OR IG I N AL ART I C L E “You’re biracial but…”: Multiracial socialization discourse among mommy bloggers with Black and non-Black multiracial children Chandra V. Reyna Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA Correspondence Chandra V. Reyna, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, 2112 Parren Mitchell Art-Sociology Building, 3834 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20742, USA. Email: creyna@umd.edu Edited by: April L. Few-Demo Abstract Objective: This study examines thematic content and dis- course surrounding multiracial socialization between Black and non-Black multiracial families on multiracial mommy blogs. Background: Mommy blogs have been recognized as a medium through which mothers challenge dominant repre- sentations of motherhood, create community with other mothers, and seek out advice. But little is known about how mothers write about and discuss race, racism, and multiracial socialization online. This study addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing how a niche of bloggers— mothers to multiracial children—construct narratives sur- rounding race, multiraciality, and multiracial socialization online and how their narratives differ by the racial makeup of the blogger’s family. Method: Using a MultiCrit framework, this study analyzes 13 mommy blogs written by mothers of color with multira- cial children. Blogs were analyzed for thematic content related to race, racial identification, multiraciality, and multiracial socialization. Results: The findings demonstrate that mothers’ orienta- tions to multiracial socialization vary depending on whether the blogger has Black or non-Black multiracial children. Bloggers who are mothers to Black multiracial children blogged frequently about their engagement in safety socialization, whereas mothers with non-Black mul- tiracial children did not. Conclusion: The stark difference between thematic content from bloggers with and without Black multiracial children highlights the differing experiences among Black and non- Received: 19 August 2021 Revised: 6 June 2022 Accepted: 6 June 2022 DOI: 10.1111/jomf.12866 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2022 The Author. Journal of Marriage and Family published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations. J. Marriage Fam. 2022;84:1507–1528. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jomf 1507 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4920-6865 mailto:creyna@umd.edu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jomf http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1111%2Fjomf.12866&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2022-06-30 Black multiracial people, for mothers of Black multiracial children, and the implications anti-Black racism has on family processes. KEYWORDS African Americans, gender, motherhood, multiracial families, qualitative methodology, socialization INTRODUCTION Much of the existing empirical research on multiracial people has focused on patterns of racial identity and identification, psychological adjustment and well-being, and political consequences of multiracial identification. This research is often centered on multiracial adults with less focused on multiracial children, multiracial socialization, and the role that parents and families play in the construction of multiracial identities. An important question that warrants more investigation is the role that parents play in preparing their multiracial children to navigate the borderlands of race, particularly among multiracial families that are not Black-White and headed by a White mother. Despite the value of existing research on multiracial socialization, many of these studies examine how racial socialization messages and processes occur in private settings. In a digital era, these seemingly private conversations between parent and child are increasingly being replicated and modeled on public platforms. Using a Critical Multiracial Theory (MultiCrit) (Harris, 2016) framework, I analyze the unique context of the blogosphere with particular attention to a subset of bloggers: mothers of color who head multiracial families. I examine how mothers of color with multiracial children construct narratives about race and multiraciality in the blogosphere, how they conceptualize their children’s multiracial identity, how they recount their approaches to multiracial socializa- tion, and if these processes vary by the race of the blogger or racial makeup of the family. This study uses a MultiCrit framework because it allows for the consideration of the sociopolitical and historical manifestations of race in the United States, rejects the science of race in classify- ing multiracial people, and rejects the notion of a monoracial paradigm which excludes the rec- ognition of multiracial identities and realities. In this paper, race is defined not only as a legal category to which people belong based on U.S. government classification systems, but also a fluid social construct that varies according to time and place (Omi & Winant, 2014) and serves to establish racial distinctions as tools of power and oppression (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). A key aspect of racial categories is that they are flexible and can both accommodate and reflect distinct social realities (Golash-Boza, 2016). Some scholars argue that although positive and negative racial identities exist, they are rooted in racist ideologies, can be traced to a racial hierarchy (Golash-Boza, 2016), and that race as a set of identities would not exist without racism (Lewis, 2004). Hence, although this study exam- ines how mothers of multiracial children blog about their children’s multiracial identities and how they account approaching multiracial socialization, it is at its core an examination of how race and racialization—as systems of oppression—structure family processes. LITERATURE REVIEW Racial and ethnic socialization in monoracial families Racial socialization in the context of families broadly refers to the information about race and ethnicity transmitted from parent to child. Specifically, racial socialization is a “a set of overt 1508 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense and covert behaviors parents use, over and above those responsibilities shared by all par- ents, to psychologically prepare children for success in a racially stratified American soci- ety” (Peters, 1985:562). These messages are often a reflection of parents’ class, gender, racial categories, exposure to racism, and the racial socialization they received in addition to their children’s social characteristics (Hughes & Chen, 1997; Thornton, 1997; Thomas & Speight, 1999). Research on ethnic socialization, on the other hand, often looks at the experiences of Latinx or Asian groups and focuses on the transmission of culture, identity retention, and processes of assimilation (Hughes et al., 2006, Umaña-Taylor & Hill, 2020). Exposing children directly to what some scholars refer to as “ethnic raw materials” (Jiménez, 2010) such as food, language, and objects from their country of origin or indirectly through books and conversations about culture are all examples of ethnic socialization practices. While some researchers distinguish racial and ethnic socialization, there is considerable overlap in how they are used. To highlight distinctions between the messages parents communicate to their children about race and ethnic- ity, some scholars use more specific terms for various types of racial or ethnic socialization. These four types are: (1) cultural socialization, or the promotion of cultural customs and tradi- tions; (2) preparation for bias, attempts to educate children on potential discrimination they may face; (3) promotion of mistrust, the promotion of distrust in interracial interactions; and (4) egalitarianism, or valuing individual qualities over racial group membership (Hughes et al., 2006). Racial socialization research has historically been used to describe the ways Black par- ents teach and prepare their monoracial children to navigate racial discrimination and ste- reotypes (Burton et al., 2010; Dow, 2016; Hughes et al., 2006; Peters, 1985; Taylor et al., 1990; Thornton et al., 1990; Turner, 2020). Controlling images—gendered, racialized, and classed depictions of groups (Collins, 2009)—often depict Black boys and men as hyper- masculine and threatening; the consequences of which have been extensively documented. Black boys experience gendered racism (Essed, 1991), are perceived as aggressive and vio- lent by educators (Ferguson, 2000; Pascoe, 2011), accused of offenses they did not commit (Rios, 2011), and receive harsher punishments than their peers (Welch & Payne, 2010). They are also more likely to encounter police and have negative interactions when they do (Brunson & Miller, 2006). Conversely, Black girls are routinely rendered structurally vul- nerable to discipline and punishment (Blake et al., 2011; Morris, 2016; Wun, 2016). As such, parenting Black children often requires a fostering of double consciousness in which chil- dren see themselves through the eyes of the broader society (Du Bois, 1903, 1994). Black parents across social classes go to strategic and great lengths to ensure their children, espe- cially their sons, are prepared to navigate the gendered racism they will likely experience often at very young ages (Allen, 2016; Dow, 2019; Edwards & Few-Demo, 2016; Lewis- McCoy, 2016; Turner, 2020,). Racial and ethnic socialization in multiracial families Considering the persistence of hypodescent specifically for Black-White biracial people, and that multiracial people are primarily targeted for discrimination due to their non-Whiteness rather than their multiraciality (Hern�andez, 2018), parents of multiracial children often feel it necessary to account for their children’s racial and gender identities in their socialization prac- tices (Khanna, 2004; Rockquemore & Laszloffy, 2005). However, the four racial and ethnic socialization frames used when analyzing monoracial families do not always account for the socialization practices parents engage in with multiracial youth. The Multiracial Youth Sociali- zation (My-Soc) scale defines eight types of socialization specific to multiracial youth (Atkin et al., 2021). These eight types are: Navigating Multiple Heritages Socialization, Multiracial YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1509 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense Identity Socialization, Preparation for Monoracism Socialization, Negative Socialization, Colo- rblind Socialization, Diversity Appreciation Socialization, Race-Conscious Socialization, and Silent Socialization. There is a dearth of research on the racial socialization practices in