鈥業 cannot behave like oil or water when I am neither. I am both鈥�
Private Practice, September 2025

鈥業f I鈥檓 sieved, will I come out half black and half white?鈥� I remember saying this, in hurt, to my therapist, 13 years ago, after a monoracist microaggression at my initial training institute. I didn鈥檛 have the language then for what happened. Now, I do.

In this article, I use the term 鈥榤onoracial鈥� for those who identify as being of one race. I use 鈥榤ulti-heritage鈥� for those who hold more than one racial identity. Others choose varied descriptors, like 鈥榠nterracial鈥� or 鈥榖iracial鈥�. Some choose national and ethnic identities, like 鈥楩ilipino, Indian and white English鈥�, or their race and 鈥榤ixed鈥�, like 鈥榖lack and mixed鈥�. Some choose situational descriptors, identifying based on context. My racial descriptors change. Sometimes I use 鈥榤ulti-heritage鈥�, sometimes 鈥榙ual heritage鈥�, sometimes 鈥榤ixed鈥�, sometimes BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of colour) or 鈥榖rown鈥�. I champion fluidity of expression around my racial identities. Racial fluidity is opposed by racist ideologies.聽

The exclusion of multi-heritage experience in racial discussions is well documented.² multi-heritage experiences have been highlighted recently. A multi-heritage population is projected to be the fastest growing ethnic group in England and Wales, according to current census data.^3听

My questions for therapists are: how competent are you to work with multi-heritage clients? What do you know of the history of multi-heritage racialised positioning, and the genesis of monoracism? How might you enact or avoid monoracist microaggressions with multi-heritage clients? To meaningfully contextualise this clinical work, we need an understanding of multi-heritage positioning through time; what they still don鈥檛 teach us at school.聽

The invention of race聽

The concept of 鈥榬ace鈥� was invented in 16th century colonised North America. A hierarchy splitting humans according to skin tone became the basis of white supremacy. The darker the complexion, the lower the person. 鈥榃hether rooted in science or theology... a consistent paradigm... from colonial times... emerged... whites are the superior race, Asians/Indians are second, and Blacks last.鈥�⁴ Using Christian moral symbolism, Eurocentric racial thought has often portrayed white people as 鈥榩ure and human,鈥� while casting dark-skinned people as 鈥榠mpure and subhuman鈥�. As Winthrop D. Jordan鈥檚 seminal text describes, 鈥�...white and black connate: purity and filthiness, virginity and sin, virtue and baseness, beauty and ugliness, beneficence and evil, God and the devil.鈥�⁵ A central reason for the invention of race and the dehumanisation of dark-skinned people was so atrocities like enslavement and colonisation became psychologically permissible. The racialised hierarchy persists today. 鈥楻ace is not really a colour at all, but a set of power relations鈥�.^6听

Multi-heritage positioning in the racialised hierarchy

From inception, the racialised hierarchy has relied, for survival, on keeping races separate. North America enacted anti-miscegenation statutes (banning sexual intercourse between races) in the 1660s. This was only overturned in 1967. Miscegenation was punished as early as 1630 in Virginia, 11 years after the first enslaved Africans were kidnapped; punishment consisted of the 鈥榮ound whipping鈥� of a white man for 鈥榣ying with a negro鈥�.^7听

When races mix, the racialised hierarchy collapses. It鈥檚 shown beyond doubt that no 鈥榬ace鈥� is pure or impure, human or subhuman. Further, race mixing shows that 鈥榬ace鈥� doesn鈥檛聽exist. The indefensible basis of the entire racialised system is laid bare. As Trevor Noah, born white Dutch and black Xhosa in apartheid South Africa, when race mixing was criminalised, says: 鈥業n any society built on institutionalised racism, race mixing doesn鈥檛 merely challenge the system as unjust, it reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent. Race mixing proves that races can mix 鈥� and in many cases, want to mix. Because a mixed person embodies a rebuke to the logic of the system, race mixing becomes a crime worse than treason.鈥�⁸

Multi-heritage positioning, horizontal hostility and mental colonisation聽

White imperialism has always relied on a 鈥榙ivide and conquer鈥� strategy to rule BIPOC populations.⁹ Lorde鈥檚 concept of 鈥榟orizontal hostility鈥�¹⁰ 鈥� how divisions are created between similarly oppressed groups 鈥� applies. Dominant groups encourage hostility between races,genders, or any group with intersecting shared interests, to distract these groups from uniting to challenge oppression. Fanon鈥檚 concept of 鈥榤ental colonisation鈥�,¹¹ where global majorities internalise a sense of racial inferiority and a belief in the white oppressors鈥� superiority, also applies. One of a myriad of examples is the Biafran war in Nigeria, the country I grew up in. This war, created and manipulated by white powers to preserve their access to oil-rich regions after independence in 1960, was enacted between indigenous ethnic groups. At least two million Nigerians died of violence or starvation, including my family members.聽

