Outside the Lines

Blending Perspectives
Multiracial students advocate for greater open-mindedness
from peers, more representation in curriculum
Tej Kosaraju, Ava Winber, Sarah Zhang
O
utside of school, Evelyn Fisher
’26 scours the Internet to
learn more about her Native
culture and frequently visits her grandparents
who regale her with stories
and cultural tales. As a multiracial student,
Fisher aims to uphold her heritage
by teaching herself to bead earrings
and communicate in her mother
tongue. Inside school, however, many
of her peers don’t recognize or respect
her heritage, and it shows through the
insensitive comments and remarks behind
her back.
According to the Illinois State Report
Card, biracial students represent
roughly 2.8 percent of the population
at Stevenson. Given the low percentage,
many biracial students grapple
with a lack of representation and the
misconceptions about their experience
from the community. For Evelyn Fisher
’26, many of her peers question her
identity.
“A lot of times when I tell people I’m
Native American, they don’t believe
me because I look white,” Fisher said.
Alongside her experiences dealing
with her peers’ disbelief about her
18 features • november 2022
identity, Fisher faces generalizations
regarding her Native American heritage.
Surrounded by some peers who
hold a superficial understanding of her
identity, she feels hesitant to express
her culture.
“Somebody was calling me Pocahontas
and was requesting that I say
a whole bunch of really interesting
Cherokee words,” Fisher said. “It almost
makes me want to not tell people
that I’m Native, but, at the same time,
I want to be proud of who I am and
where I come from.”
While Fisher wants to express pride
in her heritage, the absence of a culture
club and the challenge of a small Native
community can create a disconnection.
Even if the school offers spaces like
affinity groups or cultural events like
World’s Fair, some multiracial students
like Avi Sward ’23 still grapple with
finding community.
“You have a lot of cultural confusion
that comes with being mixed because
you don’t really have a community that
you specifically identify with,” Sward
said.
In addition to clubs, the lack of
representation in the school curriculum
contributes to a tenuous sense of
belonging. A study published by the
Journal of Literacy Education showed
that while multiracial people make up
10% of the US population, they are
only portrayed 1% of the time in popular
children’s books. English teacher
Jennifer Arias, who is a mother of
two biracial children, believes that the
perspectives students are exposed to at
school are important in creating acceptance.
“As a mom, I look at things through
my children’s eyes,” Arias said. “Are
they reading stories about different
groups? I know that my kids discuss
racism as a topic in school, but no multiracial
perspectives stand out to me.”
Fisher believes that without this inclusive
curriculum, students are ignorant
of their peers’ experiences, which
can lead to insensitive comments. Even
without any malicious intent, questions
asked by uneducated students can
leave a lasting impression.
“I get asked what percentage Native
American I am in terms of blood concentration,
and people don’t even re-