multiracial families (Atkin & Yoo, 2019; Stokes et al., 2021, Umaña-Taylor & Hill, 2020). The scholarship that does exist has mixed results, which is likely due to the intersections of multiple racial identi- ties and histories that multiracial families contend with. For example, some scholarship finds that mothers to biracial children deliver the same range of racial socialization mes- sages as those in monoracial families (Hughes et al., 2006; Rollins & Hunter, 2013) but is overwhelmingly informed by the experiences of White mothers in Black-White families (Atkin & Yoo, 2019; Stokes et al., 2021). White parents of multiracial children report that they lack the experience of being a person of color and therefore have limited knowledge on recognizing, predicting, and interpreting the racialized experiences their children will have (Rauktis et al., 2016). However, other research found the types of racial socialization mes- sages given to children did not vary by mother’s race, but instead by the child’s with Black- White children receiving the most racial socialization messages while non-Black multiracial children received the fewest racial socialization messages and were most likely to receive silent racial socialization (Rollins & Hunter, 2013). Additionally, in Black-White families racial socialization is often the responsibility of the Black parent (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). Collectively, research finds that while racial socialization in Black-White families is context specific and influenced by the salience of race in each family, Black- White multiracial youth are socialized in one of three domains: monoracial Black, color- evasive, or multiracial (Stokes et al., 2021). Research on racial socialization among non-Black multiracial families is also varied. Among multiethnic families, concerns surrounded the loss of cultural knowledge from one gen- eration to the next and thus, parents proactively engaged in cultural socialization (Song, 2017; Song & Gutierrez, 2015) while others emphasize individual development and transcendence of race as opposed to racial group membership or solidarity (Hughes et al., 2006; Song & Gutier- rez, 2015; Stokes et al., 2021). Further, Lee and Bean (2010) suggest that Asian and Latinx par- ents of non-Black multiracial youth may be adopting ethnic-racial socialization practices similar to White parents as they tend to adopt White identities for their children and families. Among Latinx-White families, those with Latina mothers engaged in more ethnic socialization and of that, sons receive more than daughters (Gonz�alez et al., 2006). The varied types and fre- quency of racial socialization among multiracial families underscores the need for better under- standing of how racialized systems, phenotype, and racial makeup affects multiracial family processes. A burgeoning research area focuses on the multiracial socialization practices among parents who themselves are multiracial. Among multiracial parents, U.S. parents were more concerned with fostering racial identities in their multiracial children (Sims & Njaka, 2020) whereas U.K. parents were more concerned with a fostering a national identity in their children (Song, 2017). Among both U.S. and U.K. parents, those with phenotypically Black children reported they were not as encouraging of a multiracial identity as they felt their children would be perceived as Black (Sims & Njaka, 2020). This was especially the case among children who had Black fathers (Bratter, 2007). Moreover, U.S. mothers with Black multiracial children who phenotypically presented as Black worried about their sons’ safety at very young ages (Sims & Njaka, 2020), whereas U.K. mothers whose children were racially ambiguous were primarily concerned with discrimination or ridicule instead of violence (Song, 2017). These concerns are consistent with parents of monoracial Black children and indicative of the reach of anti-Black racism, the limitations parents of Black multiracial children experience, and the potential lim- ited identity choices available to Black multiracial people. 1510 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense Multiracial identification Beginning with the 2000 decennial Census, people could identify themselves and their children with more than one racial category. This change was in large part the result of a movement heavily backed by White mothers of multiracial children who sought official and accurate racial recognition for their children (Williams, 2006). Following this change, social scientists had an increased interest in analyzing how multiracial people identify themselves and how parents identify their multiracial children. The increased interest is also undoubtedly related to signifi- cant demographic shifts. Since 1965, the United States has undergone a “browning of America” wherein the multiethnic and multiracial populations have grown significantly (Collins, 2001) and this trend is not expected to reverse. According to 2020 US Census data, 10.2% of the total population and 15.1% of all children are now multiracial (Jones et al., 2021). A MultiCrit analysis necessitates a challenge to ahistoricism. Therefore, to understand the implications of multiracial identity and identification, one must also consider that U.S. racial stratification is rooted in eugenics and a racialized history of imperialism. Historically the one- drop rule, wherein anyone with Black ancestry was perceived as Black and assigned the accom- panying lower social status, operated with the goal of keeping Whiteness pure and “untainted” by Blackness (Gotanda, 1991). This practice can be traced as far back as American chattel slav- ery where Black women’s biracial children were deemed as Black and not biracial or White (Blassingame, 1972). This legacy, continued skin color stratification, and anti-Blackness built into the U.S. social system has and continues to structure identity choices for Black multiracial people. Although identity choices for Black multiracial people often seem limited to either Black or biracial, four identity choices have been identified: a singular identity option (Black or White), a border identity (exclusively biracial), a protean identity (multiple options depending on con- text), or a transcendent identity (deracialized identity) (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). Nev- ertheless, identity options available to multiracial people may not align with their parents’ understandings of their racial identity and how they move through racialized spaces, especially if their parents are monoracial (Rockquemore & Laszloffy, 2005; Rollins & Hunter, 2013). THE ROLE OF MOMMY BLOGS IN CONTEMPORARY MOTHERHOOD Since the mid-1990s, mothers have used the Internet to communicate with each other and dis- cuss the experiences and challenges of raising children. Mothers also use the Internet to seek out information, advice, and support (Lupton et al., 2016) and over time the Internet has come to be a form of social support for many (Johnson, 2015). One way parents communicate and share information on the Internet is through running or frequenting what are commonly known as “mommy blogs.” One study found that 76 percent of new mothers read blogs at least some- times (McDaniel et al., 2012) and others recognize that parents look to parenting blogs for advice on how to have discussions with their children about race (Hagerman, 2016). Mommy bloggers are bloggers who run parenting blogs that are written in a personal diary format. Content is focused on the bloggers’ day to day lives and experiences of motherhood. Much of the scholarly research on mommy blogs has focused on how the blogosphere facilitates community building by connecting mothers across time and space (Abetz & Moore, 2018; Lopez, 2009; McDaniel et al., 2012; Morrison, 2010) and how mothers use the blogosphere to redefine contemporary motherhood (Lopez, 2009). But this research is often focused on White bloggers and monoracial White families. In an increasingly digital world, the online arena has become an extension of our public selves. Mommy blogs move seemingly private conversations between mother and child to a YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1511 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense public platform. Analyzing how narratives about race are constructed in the blogosphere is of scholarly interest for several reasons. First, how mothers of multiracial children conceptualize their children’s racial identities could potentially impact the racial socialization they provide their children. Second, how mothers conceptualize their children’s’ multiracial identities and how they engage in multiracial socialization is an indicator of how they engage with racial for- mation within the family. Third, narratives found in the blogosphere reflect the experiences of multiracial families but also act as knowledge sites for other parents who may have similar fam- ily types or are facing similar issues and have sought out the blog for advice or guidance. More- over, because blogs are intentionally curated for public consumption, they are ideal sites for identifying the pulse of and studying contemporary public mothering discourse. In this paper, I use the unique context of the blogosphere to explore how mothers of color from a diverse array of mixed-race family configurations identify their multiracial children, how they construct narratives surrounding race and multiraciality based on those identification choices, and how they discuss their orientation to racial socialization online. This research allows me to understand how mothers to multiracial children—across racial groups—are con- sciously or unconsciously participating in racial formation (Omi & Winant, 2014) in their fami- lies but also on public platforms. Moreover, rather than reflecting what mothers actually do in their homes, which this data does not speak to, this research and mommy blogs as a whole rep- resent contemporary mothering concerns, ideals, and values. METHODS To examine how mothers of multiracial children construct narratives about race and multi- raciality in the blogosphere, I analyzed discourse on what I refer to as multiracial mommy blogs. In this study, a multiracial mommy blog is any public blog whose main topic is related to multiracial mothering or the blogger is part of a multiracial family. A multiracial family or a multiracial person in this study is any person who has parents of different races. All blogs included in the sample fit the following criteria: the blogger is a biological mother to multiracial children, the blogger is a mother of color, and the blogger resides in the United States. Mothers who had nonbiological multiracial families were excluded because often (1) the children in these families were monoracial or (2) the mothers were White. Therefore, these families did not fit the larger study criteria. