Racism ‘won’t go away’ even if we’re all mixed-race in the future

Racism ‘won’t go away’ even if we’re all mixed-race in the future

The idea of ‘divide and conquer’ harks back thousands of years.

Whether it is by gender, class, wealth or race, humans love walling themselves into distinct categories then using those categories to create hierarchies.

In the case of race, this hierarchical distinction ended up with slavery, countless programmes of ethnic cleansing and the retention of ‘othering’ based on the colour of skin even to the present day.

But what happens if we take away these racial categories that divide us into subgroups?


If, instead of defining as black, white, Asian or any other singular category, we defined ourselves as a little bit of everything, would it herald the dawn of a more accepting, ‘post-racial’ age?



And would that mean racism would end?

The mixed-race population is the fastest-growing ethnic group in the UK with 2.2% of the population now identifying as having mixed heritage, up from 1.2% in 2001.

International migration is increasing at between 1% and 2% every year, and over 240 million people are living in a country different from where they were born.

The latest projections suggest that by 2050, up to 30% of the UK population will be from ethnic minorities and the number of people who identify as mixed-race in the UK could rise to 4.2%.

Global travel has never been more accessible and improving tolerance has allowed for the relative normalisation of interracial, heterosexual marriage – in this country at least.

One in five younger people in the UK say that they disapprove of mixed-race marriages compared to one in four aged 55 and over – according to a study conducted by anti-racist organisation People In Harmony.

But will multiraciality really be the end of racism in the future?

To answer that we need to understand where racism comes from.

Scientists generally agree that the concept of race is not grounded in biology or genetics but relies on cultural ideology rather than science.

But that doesn’t mean that race doesn’t exist.

Will multiraciality really be the antithesis of racism in the future? (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

The impact is still very real, with racist laws still in place in some countries.

It becomes all the stranger when geneticists argue that all non-Africans descend from a few thousand homo-sapiens who left Africa around 60,000 years ago (though the exact date is now disputed).

But if racism is a man-made social structure, does that mean that man can also destroy it?

Before we can think about the future of racism, we have to deep dive into the past.

‘The origins of racism are rooted in colonialism so we are going back to the 15th century,’ Prof Peter Wade, professor of social anthropology at the University Of Manchester, tells Metro.co.uk.

‘Prior to that, there were already lots of ideas about blood in the sense of ancestry.

‘In the 14th century, people in Spain and Portugal who had Jewish or Muslim ancestry were discriminated against, legally.

‘They were then transmitted to the New World when the Spanish and the Portuguese travelled there and began to take on ideas about the inferiority of black, African blood and indigenous blood too.



‘The transatlantic slave trade, the conquering of Indigenous peoples, the genocide of Indigenous peoples and so on, exacerbated those kinds of beliefs.’

But how has a set of ideologies formed seven centuries ago endured until today? Prof Wade says that the concept of racism isn’t rigid.

‘Racism as an ideology or the set of structures that create racialised inequality change all the time,’ he says.

‘Now that colonialism no longer exists and the transatlantic slave trade doesn’t exist, nevertheless, racism is able to adapt to different kinds of economic and political scenarios.’

This slippery adaptability is the tricky thing about racism and makes it hard to predict when or how it could ever be eradicated in the future.

It has shifted many times before.

The Irish and the Italians were once groups seen as distinct from white people but, as they sought to distance themselves from black people, they were ultimately accepted as white.

In the US, the perceived threat of becoming a majority non-white nation coincides with a rise in hate crimes for three consecutive years.

The goal posts are always moving in favour of whoever holds the most power at that particular moment in history.

And studies have shown that this fear of a loss of power is causing white Americans to develop ‘negative attitudes’ towards people of other races.

Progressive campaigners are looking for an end to hate crimes and racial definitions.

Removing binary racial categorisations is ambitious but, if that happens, will another arbitrary ranking system just take its place?


The idealised view from supporters of a truly mixed-race future is a population where everyone is mixed to a similar degree, removing the need or desire for racial hierarchies.

There are parts of the world where this ‘mixing’ has happened already.

‘The unequivocal lesson from Latin America is that even when everyone is mixed, racism doesn’t go away,’ explains Prof Wade, who has written books on race in Latin America.

‘In Latin American societies, mixture has been going on for 500 years. A majority of people in these societies would recognise themselves as mixed.

‘Nevertheless, we still see very clear racism, simply because some people see themselves as, and are, more European and less black or indigenous than others. Not everybody is equally mixed.

‘In a theoretical future scenario where everyone is mixed to the same extent, and we were all the same shade of brown – racism might still exist, but it would take a very different form.’

Even if everyone is mixed, human beings will never look exactly the same.

Prof Wade says even the most minuscule differences are enough to generate racial categorisations.

‘Human beings are incredibly attentive to fine degrees of difference,’ he says.

‘We are always going to be ready to attribute significance to those differences and to make hierarchical distinctions, so that some people can claim superiority based on exactly what they look like, in terms of familiar aspects like skin colour, hair type or nose shape.’

