Mixed Feelings

In this episode of Race Beyond Borders, author Remi Adekoya uncovers how the growing number of biracial people in the United Kingdom may impact the way Blackness is lived and expressed in the country.

While the UK is currently 82 percent white, biracial people represent its largest growing demographic group. These shifts toward greater diversity are already underway in major metropolitan areas like London, which is nearly 50 percent people of colour.

Predictions about what these changes will mean for the future of race tend to follow two patterns. On one hand, some speculate that, as the world becomes increasingly biracial, racial boundaries will blur, and racism will inevitably collapse.

On the other, many believe that nothing will change. “‘Beige Britain’ won’t be the utopia we want. It’ll be the same country it always was,” one writer argues.

Remi’s book, “Biracial Britain: A Different Way of Looking at Race" steps into the complexity of everyday life amid these polarities. In it, he offers rich insights into how biracial people across Britain are making sense of and shaping their world.

“Within the thought paradigm [of individualism], we will see an increasing number of mixed race people saying, 'you know what, I don’t want to participate in these group wars’,” Remi observes.

I was eager to talk to Remi about what has drawn him to this conclusion, what he means by the provocative term "monoracial society", and the possibilities for the future.

Click to listen.

Text by Nigel Richard