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to collect and analyze the data. Con- structivist grounded theory differs from classic grounded theory in that it requires researchers to identify their preconceptions with the data whereas classic grounded theory does not. An emer- gent method such as constructivist grounded theory is the recommended methodological approach when knowledge of a certain phenomenon is unknown or fragmented, as is the case with multiracial mothering discourse online (Charmaz, 2008). Constructivist grounded theory has four strategies that I incorporated through the research process: theoretical sampling, memo writing, coding, and theoretical saturation. Sample To locate the blogs used in this analysis, I began by searching Google and reviewed the first 20 pages of results. Searches began in October 2017 and concluded in January 2018. After this time, no additional blogs were added to the sample even if they fit the established criteria. How- ever, new content appearing on the selected blogs after January 2018 would be included in the sample. The search terms I used were: multiracial blog, multiracial family blog, multiracial par- enting blog, mixed race parenting blog, biracial blog, biracial family blog, biracial parenting 1512 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense blog, multicultural blog, multicultural family blog, and multicultural parenting blog. Through these searches, I developed a list of blogs that were branded as multiracial according to my criteria. During the search process, I came across general parenting blogs in which the blogger was part of a multiracial family but did not brand their blog as a multiracial family blog. In these cases, and because this is a study of bloggers who write about multiraciality online, if racial identity or racial composition of the family was discussed, the blog was included in my sample. In addition to the searches described above, I also added blogs that fit the established criteria that were referenced or linked to another multiracial parenting blogsite. This resulted in a total of 55 blogs. Seventeen of these were excluded after further review because they did not meet the criteria to be included (e.g., were not biological parent–child relationships, did not reside in the United States, etc.). This left the remaining sample with 38 blogs. From this sample, I elimi- nated any bloggers who did not specifically identify as non-White, resulting in 13 blogs. The sample consists of five Black, four Asian, and four Latina mommy bloggers. The racial composition of families consisted of five Black-White, three Asian-White, one Latinx-White, three Black-Latinx, and one Black-Asian. All 13 of the mothers are married. Eight of the mothers work outside of the home with the remaining five working within the home running their blog and/or caring for their children full-time. Table 1 provides a description of bloggers’ family demographics. Data All blog posts written between January 2013 and August 2018 on the selected 13 blogs were cat- alogued. The entirety of data for this project is all publicly available online. The very nature of blogs and the ever-changing Internet means that at any time bloggers can choose to shut down their websites or move their blog behind a paywall and all content could be lost. To protect against this, as posts were catalogued, they were converted to PDF with date and time stamps. Because I was primarily interested in multiracial socialization, I focused my analysis on blog posts that focused on the following topics: race, racism, racial identity, phenotype, bi/multiracial, bi/multicultural, culture, language, bilingualism, parenting concerns/worries, and explicit refer- ence to other social issues. Because blog content and posting frequency varies, the number of ana- lyzed blog posts per blog varies as well. The average number of analyzed posts per blog during the research timeframe was 27, for a total of 351 blog posts. Data analysis I coded blog posts using NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software, following a constructivist grounded theory approach in which I analyzed and reanalyzed data in an iterative process (Charmaz, 2008). I began by inductively coding blog posts line by line allowing for emergent codes and later moved to focused coding to synthesize the data. Throughout this process, I engaged in thematic memo writing to analyze emergent codes, make comparisons between the data, and identify patterns. A key category that emerged was the various strategies mothers use to teach their children about their multiraciality. I coded narratives that were focused on their children embracing more than one aspect of their racial identity as multiracial socialization. I coded narratives as racial socialization when blog posts mentioned (a) interpreting conversa- tions about race as a key shift in their mothering responsibilities and expected that conversa- tions on race would continue and evolve at age-appropriate levels for their children, (b) safety concerns for their children, (c) anticipated racism their children would experience in the future, (d) conversations (or anticipated conversations) with their children about ways of acting, being, and dressing in certain situations on account of their racial identity and how they may be YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1513 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense perceived by others. Each of these categories was further analyzed to identify the specific type of socialization described as identified in both the multiracial socialization (Atkin & Yoo, 2019) and broader racial-ethnic socialization literatures (Hughes et al., 2006). Negative case analysis was performed on any cases that were not consistent with existing typologies in the data. At the conclusion of the coding process and after theme refinement, I was left with five themes and one subtheme. Throughout the data analysis process, I took steps to maximize rigor and credibility (Morse, 2015). I took advantage of NVivo’s data query capabilities that allow for identification of patterns across cases and negative cases both of which help test robustness and theoretical claims (Deterding & Waters, 2021). For instance, after codes were applied, I ran a query at the intersection of each analytic code and person level attributes. This allowed me to analyze how codes were distributed across demographics, whether I applied codes uniformly across cases, and acted as a system of checks and balances for researcher bias. If I discovered an inaccuracy, I recoded the selection that was not uniform and reran the query. I also ran text queries to ensure I did not neglect, miscode, or mischaracterize key themes in the data. For example, after all codes were applied and I was in the process of refining my analysis, I ran a text query for the words safe, safety, shoot, and police to ensure I coded all mentions of safety and policy, that I uniformly applied codes, and that codes I did apply were appropriately characterizing the text. TABLE 1 Blogger’s family demographics Blog title and blogger name No. of children Gender of children Blogger’s racial or ethnic background Spouse’s racial or ethnic background Occupation Bicultural Mama (Maria) 2 GG Chinese White Full-time Blogger LadyDeeLG (Diana) 2 BG Latina French Campaign Director for 501(c)(4) Raising Whasians (Christie) 2 GG Korean White Full-time Blogger A Family Lives Here (Stephanie) 2 GG Chinese White Full-time Blogger Are Those Your Kids (Diedre) 3 GGB Black White Elementary School Counselor Meet the Blussians (Crystal) 1 B Black Ukrainian Author Weather Anchor Mama (Stacy-Ann) 2 GB Black White Meteorologist De Su Mama (Vanessa) 2 GB Latina Black Full-time blogger Cherish 365 (Jennifer) 3 GBG Black White Full-time blogger I’m not the Nanny (Thien-Kim) 2 GB Vietnamese- American Black Business owner Growing up Blackxican (Ruby) 4 BGBG Mexican Black Employed, industry unknown Modern Mami (Melanie) 2 GB Puerto Rican Trinidadian Business owner Aiming for August (Erica) 2 GB Black White Lactation Consultant Note: N = 13 bloggers. G, girl; B, boy. Genders of children are listed from eldest to youngest. Gender, race, ethnicity, or national origin are included as identified by the blogger. Data for race, ethnicity, and national origin are reported at different levels because not all bloggers identify with a recognized U.S. racial category. Many identify ethnically, with their family’s national origin, or in inconsistent ways. 1514 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense FINDINGS Mothers’ blog content revealed a range of racial narratives and orientations to multiracial socialization including multiracial identity socialization, cultural socialization, exposure to diver- sity socialization, race conscious socialization, preparation for bias, and a subtheme of safety socialization, which has not been previously identified in the literature. Table 2 shows the pres- ence of dominant narratives and orientations to multiracial socialization that appear at least once in blog commentary. Each blogger in the sample published at least one post during the research timeframe that discussed multiracial identity socialization, cultural socialization, race conscious socialization, and preparation for bias. However, only 10 of the 13 mothers published posts referencing their desires or intentions to engage in exposure to diversity socialization and only mothers with Black multiracial children published posts where safety socialization was dis- cussed. Overall, these mothers recognized a need for intentional multiracial socialization, which is summed up by Vanessa, a Latina blogger who runs De Su Mama, is married to a Black man, and has two multiracial children. They need access to all their cultures, languages and family legacies; they need a caregiver who understands how to care for curly mixed hair or dry skin; they need allies and allowance to be one thing one day and another the next. And, the most heart-wrenching lessons I’ve encountered over the last few years, my babies need a mother that isn’t blind to race relations in this country and can teach them how to stay alive while being black in America. In addition to the universal themes of motherhood that binds us all together, Multiracial Mothers share unique chal- lenges, experiences and joys that are reflective of our family dynamic and legacies. Multiracial identity socialization Multiracial identity socialization narratives involved mothers encouraging their children to embrace all aspects of their racial or cultural backgrounds, providing tangible items or experi- ences