Interracial families and mixed-race children are frequently held up as bastions of a liberal, progressive future, but the reality is that mixed-race societies can also uphold racism.


Outside of Latin America, there aren’t many – if any – countries that claim to have a mixed-race majority population, but some Caribbean countries have a large proportion of mixed inhabitants.

Nearly a quarter (24.2%) of the population of Trinidad and Tobago identify as mixed.

But, like in Cuba, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, racism still persists in these countries.

There are high levels of anti-black racism and state violence in Trinidad and Tobago today.

Despite the evidence against it, the promise of a mixed, ‘post-racial’ future is still alluring for many.

Lise Funderburg, author of Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk About Race and Identity, thinks ‘an opportunity’ to end racism can be found with multi-racial individuals were

‘If we can’t slot people into familiar categories, perhaps we’ll be forced to reconsider existing definitions of race and identity, presumptions about who is us and who is them,’ she wrote in National Geographic

‘Perhaps we’ll all end up less parsimonious about who we feel connected to.’

The implication is that the very presence of mixed-race people can somehow aid conflict resolution and reduce society’s need to compete, dominate and divide.

‘The idea that a growing mixed-race population will offer some kind of cure for racism is highly idealistic’ (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)

There is in fact evidence that supports the possible social benefits that mixed-race populations can help to achieve.

Research found that white people are more open to discussing race-related issues after exposure to a mixed-race person.

But can these ‘qualities’ really help to eradicate racism in the future? Or is that a dangerous rhetoric?

Academics think the idea that we ‘won’t see colour’ if everyone in the future is a similar shade of brown, is far too simplistic – that it ignores the causes and implications of racism that run so much deeper than skin tone.

‘I think the idea that a growing mixed-race population will offer some kind of cure for racism is highly idealistic and even dangerous,’ explains Dr Remi Joseph-Salisbury, sociology professor at Manchester University.

‘Such ideas belie the deep-rooted nature of racism, and run counter to the historical and contemporary lived experiences of mixed-race people.

‘The desire to romanticise mixed-race people as a solution to society’s racial ills is not reflective of reality. It is only reflective of the kind of stories that society would like to believe about itself.

‘To bring an end to racism, society would really need to grapple with its past and to consider how its institutions systematically disadvantage racially minoritised communities.

‘This is a far greater task than merely celebrating Meghan Markle.’

Dr Joseph-Salisbury thinks that the superficial idolisation of mixed-race people could also have damaging consequences for other minority groups.

‘Whilst compliments on our hair and skin-tone might appear benign, they are tied to a wider system of anti-blackness that pathologises those with darker skin-tones and tighter hair,’ he says.

‘Put more simply, if we have the good hair, by implication, who has the bad hair?’

A lot of hopes are being pinned on mixed-race communities. Is it fair or even remotely realistic to ask interracial families to carry the burden of racial resolution?

Mixed Up Being mixed-race is so much more than just black and white (Pictures: Jerry Syder) Mixed Up is our weekly series that gets to the heart of what it means to be mixed-race in the UK today. Going beyond discussions of divided identity, this series takes a look at the unique joys, privileges and complexities that come with being mixed-race - across of variety of different contexts. The mixed-race population is the UK's fastest-growing ethnic group, and yet there is still so much more to understand about the varied lived experiences of individuals within this hugely heterogenous group. Each week we speak to the people who know exactly how it feels to navigate this inbetween space.

The increased visibility of the mixed-race population may have the potential to ‘positively shift racial attitudes’ but, as study author Duke University psychologist Sarah E. Gaither has said, ‘trying to ignore race effectively means trying to ignore racism, which lets the current racial inequities continue’.

If that’s the case, more beige babies won’t mean less racism.

Experts think that in order for us to move forward, we need an honest, rigorous dissection of our past, and a reevaluation of the social systems in place today that still actively oppress millions of minorities.

‘One school of thought says that capitalist society, and also liberalism, liberal democracy, is inherently a society that depends on inequality,’ Prof Wade says.

‘In its very constitution, inequality is rooted in there.

‘If you have a capitalist society then you’re always going to have inequality, and racism feeds on that.

‘And in that scenario, if you want to get rid of racism – and sexism and patriarchy – then you have to overturn capitalism and have a completely different kind of society.’

Clearly, this is a big ask.

And what of humanity’s ever-present need to divide and separate itself?

Separating out all the issues into right and wrong will never be a case of black and white.

The Future Of Everything This piece is part of Metro.co.uk's series The Future Of Everything. From OBEs to CEOs, professors to futurologists, economists to social theorists, politicians to multi-award winning academics, we think we had the future covered, away from the doom-mongering or easy Minority Report references. Every week, we explained what's likely (or not likely) to happen. Talk to us using the hashtag #futureofeverything. Though the series is no longer weekly, if you think we might have missed something vital to the future, get in touch: hey@metro.co.uk or Alex.Hudson@metro.co.uk Read every Future Of Everything story

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