When white powers direct hostility towards multi-heritage groups, it鈥檚 to support the racist hierarchy. When monoracial BIPOC groups direct antagonism towards multi-heritage groups, despite their shared interests, it is horizontal hostility, mental colonisation, and an attempt to cope with the extreme stress and trauma of white oppression.^12听

Monoracism defined聽

Monoracism is 鈥樷��a social system of psychological inequality where individuals who don鈥檛 fit monoracial categories may be oppressed on systemic and interpersonal levels because of underlying assumptions and beliefs in singular... racial categories.鈥�¹³ Monoracism is prejudice and othering directed at multi-heritage peoples, regardless of what race enacts it.聽

Multi-heritage histories聽

The practitioner needs an awareness of the intense transgenerational trauma with all BIPOC and multi-heritage clients. The United Nations defined and criminalised genocide in 1948: the intent to destroy any group of people through targeted acts of violence; causing serious bodily or mental harm; imposing annihilating living conditions; preventing births; forcibly transferring children out of their group.¹⁴ Through history, what has happened to BIPOC groups, including multi-heritage peoples, is genocide.聽

For example, in colonised Australia, relationships between Aboriginal women and white male settlers were criminalised to prevent births. These laws were ignored. The Aboriginal Protection Act (1869) authorised the forcible removal of multi-heritage children from their indigenous families. This legislation was in place until the 1970s. The 鈥楽tolen Generation鈥� was created: up to 100,000 multi-heritage children abducted into abusive, white-run institutions. The aim was for these children to marry low-status whites to 鈥榖reed the colour out of them鈥�.¹⁵ The Australian Royal Commission defined this as genocide in 1997. A similar abduction happened in Belgium colonised Congo in the 1950s. The Brussels Court of Appeal found the Belgian state guilty of crimes against humanity in 2024.聽

In North America, during enslavement, anti-miscegenation laws were ignored. The informal 鈥榦ne drop鈥� rule was created. One drop of black blood made a person black. After the rape of enslaved women by white men, this rule retained multi-heritage enslaved numbers. The 鈥榦ne drop鈥� rule was codified into law in several states in the early 20th century to support eugenics movements. Darker skinned multi-heritage people were 鈥榖lack鈥� and oppressed as such. Lighter skinned, multi-heritage people 鈥榩assed鈥� as white, to survive. The 鈥榦ne drop鈥� rule reverberates to this day.聽

In Hawaii, the kanaka system gave indigenous Hawaiians free ownership of land. Kanaka was overthrown by illegal US actions in the 18th century, opening Hawaiian land to foreign exploitation. The system was reinstated in 1921. However, to qualify for land, under this US-influenced legislation, indigenous Hawaiians must, to this day, pass a 鈥榖lood quantum鈥� test to prove they鈥檙e 50% Hawaiian by documented ancestry. No actual blood test can show race or heritage. The psychological and actual harm caused to multi-heritage Hawaiians are severe. They鈥檙e left in homelessness and poverty.聽

In Britain, before the 19th century and after, interracial relationships, and damning propaganda against these, were widespread. The influential Fletcher Report (1930) called mixed people 鈥榯he children of sin鈥� and a 鈥榮ocial menace鈥�.¹⁶ Eugenicist Marie Stopes advocated 鈥榟alf castes鈥� should be sterilised at birth, having 鈥榠nherent physical and mental defects鈥�, being聽neither one race nor another, rather the worst of all^.17 Many were sent to abusive orphanages. The treatment of institutionalised multi-heritage children by the Irish Catholic State was barbaric. Physical, sexual, emotional and mental abuse was rife. Babies died of starvation, as it was cheaper not to feed them.¹⁸

Monoracist microaggressions聽

Microaggressions, aimed at a range of socially devalued groups, are death by a thousand cuts. 鈥楢 persistent daily hum of... abuse is not minor鈥� its effects on people are distress, depression, anxiety, pain, fatigue and suicide.鈥�¹⁹ Monoracist microaggressions are specifically aimed at multi-heritage groups and can manifest in the following ways:聽