that allowed their children to explore their various identities, but also included narratives that encouraged children to develop a double consciousness, especially among Black multiracial children. For example, Ruby, who is a Mexican mother, married to a Black man, has four mul- tiracial children, and runs Growing up Blackxican, wrote: I’ve always said it’s our job as parents to teach our kids about their heritage but more importantly encourage identity…As a parent who has identified her TABLE 2 Orientation to multiracial socialization present on blogs Mothers with non-Black multiracial children Mothers with Black multiracial children Total Orientation N = 4 N = 9 N = 13 Multiracial identity socialization 4 9 13 Cultural socialization 4 9 13 Exposure to diversity 2 8 10 Race-conscious 4 9 13 Preparation for bias 4 9 13 Safety socialization 0 8 8 Note: N = 13 bloggers. YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1515 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense children as Blackxican, I’ve learned to take criticism by others who questioned my decision as a parent…I want them to always be proud of who they are and if they feel the need to change identity a million times to feel happy so be it! This is something I must express over and over to my children because I know our world will challenge them. Ruby identifies her children as Blackxican, an ode to their parents Black and Mexican iden- tities. But as evidenced in this post and throughout her blog, she is open to and will accept any racial identity her children ultimately choose for themselves. When discussing strategies she uses to foster her children’s multiracial identities, Ruby wrote: I realized that a lot of the books available only dealt with skin color, language or one culture. Very few dealt with mixed race, mixed roots or mixed heritage… Talking about our Mixed Heritage may come easy but I feel it’s important to pre- pare our kids the diverse world we live in today. Exposing them to other cultures, races and even other mixed heritages is a must! Like many other mothers in the sample, Ruby often used racially diverse and culturally rep- resentative toys, books, and media as multipurpose items in their socialization toolkits. These simultaneously exposed children to racial and ethnic diversity that was not always present in their communities, provided positive and representative role models for their children, aided in the passing of culture through the teachings of customs, history, and even language, but also helped to build children’s sense of self and multiracial identity. Like Ruby, Melanie, the Latina mother behind Modern Mami, who has a Black husband and two biracial children wrote, “Being a multicultural household means we often seek books with characters our children can relate to and “see” themselves in.” Vanessa, the Latina blogger who runs De Su Mama, extended this narrative to film and explained what representation on television meant to her and her daughter. Now, as a Latina mom to my own little, brown beauty, I purposely seek out oppor- tunities for my children to see themselves in media and in their society. As I had hoped for when I was a little girl, Disney princesses have become multicultural, brown, and now, Latina. Like Ruby, Melanie, and Vanessa, 12 of the 13 bloggers published at least one post during the research timeframe about their use of representative books, toys, and media to help develop a positive multiracial identity in their children. They often shared their latest findings on their blogs with accompanying reviews. Although all mothers in the sample identified their children as bi- or multiracial and wrote about their desire to foster their children’s multiracial identities, all but one mother who had Black multiracial children blogged about coming to the realization that they must also socialize their sons as though they are Black. The double consciousness mothers encouraged their sons to adopt is clearly evidenced by Crystal, the blogger behind Meet the Blussians. Crystal is a Black woman whose husband is Ukrainian-Russian, and they have two biracial children. When dis- cussing how she approached raising her son, she wrote: My son is Black Ukrainian—he’s half-Black, half-Ukrainian…I’m in the process of speaking mostly Russian to him and creating more Russian and Ukrainian dishes in addition to the soul food ones I always prepare. Yet, I also know the challenges my son will face when he’s older. You see, Bear [her son] is light-skinned with curly hair. As he gets older, the hair might get shorter and his skin might become darker. 1516 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense To society, he’ll be viewed as Black. It doesn’t matter how I view him or even how I raise him. The moment he steps foot outside our door, I can’t control how society views him. I can only prepare him. I’ll be honest with it; when Bear gets older I’ll tell him straight up—you are biracial but society will view you as a Black man and you’ll be treated as such. In this passage, Crystal explained that she tries to foster a multiracial or multicultural identity in her son by identifying him as such, conversing with him in multiple languages, and even through food. But she must also contend with the fact that he will likely be racialized as a Black man and in the U.S. that comes with negative consequences. Like other mothers with Black multiracial sons, she ultimately felt constrained by the monoracial paradigm and conse- quences of anti-Black racism. Similar to Crystal, Stacy-Ann, the author of Weather Anchor Mama, wrote: Our son is biracial. I am black and his Dad is white. Although we teach our chil- dren that they are the best of both worlds, society paints a different picture. He0ll be forced to choose a side. The “one drop rule” means he’ll be labeled a black boy by society. That said, our son may have hard times later in life because of it. I could do my best to teach him about his identity, as I do his sister. Stacy-Ann highlights how the United States’ racial history has led to their predicament in mothering their multiracial children: the persistence of racializing anyone perceived as Black and forcing them into a monoracial paradigm that conforms to the U.S.’s rigid racial regime. She drew a direct parallel between the one drop rule and her prediction that although their son is multiracial, he will ultimately have to “choose a side”—and he will not be able to choose White or even multiracial. In her eyes, the decision has been made for him. Cultural socialization Cultural socialization narratives involved exposing children to customs and traditions from their ethnic or cultural backgrounds. Maria, the blogger behind Bicultural Mama, illustrates the extent to which some mothers go to ensure their children are surrounded by various aspects of their culture. Maria is a Chinese woman married to a White man and has two biracial daugh- ters. She described why she sends her children to a Chinese School an hour away from her home. Today, I’m living in Long Island in a quaint and charming town with colonial houses and a long history. There are some Asians here—not a lot, but at least there are about 25 members in our local Asian families Facebook group. To teach my children about their Chinese culture, I know I need to find resources and opportu- nities. My oldest daughter goes to Chinese School (the younger one is not old enough yet). I try to instill pride in them about their Chinese heritage. I’m fortunate that I’m within an hour driving distance to events and places that celebrate our culture. In this post and others, Maria explained to her readers how she was one of five Asian children in her elementary school and her children are also not being raised in a diverse area. Sending her children to a Chinese school serves multiple purposes: it connects her children with their Chinese culture but also exposes her children to diversity outside of the home. YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1517 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense Diana, the blogger who runs Ladydeelg, is a Latina mother married to a Frenchman and has two multiracial children. She sends her children to a dual-language Spanish program and is raising them trilingual. When reflecting on the challenges associated with raising tri- lingual children and how easy it is to fall back into using English she wrote, “There are days when he does answer in English and I will say, “you can speak to me in Spanish or French, take your pick.” I have that luxury of picking between two languages!” In the rest of this post, Diana shares with readers the strategies she uses to train her and her children’s minds to use their target languages (Spanish or French). These include watching television, reading news and books, social media, listening to music, and skyping with family and friends from Ecuador or France. Narratives on both Maria and Diana’s blogs described how they engaged in cultural sociali- zation as a way to develop their children’s sense of belonging and identification with their larger ethnic groups. Although not all bloggers sent their children to dual language programs, each of the 13 bloggers posted about their intentional decisions to surround their children with cultural experiences through food, holidays, and language. Exposure to diversity Exposure to diversity socialization included actions to ensure children were exposed to racially and culturally diverse spaces, people, and contexts. Mothers blogged frequently about how they ensured their children were exposed to diversity which included the schools they sent their children to and even moving their families to new states. Thien- Kim, the blogger behind I’m not the Nanny, who is a Vietnamese American woman with a Black husband and two multiracial children explained why they moved their family from Louisiana to Washington, D.C. She wrote, “While we may not have much left over for savings after our living expenses in DC, we are banking on something bigger: diversity.” She goes on to describe her hometown in Louisiana and reflects on why she continues to reside in D.C. Sometimes I see Asian people. I hardly ever see interracial couples or mixed race children…I think about what kind of life my children would have growing up here. Learning about race for them would be more than how unique their skin color makes them…She will not see many mixed race kids if we lived in Louisiana. It’s a normal part of life in DC. In Louisiana, it’s an anomaly…I think that diversity is worth the scrimping and saving to live in DC. In this post, Thien-Kim points out that she specifically is concerned with her children being surrounded by multiracial diversity. She goes on to share her concern that if her chil- dren were being raising in an area with few multiracial people, they would be asked to “choose which part of themselves is more important? Are they more Vietnamese or more African-American?,” which she did not want. She wanted them to be able to embrace all aspects of their identity. Like Thien-Kim, Crystal, who runs Meet the Blussians, is concerned with her son being surrounded by diversity. She described what she was looking for in her sons elementary school: While we were assigned to a school, it’s not one that we want to send Bear to. The Great Schools rating is lower than hell, and some online reviews of said school have mentioned bullying isn’t curbed. Not to mention, we don’t really want to send our child to a school that is predominantly any race for the fear of he would be bullied. 