Link Love for Anti-Racist & Multiracial Families

There are a few blogs that I have been meaning to plug for a while because I think that they're smart, interesting, and most importantly, they are great resources for parents and families (and quite frankly for anyone interested in our next generation--so that includes all educators and social justice activists and child advocates).

You are going to think that I'm getting paid to plug Tami, but the truth is, she is just fabulous and recently she's taken over as editor of Anti-Racist Parent (or ARP for short). It's a great site for anyone interested in anti-racist education--for adults and for children (truthfully, we all need to educate ourselves before we can educate kids--and the further truth is, we ALL need continuing ed when it comes to issues of anti-racism--persons of color and non-persons of color both need to keep open minds and try to have open dialogue, as painful as it can be sometimes).

ARP has an on-going feature where they answer letters from readers--and this one, "How Can White People Join the Anti-Racist Discussion," is a must read. Both the letter and the response are very honest, direct, heartfelt, and spot on.

A great educational tool is to get kids to think about giving back. And what better way to give back than to the teachers who are trying to do good work in the world. Rice Daddies--a blog of Asian American Dads, or largely Asian American Dads--is sponsoring a diversity challenge on the site DonorsChoose.org--a website that matches teachers in need of resources with donors who want to help out sorely underfunded teachers (I think they are largely public school teachers, although I'm sure there are a few independent school teachers in the mix). Anyway, if you are interested in helping teachers with multicultural education, stop by the "Rice Daddies Empowerment in Diversity Challenge" where you can read proposals from teachers and choose one (or more) to help fund. And if you're a parent, you can get your children involved, which seems like a double-bonus--help a teacher and help your child learn the value of giving back.

Finally, there's the Mixed Heritage Center (MHC). I've given a plug for them in a previous post, but I really want to encourage people to check out their site. In just six months it has truly grown and expanded and it really IS a great resource for mixed heritage topics and resources. And if you are a political junkie like me, you'll see that in their "links" section they have many devoted to mixed-race presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Resource Plug: Mixed Heritage Center

Since this blog is called "Mixed Race America" and since I am interested in issues pertaining to mixed-race people (in addition to my general interests in all things related to race, ethnicity, and culture in the U.S. and elsewhere), I thought it'd be appropriate to put in a special plug for the launch of a new website and fantastic resource:

THE MIXED HERITAGE CENTER (http://www.mixedheritagecenter.org/) -- (click on link for access)

A collaboration between the Association of Mixed Ethnic Americans and the MAVIN foundation (which is one of my "Links to Look at" in the right hand bar) the purpose of the MHC (as stated on their website)

"is a clearinghouse of information relevant to the lives of people who are multiracial, multiethnic, transracially adopted or otherwise affected by the intersection of race and culture. It is an organic resource that will grow and change with contributions from visitors, student groups, and community based organizations who care about mixed heritage issues. Please feel welcome to share your own knowledge, experiences, and concerns either through participation in the discussion forums, by recommending the addition of a resource, or by submitting your own work to content@mixedheritagecenter.org."

Check it out--it really is a fantastic website and a great resource for multiethnic, multiracial, mixed-race issues. And it's organic--as in, they want people to help add to the collective knowledge base.

Congratulations MHC!