''What Are You?'' -- Readers Have Some Answers - And A Few More Questions

THANKS TO READERS for your vigorous response to "I Consider Myself Me" (Nov. 15), a story collecting thoughts, words and pictures of multiracial children in Washington state. Several readers applauded the young people for sharing their feelings. Others questioned why society needs to label people at all. A 15-year-old multiracial girl wrote: "I never see articles or stories on kids like me, struggling in the world . . . I was always confused. Where do I fit in? To me, race is something in the world people either make too big a deal of or not enough . . .." Many were charmed by 4-year-old Devon Lecksiwilai, who considers herself white and chocolate. She is a mixture of Guatemalan, Caucasian, Chinese and Chilean heritages.

We also heard from readers questioning our use of religion and nationality as well as race when describing people. We wish we had made clear that the descriptions were chosen by the kids and parents themselves when asked to identify their heritage: Caucasian, Chinese American, Jamaican, English and Welsh, African American, Cherokee, Japanese American, Jewish, Hopi, Papago, Washo, Swedish, German, Canadian-French Indian, Guatemalan, Chilean.

Finally, we learned of some new services for multiracial families in the Seattle area.

MAVIN, a print magazine written by and for mixed race and transracially adopted people, will debut in January, 1999. Based in Seattle, MAVIN is written, edited, and published by young, mixed-race people from around the country. It encourages writers and artists to submit their work. Write MAVIN, 1102 Eighth Ave., Suite 407, Seattle, WA 98101.

A multiracial family group in southeast Seattle meets once a month for dinners, lively discussion and fun for parents and children. The group currently has 25 families from a variety of backgrounds. For more information contact Hannah Salia at 206-725-6848.

Here are three of the many letters and calls we received.

Children of the rainbow

I have two comments:

1. I am really enraged right now. I've been taught my whole life through that to be Jewish is a RELIGION, a way to respect and honor G-d. Hitler tried and failed to show that to be Jewish was a race. To see one of the children's parents defined as Japanese-American mother and Jewish father is crazy to me. No where else in the article are parents defined by their religions. I find this insulting, prejudicial and ignorant to many of us.

2. I am a mother of mixed-race children. We are from Hawaii and the hapa-haole children of Hawaii are the fastest-growing segment of the population demographically. Hapa means half and haole now means white (originally it meant a visitor from another island.).

My question is, "What is the problem with mainland societies that children, so beautifully reflecting of G-d, have to face ANYTHING about their heritages or races? In Hawaii they would be the majority. What makes the mainland society so troubled that people who reflect the world have difficulties at times being accept by others?"

My children carry family histories of Russian, Polish, German, Hungarian Gypsy and Chinese. And my granddaughter now carries Irish, English and French, too. In Hawaii this is called a chop-suey background. And I believe these children are the most beautiful on earth. Sit for awhile at the Ala Moana Center and watch the parade of the future go by. Children of the Rainbow, if ever there was one.

To each child in the article, to each child blending religions, cultures and races:

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Edwyna Spiegel Fong

Mount Vernon

`Race' is a division

My answer to your question is: Who wants to know?

People who ask the question of race are only those who want to keep racial tensions roiled - and I include government and industry. They are not interested in the persons for themselves, but are looking for ways to keep people divided.

By categorizing people, we give hotheads of each "race," who have nothing better to do, the perfect excuse to make trouble.

Whenever I am faced with a form that asks my race, I answer "American!" All those kids are beautiful and they're Americans. That's "what" they are!

Marilyn J. Van Hise,

Seattle

Twenty questions

I'm a 15-year-old student at Roosevelt High School in Seattle and I'm multiracial.

When I first saw the Sunday Times this morning, I noticed the pictures and title "What are you?" The first thing I did was look for that article and once I found it I was pleased. I was also excited to read it.

I enjoyed this article so much because being half Filipino and half Caucasian, I am very interested in other multiracial kids. I never see articles or stories on kids like me, struggling in the world. At my high school, all of my friends are white except for two. Though the population at Roosevelt is half white and half Asian, I have never fit in with the Asians. They are all 100 percent Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Laotian or other Asian descents. I'm the middle girl. Being with my white friends, I don't feel weird, but I have before. In eighth grade I was sitting in the hall at school with my very best six friends. One of them was talking and I was looking around at them. "Blond . . . blond . . . blond . . . blond . . . blond . . . blond . . . brown. White . . . white . . . white . . . white . . . white . . . white . . . me," went through my head. That was the first time I had noticed it. It didn't make me act any differently toward them or anything. I just noticed . . .

I am always playing 20 questions with my classmates, "Are you Hawaiian? Are you Chinese (this most frequently)? Are you Japanese? Are you Mexican?" Then always follows that most frequently asked question among the class, "What are you?" I used to just say, "My mom is Filipino," and leave it at that. I just assumed that people knew I was white, maybe because of my last name or something. Then I would ask them why they thought what they did, "Why do I look ---- ?" They usually would reply, "It's your dark complexion, your curved eyes (?), the ways that you just don't look white, you don't look (pause) . . . anything." So I look like a person . . .

To me race is something in the world people either make too big a deal of or not enough. Dumb questions pop into my mind like, "Is that guy going for her and not me because I am Asian?" Right after, I asked myself why I said that. It's not true. People are people, and seeing things in black and white is not how it works . . . I don't classify myself as Filipino and I'm not a Caucasian. I have problems just like the next multiracial kid with tests, filling in your background. Sometimes like Olivia I would put "Asian/Pacific Islander" and sometimes "other." I was always confused; where do I fit in? But this isn't my biggest problem . . . I have just as many problems as any kid, maybe less, maybe more. Race doesn't change who I am or what I do, really. It . . . is just there.

. . . Your story was excellent, and as a kid I liked it a lot. My friends probably would not be interested, but this paper is going on my wall. It's always nice to get pulled out of my white world and this article definitely did it. Monica Fiudici Seattle