1518 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense We lucked out with his preschool and how diverse it is. Bear has a Muslim best friend and a Latino one. He0s very friendly with children of other races and he’s not the only biracial child at the school. He has friends who have gay parents, par- ents of all socio-economic classes, and it was all love between us. I loved that school because everyone was celebrated and I hope our next child will be able to attend it. Elementary school, however, is a different ball game. Diedre, the blogger behind Are Those Your Kids, feels similarly to Crystal about the diver- sity of her children’s school. She described what was important in her school search and pro- vided pointers for her readers who may also be searching for diverse schools. Are you moving to a new area? Check out the schools and school districts before purchasing a home. All schools are not created equally (unfortunately)…If you are a multiracial family, check out the demographics of the school. Do the ethnicities of the teachers reflect the student body? Is the student body diverse? Does the school hold multicultural events? Like Thien-Kim, Crystal, and Diedre, 10 of the 13 bloggers published at least one post where they discussed how they ensure their children are in not only diverse but multiracial phys- ical spaces. Race conscious socialization Narratives that focus on teaching about prejudice, racial inequality, but also the impor- tance of treating people from all racial groups equally are race conscious socialization messages. Every mother in the sample published at least one post in which they recounted either engaging in race conscious socialization with their children but also with their readers. Ruby, the mother behind Growing up Blackxican, wrote the following about how her family did not censor news from their children and instead contextualized it in an age- appropriate manner. When it comes to the news the hubs and I hardly ever censor it for our kids. We have TV and social media and live streams on occasionally when big issues arise. The death of Trayvon Martin was one of the first real issues we discussed with our kids. While it wasn’t easy it was important and it was an issue we wanted them to hear and understand from us. The hubs gathered the kids, asked if what they know anything about the news lately, and listened to our kids speak. We then shared in a kid-friendly manner what the situation that was about to be addressed on TV was all about. Ruby not only discusses how she engages in race conscious socialization with her children, but also has numerous posts educating her readers about various national conversations. Like Ruby, Stephanie, a Chinese American woman who is married to a White man, the mother of two biracial daughters, and runs A Family Lives Here, posted the following educating her readers and encouraging them to sign the White House’s AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force petition. There are kids everyday who suffer at the hands of bullies. For Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) kids, this problem is exacerbated by the varied cul- tural, religious and linguistic barriers that keep them, and often their parents from YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1519 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense seeking help. You can join the #ActToChange movement by signing the pledge and speaking out and helping those in need. You can make the difference. Stephanie has previous recounted for her readers instances where her children were bullied or experienced microaggressions at schools. In this passage, she reminded her readers of this and encouraged them to take a stand against something is affecting her children and family. Another example of mothers engaging in race conscious socialization for their children but also their readers is evidenced by Diana, the mother who runs Ladydeelg. While I am not African American, I firmly believe that it is really important to learn about African American history and culture. It’s not “Black” history; it is American history– period. You can’t talk about our nation’s history without talking about slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, segregation and so many other things that may not be pretty to talk about but that happened, and they affected millions of our nations’ citizens… I think it is not enough to let schools “teach” these things, it is important to have conversations with our children…Here are some books to help start that conversation. In this post, Diana simultaneously highlights how she is proactive in teaching her children about Black history and racial injustice with her children, uses children’s books as a teaching tool, but is also acting as a resource for her readers. In a separate post after the murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling Diana wrote the following in a post titled, “To the Mother Who Isn’t Outraged: Where is your Humanity? #BlackLivesMatter.” LET ME SAY THIS LOUD AND CLEAR: THERE IS NO UNIVERSE IN WHICH THIS IS JUSTIFIABLE… There is no universe in which a mother should have to worry about her loved ones never coming home simply for existing. And that is exactly what Black mothers and mothers of black children are feeling. My friends who are raising black boys don’t only worry about sleep issues, potty train- ing, bullying… they worry about what the world is going to do to their black chil- dren, their husbands, fathers, brothers, who are being stopped and frisked, being arrested without cause, or being shot, or never coming home…And to those moms I want to say, I am sorry. I am sorry you have to go through this. I am sorry that in 2016 this is happening. I am sorry that you fear for the lives of your loved ones simply because of the color of their skin. In both Stephanie and Diana’s posts, they spoke directly to their readers about racial vio- lence that their and other families were experiencing. In doing so, they are not only turning their platforms into knowledge sites with information about her own multiracial family type, but also other racial and multiracial family types. Each of the 13 bloggers published at least one post that aimed to educate their readers about racism and shared resources for further engagement. Preparation for bias Preparation for bias narratives includes mothers teaching their children about potential racism their children will encounter on account of their monoracial or multiracial heritages and how to cope with these experiences. Narratives that were applicable to navigating and responding to microaggressions and bullying were identifies as general preparation for bias and narratives that were applicable to navigating potentially unsafe encounters with the general public or police were identified as safety socialization. 1520 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense General preparation for bias General preparation for bias narratives was often focused on children experiencing and navigat- ing microaggressions and racist bullying in their schools. In fact, three of the four Asian mothers recounted instances of bullying and how they approached it with their children. For example, Christie, who runs Raising Whasians, connected some of the first concerns she had as a new mother to the bullying her son was now experiencing in school. She wrote: Would he be teased like I was for his Asian features? Would he blend in? Would he be accepted? Would he check the “Asian” box on his college application? To say that the road since my first thoughts as a multicultural mom has been easy—it hasn’t. My son already had his first encounter with bullying. I expect that we will have to have so many more talks about being different. But I can tell you now, that the joys of my son being a perfect blend of my husband and me outweigh the fears. At the time of this writing, Christie’s son was very young and he had already experienced bullying at school which she attributed to his race. This is also evidenced by Stephanie, the blogger who runs A Family Lives Here. In one post she wrote, “For my daughters who are half Chinese, half white, my oldest had one teacher decide to call the Asian girls in her class by fea- tures rather than names, because it was too hard to tell them apart.” And in another post, she recounts this situation again: I taught my daughter about race that day, and about people who are racist, and how we should not be like them. I taught her the importance for standing up for herself, and to fight against that sort of injustice. Fast forward to last week. Last week my daughter, in 6th grade now, came home to tell me that a white boy in her class said, “Chinese people are stupid.” My daughter also mentioned a teacher, a week previous to this incident had said, “What? Am I speaking Chinese?” when some of the students didn’t listen to her as she was trying to get them to the carpet. Christie and Stephanie both continued to reflect on how their children’s race will impact their future including how they may be accepted by peers, if they will experience continued rac- ism, how they will racially identify, and how they teach their children to navigate these situations. Safety socialization Narratives that addressed safety recounted situations, conversations, and experiences that left mothers frustrated or fearful for their children’s current and future mental and physical wellbeing, up to and including the loss of their lives. Narratives on blogs by mothers with Black multiracial children illustrate the additional burdens associated with mothering Black children in a society built on anti-Black racism and the way they construct narratives about racism and multiraciality in the blogosphere. In addition to narratives about passing on culture and immersing their families in diverse spaces, bloggers who are mothers to Black multiracial chil- dren wrote frankly about race, racism, and their children’s and family’s racial and multiracial identities in ways