracial people make, I will focus on Tiger Woods specifically to illustrate the ways in which some racial identity choices among multiracial people are privileged above others and explore why the Multiracial Movement has embraced some multiracial celebrities as standard bearers while virtually ignoring others. Tiger Woods is of interest, not only because he has become the symbol of multiracialism to the American public, but more importantly, because of his particular choice of racial identification. The media frenzy that followed his statement of identification illustrates both the grand possibilities of multiracial identity and the enduring pitfalls that make a narrowly defined multiracialism an utter impossibility in the current climate of race relations in the United States. HOW DO BIRACIAL PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEIR RACIAL IDENTITY? Social science researchers studying the multiracial population have sought, both conceptually and empirically, to answer how multiracial people understand their racial identity. Using in-depth interviews, surveys, and case studies , researchers have explored the multifaceted and complex ways that multiracial people understand themselves and their place in the United States’ racial system. And yet, many Multiracial Movement activists, as wells as members of the media, tend to paint multiracial identity in a simplistic, monolithic, and narrow manner. I will briefly review what is known about the racial identity choices that biracial1 individuals make, highlighting celebrity cases that illustrate each identity option. The celebrity cases are used here to underscore the selective attention that has been given to Tiger Woods by the multiracial community, in spite of the numerous other individuals who make very different choices about their racial identity. BIRACIAL AS A SINGULAR IDENTITY: EXCLUSIVELY BLACK Some biracial people understand their racial identity in alliance with only one of their birth parents. Racial identity for these individuals is typically exclusively black (as opposed to exclusively white).2 The singular black identity is far more prevalent than a singular white identity because of the onedrop rule and the myth of white racial purity, each with its roots in slavery. The one-drop rule took on legal codification after the Civil War when many DECONSTRUCTING TIGER WOODS 127 states adopted laws articulating specific definitions of who is black.3 Legal statutes were gradually dropped from state law books, but their legacy has remained in the de facto application of the one-drop rule.4 Because of this long-standing pattern of racial categorization, the singular black identity has historically been the only identity “option” available to multiracial people with one black parent. So deeply embedded was this cultural norm that it was not even conceptualized as an option, nor would most individuals have considered any other racial identity. Root refers to...