1. Multi-heritage peoples are targets of 鈥榯raditional鈥� macroaggressions, such as explicit racial slurs. However, it鈥檚 a monoracist microaggression to assume that multi-heritage people face only the same racism as monoracial BIPOC people. Conversely, it鈥檚 a monoracist microaggression to assume that multi-heritage people don鈥檛 face racism.
2. The classic, 鈥榃here are you from, really?鈥� microaggression carries monoracist nuances. 鈥楻acially ambiguous鈥� people create cognitive dissonance. Mothers are assumed as nannies. Fathers as older boyfriends. Multi-heritage people are asked a series of personal questions, as a racial background check. These uninvited questions, which I know well, feel very different from genuine curiosity about a person鈥檚 heritage. The essence of the dehumanising questioning is, 鈥榃hat are you?鈥�²⁰
3. Multi-heritage people are called 鈥榗oconuts鈥� or 鈥榖ounty bars鈥� 鈥� brown on the outside, white on the inside. They鈥檙e told they 鈥榓ct white鈥�, are 鈥榥ot black enough鈥�, or 鈥榥ot Chinese enough鈥�. When hoping to be embraced by BIPOC others with similar backgrounds, only to be rejected like this, causes a distinct type of racial pain. As a small child in Nigeria, after being 鈥榥aughty鈥�, a black aunt said, 鈥榊ou think you鈥檙e white.鈥� I love her very much, yet that comment hurts me to this day.
4. The old-fashioned descriptor 鈥榳hite passing鈥� is now a monoracist microaggression towards white-presenting multi-heritage peoples. 鈥楶assing鈥� implies an intentional act, positioning them as white allies. Lighter-skinned people and white-presenting multi-heritage people don鈥檛 face the same danger as darker-skinned people. As Monk states, 鈥楻esearch shows as darkness increases and Afrocentric appearance increases, so does the probability of being perceived as dangerous, incompetent, ugly and much more.鈥�²¹ They face significantly lower risk compared to darker-skinned individuals of becoming victims of police brutality.²² Yet the exclamation, 鈥榊ou look so white!鈥�, erases multi-heritage identities. It is racial delegitimisation.聽
5. You can鈥檛 tell that my white-presenting relatives eat fufu with ogbono soup, as well as roast chicken, for Sunday lunch. The discovery that someone is not white can create a volatile scenario where the racist/monoracist feels they鈥檝e been tricked and enacts racial punishment: from aggressions like, 鈥楽o you must like [fried rice/rap music]鈥� and 鈥楽o you鈥檙e a [N-word, P-word]鈥�, to physical violence.
6. It鈥檚 a monoracist microaggression to assume a permanent feeling of racial alienation for multi-heritage peoples. Environmental factors are different from subjective experience. The 鈥榯ragic mulatto鈥� stereotype is at play. The offensive term 鈥榤ulatto鈥� comes from the Latin mula (mule), the sterile offspring of a donkey and a horse. The 鈥榯ragic mulatto鈥� trope was popularised in lurid fiction in post-abolition North America in the 18th century. Failing to belong to any one race, 鈥榯ragic mulattos鈥� suffer from self-loathing and loneliness, lose everything or die. Extensive recent studies show that many multi-heritage peoples become increasingly comfortable with their racial identities, including an iterative process of defining their racial 鈥榮elf鈥� through time.²³ I continue to experience this iterative process.
7. Colourism and featurism are racist and monoracist microaggressions. These mean greater proximity to whiteness 鈥� ie, access to opportunity. I acknowledge my systemic privilege as a dual-heritage woman. I wonder if I鈥檇 have got into Oxford University 30 years ago had I been darker skinned than I am, whatever my intellectual ability. Colourism and featurism make multi-heritage people the palatable face of BIPOC, and, astonishingly, push darker-skinned people even further down the racial hierarchy. I consider colourism and featurism monoracist microaggressions because to be 鈥榩alatable鈥� doesn鈥檛 feel like a privilege to me. It feels like an insult.
8. Multi-heritage people face fetishisation. Microaggressions include telling multi-heritage people, 鈥榊ou look so exotic鈥� or 鈥業 love your skin colour鈥�. Mixed black and white men are seen, usually by white women, as a palatable version of black men, with the 鈥榣arge penis鈥� stereotype at play. White men may want to date a multi-heritage woman so they can say, 鈥業鈥檝e slept with [eg, a black]鈥� in a perfect intersection of misogyny and monoracism. I鈥檝e heard this comment. When I was much younger and more vulnerable, it sometimes came after the act. How this feels, I can鈥檛 put into words.聽

Clinical pitfalls in working with multi-heritage clients聽

In the therapy room, some multi-heritage clients are consciously aware when monoracist microaggressions are enacted by the therapist. Some are not. Either way, the client is silenced in sharing vital parts of their lived experience. For example:聽