that other mothers did not. These mothers expressed feeling isolated in their mothering endeavors and recount coming to the realization that mothering Black multiracial children had unique challenges. They were also concerned with preparing their children to navi- gate future and anticipated anti-Black gendered racism that differed from bullying narratives on other mothers’ blogs. Moreover, whereas generalized concerns for their children’s safety YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1521 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense were apparent, there was a distinct gendered difference: mothers were much more concerned with the physical safety of their sons than their daughters. Diedre, the blogger behind Are Those Your Kids, is a Black woman married to a White man and mother to three biracial children. Narratives on Diedre’s blog are perhaps ideal to illustrate the extensive emotional burden placed on mothers with Black multiracial children, the gendered differences within families, the predicament families with Black sons and non-Black fathers face, and how seemingly similar narratives and concerns are qualitatively different from mothers with non-Black multiracial children. Like Christie, Diedre published a post about the concerns she has for her son that was not yet born. While she was pregnant with her third child and first son, she wrote: The lessons I teach my future biracial son will be similar to the ones I teach his sis- ters, but I know his needs will be unique. Here are a few of the things I hope to instill in my son…If you are dark skinned, you will be identified as a black man… In this country, blackness, especially for a male can be dangerous, even life threat- ening. Unfortunately, I will have to discuss the weight that carries—even if he is biracial, if he is perceived as black, it could make his life more difficult. Thankfully he has 3 black uncles that can help guide the way. In this post, Diedre simultaneously illustrates two narratives common among mothers with Black multiracial children. First, she acknowledged that although her son will be biracial, his phenotype will determine the way he is racialized and the barriers he will face—up to and potentially including the loss of his life. At the time, her son was yet to be born and she was already anticipating the racism he would experience and the controlling images often applied to Black boys and men he would navigate. The heightened concern for her future son’s safety did not extend to her two older daughters who are also biracial of the same parentage in this post or others on her blog. Second, Diedre alludes to an additional predicament Black mothers with multiracial sons are presented with: their children’s non-Black fathers can likely not prepare them for the intricacies associated with being a Black man. When discussing how she will teach her son to navigate his multiracial identity, Stacy-Ann, who runs Weather Anchor Mama, wrote, But let’s face it; I’m missing one key component—I am not a black man. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that his Dad isn’t a good father. He’s great! But there may be questions and issues that may come up down the road and I’m not sure we’ll have all the right answers. Four of the five Black mothers who had Black-White biracial sons wrote at least one post discussing how they plan to or challenges associated with teaching their sons what it means to be a Black man when their father does not have experiential knowledge to pass down. Vanessa, who runs De Su Mama, had similar concerns as Diedre. She identifies as Latina, has a Black husband, and a multiracial son and daughter. Throughout her blog she wrote about “multicultural motherhood” at length. She discussed leading with intention and raising her chil- dren in a multicultural household where they embrace both their Blackness and their Latinidad. Nevertheless, she wrote, “It has become painfully clear to me that, had I continued to parent my boy like he wasn’t a black kid, I would be doing a massive disservice to his life’s prepara- tion.” It is of note that these same sentiments were not applied to her older daughter who was also multiracial with a similar phenotype. In a separate post, Vanessa explained her feelings of isolation and uneasiness in her family’s White suburban community. She wrote: Once again, I’m mostly alone as a mom to multiracial children in my white, apa- thetic world. And unlike before, I can no longer stay neutral to the apathetic 1522 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense environment I’m allowing my children to associate with and be raised in. Our black children cannot find safety with those who are tone-deaf, callous and apathetic to the realities of being black in America. My children are not safe with you. In this post, Vanessa was very direct in her disdain for her “white, apathetic world.” She acknowledged that being Black in America is a distinct social location with accompanying experiences and that these experiences and realities were being ignored by her “tone-deaf” White community members. The ending of the passage highlights that she did not trust her community members to protect the lives of her and other mothers’ Black children. Jennifer, the blogger who runs Cherish 365, is a Black woman whose White husband is a police officer discussed the contrast between #bluelivesmatter and #blacklivesmatter. She wrote: Most of the time it feels like everyone is either afraid or hates police. But you know what? From the middle of the road, where I’m standing, it seems like people fear and hate black people even more. I need more love for my black community. And guess what? You don’t have to switch sides, you can do both… If my husband were killed in the line of duty I KNOW I’d have your support. And I’m so thankful for that. But if my son was killed at the hands of police would I still have your love and support? Or would you assume he was somehow threatening? In this passage, Jennifer not only discussed her own fears for her son as he ages but she also engages in public race conscious socialization with her readers by challenging them to critically think about the way they would or would not support different members of her fam- ily if one of them were subjected to violence. Similar to other bloggers who had Black multira- cial children she was frank and spoke directly to readers who she felt would not prioritize the humanity and safety of her Black children. Like Diedre and Vanessa, at the time of this writ- ing her son was very young and the conversation did not extend to her older phenotypically similar daughter. Eight of the nine mothers to Black multiracial children published at least one post that linked police violence against Black men to their own fears for their son’s safety. However, not all mothers with Black multiracial children limited safety socialization to their sons. For example, Erica who is a Black mother, with a white husband, two multiracial chil- dren, and runs Aiming for August, wrote the following specifically about her daughter. How can I explain to my biracial child that some skin colors are prosecuted more severely than others? That half of her ethnicity is treated more kindly than the other?…Why do I have to explain to her that she should always pull her cell phone out and secretly video when she gets pulled over, just in case? Erica went on to write, “How can I protect her? These questions haunt me. They exhaust me. They put my stomach in knots.” highlighting the extensive emotional burdens placed on mothers to Black children. Similarly, Thein-Kim, who runs I’m not the Nanny wrote the follow- ing when reflecting on her decision to move from Louisiana to Washington D.C. to shield her children from racism at an early age: When Alton Sterling was killed, the bubble I created for me and my family burst. My black husband and my black children are not safe. Every evening this week, I anxiously wait to hear my husband’s keys in our front door. Then I know he’s safe. Or at least that he’s home with me. I worry that when my kids are old enough to go out on their own, they might be hurt just because of their brown skin. YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1523 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense In this post Thien-Kim did not limit her safety concerns to her son. Her concerns for her family’s safety were equally applied to all children in her home. She went on to implore her readers to talk to their children and families about racial injustice. She wrote, “Start the conver- sation now. Don’t wait until another black person is killed.” She ended the post with resources to begin holding difficult conversations. Not only did this post illustrate the emotional burdens mothers to Black multiracial children carry, but also the emotional labor they put into educat- ing their readers and advocating for their and other children’s safety. In sum, for the mothers included in this paper, blogging served a deeper purpose than sharing generalized motherhood experiences and struggles. Mothers were aware their blogs are available for public consumption and all mothers used their platforms to encourage their readers to do their part in creating a more just society for their children to grow up in. This in itself, is an act of mothering on behalf of their own children, but others’ as well. DISCUSSION This study advances the understanding of mothers’ engagement in multiracial socialization and how narratives about multiraciality take place on public platforms by analyzing prominent multiracial mommy blogs ran by mothers of color. Due to its MultiCrit framework, my findings demonstrate that not all multiracial families and children experience and conceptualize multi- raciality similarly. Bloggers who are mothers to Black multiracial children blogged frequently about their engagement in safety socialization—concern for their children’s emotional and phys- ical safety in school, their community, with law enforcement, and strategies for mitigating the potential harm their children may experience. Echoing other research among mothers of color with multiracial children (Sims & Njaka, 2020; Song, 2017) my findings highlight the substantial emotional burdens associated with mothering Black multiracial children, the reach that anti-Black racism has on parents and family processes, and the differing experiences among Black and non-Black multiracial families. Considering the similarities in accounts from mothers to Black (multiracial and monoracial) children across time and space, my findings suggest that the persistence of anti-Black racism may continue to subject Black children to monoracial paradigms of race, regardless of how they racially identify. Conversely, mothers to non-Black multiracial children had the additional freedom to lead with mothering approaches that encouraged their children to live truly multicultural lives, both publicly and privately. While they did not believe their children were growing up in a post-racial world, none of the mothers to non-Black multiracial children wrote about needing to limit their children’s identity choices or actions their children could or could not take on account of their asserted or imposed racial identities. The opposite, in fact, was true. Mothers to non-Black mul- tiracial children blogged about encouraging their children to defy racial boundaries and societal expectations placed on them because of their races. This study also advances the understanding of how mothers from various multiracial family formations use their skin tone privilege to defy or engage with racial hierarchies rooted in anti- Blackness. My findings show that non-Black mothers to Black multiracial youth used their racial privilege to vehemently advocate on their children’s behalf. Although this was not the case for all mothers who did not have Black multiracial children, some mothers in the sample used their platforms and their racial privilege to advocate for Black monoracial and multiracial children alike. It is of note that Asian mothers who did not have Black multiracial children did not engage with or publish posts about anti-Black racism in the way other mothers with and without Black multiracial children did, which raises questions about Asian mothers’ perceptions of dissociations between anti-Asian and anti-Black racism. 