Barack Obama with his maternal grandparents at his high school graduation.   

News & Notes , November 12, 2021 · During his first press conference as the nation's President-elect, Barack Obama made a reference to shelter dogs being "mutts" like him. That light-hearted nod to his multiracial background, along with an open attitude toward race, has reinvigorated the multiracial movement. Farai Chideya speaks with two scholars focused on this evolving conversation. Ralina Joseph is assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. Her forthcoming book is called Beyond the Binaries: Reading Mixed-Race Blackness in the New Millennium. Jungmiwha Bullock is president of the Association of MultiEthnic Americans and a Ph.D. candidate in American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. 

Related NPR Stories·         Nov. 12, 2008A Revealing History of Multiracial America 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96916824