1. Assuming the client鈥檚 racial identification (mistaken descriptor)
   The therapist others the client by saying, 鈥楢s a black person...鈥� or 鈥楢s a white person...鈥�, when in fact the client identifies as black and mixed, or Latino and white. Or saying, 鈥楢s someone mixed...鈥� A Chinese and white client may identify monoracially as Chinese, as this is how they鈥檙e treated in the Global North. The therapist ignores the power of the white gaze.
2. Assuming the client takes a side (racial confinement)
   Saying, 鈥榃hat race do you identify with most?鈥� or 鈥業 imagine that [insert monorace, eg, 鈥楢sians鈥橾 make you feel more comfortable than [insert monorace here, eg, 鈥楬ispanics鈥橾.鈥� The message is that racial fluidity is not allowed. How the client chooses to identify doesn鈥檛 matter. It鈥檚 about what race claims them.
3. Assuming the client doesn鈥檛 face racism (monoracist invalidation)
   When the client reports a monoracist microaggression, the therapist says, 鈥楶erhaps they meant it well鈥� or 鈥極thers have it worse.鈥� The therapist dismisses the client鈥檚 oppression within monoracist structures.
4. Assuming the client is happy with colourist and featurist privilege (monoracist objectification)
   The client describes being promoted ahead of a black colleague. The therapist replies, 鈥業t must help your self-esteem that you鈥檙e popular鈥�, foreclosing discussions on the guilt and confusion clients feel about systematically granted 鈥榩rivilege鈥�.
5. Assuming race is the primary reason the client has come to therapy, as they must be racially confused (the 鈥榯ragic mulatto鈥�)
   鈥業 imagine you feel racially isolated鈥�, or 鈥榊our family must struggle to accept you.鈥� The message is that the client is not 鈥榥ormal鈥� and must hold psychic despair.
6. 聽Assuming a 鈥榗offee-coloured鈥� utopia (racial disenfranchisement)
   The therapist says, 鈥業n the future, we鈥檒l all look the same鈥�, putting responsibility to end racism on the client, rather than the responsibility of us all. A sub-text is that the erasure of diverse cultures, usually meaning BIPOC cultures, would be a good thing.聽

颁辞苍肠濒耻蝉颈辞苍听

Microaggressions are symptoms, not the cause, like a rash that鈥檚 a symptom of aggressive cancer; worth examining 鈥� but treating the rash won鈥檛 treat the cancer. Unlike the Holocaust, no accurate record of death rates for black, BIPOC and multi-heritage peoples were kept. It鈥檚 鈥榝orgotten鈥� that enslavement was a genocide. The United Nations puts the number of enslaved victims at 15 million, and, very conservatively, deaths at six million.²⁴ Abolition, only 160 years ago, didn鈥檛 mean freedom. The Redemption Movement created the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow and segregation. Segregation was abolished 50 years ago, a drop in the ocean of time.聽

Enslavement still exists today, only by other names.²⁵ I would argue that the murder聽of George Floyd, which sparked a significant global movement, soon returned to business as usual. Chris Kaba, an unarmed black man, was shot at point-blank range in London in 2022. Although the case received some brief media coverage in the UK, it didn鈥檛 spark global outcry. The white police officer was cleared of murder or manslaughter by the Old Bailey on 21 October 2024.²⁶

European colonialism is 鈥樷��the worst human holocaust the world has ever witnessed鈥�.²⁷ In the Americas, where English colonisation really distinguished itself, from an indigenous population of 75 million in the 14th century, five million remain alive today. 鈥楥olonialism was the historical process, and genocide the official policy.鈥�^28听

When I hear 鈥� and I do hear 鈥� only from whites, 鈥榃hy is it always about race?鈥� I can only feel incredulity. One irony here is that the invention of race intentionally divided landless enslaved Africans and landless indentured English/Irish labourers 鈥� deploying horizontal hostility 鈥� to prevent united rebellions against the colonial elite.²⁹ Race continues to be 鈥樷��a highly effective ruse to distract 鈥渨hites鈥� from the oppression many of them experience very keenly... the lack of affordable housing... zero-hours contracts... countless deprivations... the game is still rigged... many are set up to lose, with little comfort beyond the belief 鈥渁t least I鈥檓 not black鈥�.鈥�^30听

Even if you鈥檙e not materially impoverished by the system, your humanity is severely diminished. My white, upper-class, English father鈥檚 life鈥檚 mission was to bring 鈥榗ivilisation鈥� to Nigeria, a post-colonial, Eurocentric mindset. He wasn鈥檛 a bad person. He tried his best. Yet his actions supported the racialised system. 鈥楩orgiveness and compassion are always linked: how do we hold people accountable for wrongdoing and... remain in touch with their humanity enough to believe in their capacity for transformation?鈥�^31听

As a therapist and educator, if I鈥檓 to play any part in transforming the collective, I have an ethical responsibility to address systemic prejudice and discrimination, including monoracism, wherever it appears. I can let my disenfranchised clients know they aren鈥檛 鈥榠magining鈥� it. I can feel alongside them the pain imprinted in their bodies and mine. I can give words to experiences multi-heritage clients may only have had an intuitive sense of all their lives. I can affirm the beauty of the聽fluid code-switching and cross-cultural access that multi-heritage people possess. I can bear witness to the untold stories I鈥檝e tried to tell a small part of here. Rather than being a passive bystander, I hope to be an active participant.