1524 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense An important contribution of this paper is the role that digital media, in this case mommy blogs, plays not only in mothers’ lives but also in the construction of mothering communities, discourse, and education. Specifically, these findings highlight the role of help seeking, advocacy, and commu- nity building to maternal labor. Each of the mothers in the sample dedicate significant time and energy to thinking, worrying, reflecting, and writing about what one blogger refers to as multiracial motherhood. Mothers recount initially creating their blogs specifically because they did not have access to a multiracial or multicultural community offline, which they were able to create through authentic storytelling online. Moreover, a strength of this study is the medium used—blogsites— because their content captures mothers’ close to real-time thoughts, feelings, and reactions to mother- ing rather than recounting them in a survey or interview at a later date. A key finding of this study is that bloggers leveraged their platforms influence and intention- ally curated educational information surrounding race, racism, multiculturism, White privilege, and other related topics. Mommy bloggers are not merely documenting their day-to-day mother- ing woes online. Many of the blogs in the sample are highly successful, monetized, and support mothers’ blogging full time. Although mommy bloggers have been scrutinized for increasingly monetized their blogs and even accused of commodifying their audiences (Hunter, 2016), I would argue that is not the case for this set of bloggers’ posts and narratives of race, racism, and racial socialization. In almost all of these cases, mothers were not promoting a product of any kind on posts related to race and racism. The exception would be blog posts about multicultural books and toys, which often included affiliate links to purchase the products. However, when prominent and successful multiracial mommy bloggers encourage their readers to purchase multicultural books and dolls of color; support diverse television and film; and to discuss racism with their fam- ilies, these seemingly intimate family accounts take a different stage and mothers’ private race conscious socialization begin to benefit the public. Collectively, the blogs in this sample not only paint a picture of the racial realities mothers of color navigate in their mothering endeavors, but they also simultaneously serve as community and knowledge sites for other bloggers of color (spe- cifically those who head multiracial families) and multiracial knowledge sites for parents of all racial backgrounds including White parents who are invested in their journey to allyship. Consid- ering the reach and readership of not only the blogs in this sample but the blogosphere as a whole, reflections and recounts of microlevel family dynamics have the capacity to contribute to and shape macrolevel cultural production. CONCLUSION Although blogs have been a long-lasting form of digital media, newer forms of digital media are proving to be highly popular among content creators and mothers alike. In fact, many bloggers in this sample also operate other digital media sites that coincide with and extend their blog content. Following what many are referring to as a “racial awakening” prompted by the death of George Floyd and the subsequent mass protests in the summer 2020, public parenting sites and resources such as blogs, Instagram, and TikTok may increasingly be necessary and sought out by parents of all racial backgrounds—those who are looking for community and those who are looking to gain perspective alike. To further explore the use of digital media among mothers—as creators but also consumers—future research should examine how narra- tives about multiraciality take shape on other digital media sites such as Instagram and TikTok but also the role and meaning of digital media in contemporary motherhood. Considering that blog posts analyzed for this study were catalogued in 2018 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, a steep increase in anti-Asian racism, at least two areas in multiracial family research should be further explored. First, there was a notable absence of narratives concerning the physical safety of multiracial girls across racial groups. In light of the deaths of many Black women such as Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor, the YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1525 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense #SayHerName campaign, the countless missing and murdered Indigenous women, racial violence against Asian women and specifically that, Chanel Miller, who was assaulted in the highly publi- cized Brock Turner case was also an Asian-American woman, future research should examine the potential racial and gendered violence against multiracial girls and the socialization families engage in surrounding these issues. Relatedly, future research should also examine whether mothers of multiracial Asian children have increased their blogging or engagement with racism, violence, and how their own oppression is linked with other racial groups in the U.S. since this data was initially collected. Considering that these questions are multilayered and will require engagement with ahistoricism, the intersection of multiple racial and other identities, and that researchers will have to resist applying a monoracial lens to understand multiracial realities, future multiracial family research should also employ a MultiCrit (Harris, 2016) framework to contextualize and adequately address the experiences of multiracial people and families. ORCID Chandra V. Reyna https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4920-6865 REFERENCES Abetz, J., & Moore, J. (2018). “Welcome to the mommy wars, ladies”: Making sense of the ideology of combative moth- ering in mommy blogs. Communication Culture and Critique, 11(2), 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcy008 Allen, Q. (2016). ‘Tell your own story’: Manhood, masculinity and racial socialization among Black fathers and their sons. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 39(10), 1831–1848. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1110608 Atkin, A. L., & Yoo, H. C. (2019). Familial racial-ethnic socialization of multiracial American youth: A systematic review of the literature with MultiCrit. Developmental Review, 53, 100869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2019.100869 Atkin, A. L., Yoo, H. C., White, R., Tran, A. G., & Jackson, K. F. (2021). Validation of the multiracial youth socializa- tion (MY-Soc) scale among racially diverse multiracial emerging adults. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(1), 13– 22. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000879 Blake, J. J., Butler, B. R., Lewis, C. W., & Darensbourg, A. (2011). Unmasking the inequitable discipline experiences of urban Black girls: Implications for urban educational stakeholders. The Urban Review, 43(1), 90–106. Blassingame, J. (1972). The slave community: plantation life in the antebellum south. Oxford University Press. Bratter, J. (2007). Will “multiracial” survive to the next generation?: The racial classification of children of multiracial parents. Social Forces, 86(2), 821–849. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/86.2.821 Brunson, R. K., & Miller, J. (2006). Gender, race, and urban policing: The experience of African American youths. Gen- der & Society, 20(4), 531–552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243206287727 Burton, L. M., Bonilla-Silva, E., Ray, V., Buckelew, R., & Hordge Freeman, E. (2010). Critical race theories, colorism, and the decade’s research on families of color. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72(3), 440–459. https://doi.org/10. 1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00712.x Charmaz, K. (2008). Grounded theory as an emergent method. Handbook of Emergent Methods, 155, 172. Collins, P. H. (2001). Like one of the family: Race, ethnicity, and the paradox of US national identity. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 24(1), 3–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198701750052479 Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge. Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory. New York University Press. Deterding, N. M., & Waters, M. C. (2021). Flexible coding of in-depth interviews: A twenty-first-century approach. Sociological methods & research, 50(2), 708–739. Dow, D. M. (2016). The deadly challenges of raising African American boys: Navigating the controlling image of the ‘thug’. Gender & Society, 30(2), 161–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243216629928 Dow, D. M. (2019). Mothering while Black. University of California Press. Du Bois, W. E. B. (1903) 1994. The souls of black folks. Dover. Edwards, A. L., & Few-Demo, A. L. (2016). African American maternal power and the racial socialization of preschool children. Sex Roles, 75(1), 56–70. Essed, P. (1991). Understanding everyday racism: An interdisciplinary theory (Vol. 2). Sage. Ferguson, A. A. (2000). Bad boys: Public schools in the making of black masculinity. University of Michigan Press. Golash-Boza, T. (2016). A critical and comprehensive sociological theory of race and racism. