Métisse: Métisse Matters>Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

• Not to justify my existence in this world.
• Not to keep the races separate within me.
• Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
• Not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical or ethnic ambiguity.

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

• To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.
• To identify myself differently than how my parents identify me.
• To identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters.
• To identify myself differently in different situations.

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

• To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial or multiethnic.
• To change my identity over my lifetime--and more than once.
• To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.
• To freely choose whom I befriend and love.

© Maria P. P. Root, Ph.D., 1993, 1994. Reprinted with permission from Maria P.P. Root, Ph.D., an independent scholar and clinical psychologist at http://www.drmariaroot.com/doc/BillOfRights.pdf. Dr. Root is a trainer, educator, and public speaker on the topics of multiracial families, multiracial identity, cultural competence, trauma, work place harassment, and disordered eating.