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2(2), 129–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649216632242 Gonz�alez, A. G., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., & B�amaca, M. Y. (2006). Familial ethnic socialization among adolescents of Latino and European descent: Do Latina mothers exert the most influence? Journal of Family Issues, 27(2), 184– 207. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X05279987 Gotanda, N. (1991). A critique of "our constitution is color-blind". Stanford Law Review, 44(1), 28–30. 1526 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4920-6865 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4920-6865 https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcy008 https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1110608 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2019.100869 https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000879 https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/86.2.821 https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243206287727 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00712.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00712.x https://doi.org/10.1080/014198701750052479 https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243216629928 https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649216632242 https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X05279987 Hagerman, M. A. (2016). White racial socialization: Progressive fathers on raising “antiracist” children. Journal of Mar- riage and Family, 79(1), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12325 Harris, J. C. (2016). Toward a critical multiracial theory in education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(6), 795–813. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1162870 Hern�andez, T. (2018). Multiracials and civil rights: Mixed-race stories of discrimination. NYU Press. Hughes, D., & Chen, L. (1997). When and what parents tell children about race: An examination of race-related sociali- zation among African American families. Applied Developmental Science, 1(4), 200–214. Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E. P., Johnson, D. J., Stevenson, H. C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices: A review of research and directions for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 747–770. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.747 Hunter, A. (2016). Monetizing the mommy: Mommy blogs and the audience commodity. Information, Communication & Society, 19(9), 1306–1320. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187642 Jiménez, T. R. (2010). Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and Identity. University of California Press. Johnson, S. A. (2015). ‘Intimate mothering publics’: Comparing face-to-face support groups and Internet use for women seeking information and advice in the transition to first-time motherhood. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(2), 237– 251. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2014.968807 Jones, N., Marks, R., Ramirez, R., & Ríos-Vargas, M. (2021). 2020 census illuminates racial and ethnic composition of the country. U.S. Census Bureau. Khanna, N. (2004). The role of reflected appraisals in racial identity: The case of multiracial Asians. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67(2), 115–131. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250406700201 Lee, J., & Bean, F. D. (2010). The diversity paradox: Immigration and the color line in twenty-first century America. Rus- sell Sage Foundation. Lewis, A. E. (2004). What group? Studying whites and whiteness in the era of “color-blindness”. Sociological Theory, 22(4), 623–646. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2004.00237.x Lewis-McCoy, R. L. H. (2016). Boyz in the ‘burbs’: Parental negotiation of race and class in raising black males in sub- urbia. Peabody Journal of Education, 91(3), 309–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2016.1182839 Lopez, L. K. (2009). The radical act of ‘mommy blogging’: Redefining motherhood through the blogosphere. New Media & Society, 11(5), 729–747. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809105349 Lupton, D., Pedersen, S., & Thomas, G. M. (2016). Parenting and digital media: From the early web to contemporary digital society. Sociology Compass, 10(8), 730–743. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12398 McDaniel, B. T., Coyne, S. M., & Holmes, E. K. (2012). New mothers and media use: Associations between blogging, social networking, and maternal well-being. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(7), 1509–1517. Morris, M. (2016). Pushout: The criminalization of Black girls in schools. The New Press. Morrison, A. (2010). Autobiography in real time: A genre analysis of personal mommy blogging. Cyberpsychology, 4(2), 1–12. Morse, J. M. (2015). Critical analysis of strategies for determining rigor in qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Health Research, 25(9), 1212–1222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315588501 Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2014). Racial formation in the United States. Routledge. Pascoe, C. J. (2011). Dude, you’re a fag. University of California Press. Peters, M. F. (1985). Racial socialization of young Black children. In H. P. McAdoo (Ed.), Black children: Social, edu- cational, and parental environments (pp. 57–72). Sage Publications, Inc. Rauktis, M. E., Fusco, R. A., Goodkind, S., & Bradley-King, C. (2016). Motherhood in liminal spaces: White mothers’ parenting Black/White children. Affilia, 31(4), 434–449. Rios, V. M. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. NYU Press. Rockquemore, K., & Laszloffy, T. A. (2005). Raising biracial children. Rowman Altamira. Rockquemore, K. A., & Brunsma, D. L. (2002). Socially embedded identities: Theories, typologies, and processes of racial identity among Black/White biracials. Sociological Quarterly, 43(3), 335–356. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533- 8525.2002.tb00052.x Rollins, A., & Hunter, A. G. (2013). Racial socialization of biracial youth: Maternal messages and approaches to address discrimination. Family Relations, 62, 140–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00748.x Sims, J., &Njaka, C. (2020).Mixed-race in theUS andUK:Comparing the past, present, and future. EmeraldGroupPublishing. Song, M. (2017). Multiracial parents: Mixed families, generational change, and the future of race. New York University Press. Song, M., & Gutierrez, C. O. (2015). ‘Keeping the story alive’: Is ethnic and racial dilution inevitable for multiracial people and their children? The Sociological Review, 63(3), 680–698. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12308 Stokes, M. N., Charity-Parker, B. M., & Hope, E. C. (2021). What does it mean to be Black and White? A meta- ethnographic review of racial socialization in multiracial families. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 13(2), 181– 201. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12413 Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., Tucker, M. B., & Lewis, E. (1990). Developments in research on Black families: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54(2), 993–1014. https://doi.org/10.2307/353315 YOU’RE BIRACIAL BUT 1527 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12325 https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2016.1162870 https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.5.747 https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187642 https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2014.968807 https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250406700201 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0735-2751.2004.00237.x https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2016.1182839 https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809105349 https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12398 https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315588501 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2002.tb00052.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2002.tb00052.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2012.00748.x https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12308 https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12413 https://doi.org/10.2307/353315 Thomas, A. J., & Speight, S. L. (1999). Racial identity and racial socialization attitudes of African American parents. Journal of Black psychology, 25(2), 152–170. Thornton, M. C., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Allen, W. R. (1990). Sociodemographic and environmental corre- lates of racial socialization by Black parents. Child Development, 61, 401–409. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624. 1990.tb02786.x Thornton, M. C. (1997). Strategies of racial socialization among black parents: Mainstream, minority, and cultural mes- sages. In R. J. Taylor, J. S. Jackson, & L. M. Chatters (Eds.), Family life in Black America (pp. 201–215). Thou- sand Oaks, CA: Sage. Turner, J. L. (2020). Black mothering in action: The racial-class socialization practices of low-income Black single mothers. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 6(2), 242–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649219899683 Umaña-Taylor, A. J., & Hill, N. E. (2020). Ethnic–racial socialization in the family: A decade’s advance on precursors and outcomes. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 244–271. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12622 Welch, K., & Payne, A. A. (2010). Racial threat and punitive school discipline. Social Problems, 57(1), 25–48. https:// doi.org/10.1525/sp.2010.57.1.25 Williams, K. M. (2006). Mark one or more. University of Michigan Press. Wun, C. (2016). Unaccounted foundations: Black girls, anti-black racism, and punishment in schools. Critical Sociol- ogy, 42(4–5), 737–750. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920514560444 How to cite this article: Reyna, C. V. (2022). “You’re biracial but…”: Multiracial socialization discourse among mommy bloggers with Black and non-Black multiracial children. Journal of Marriage and Family, 84(5), 1507–1528. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf. 12866 1528 JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY 17413737, 2022, 5, D ow nloaded from https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /doi/10.1111/jom f.12866 by U niversity O f M aryland, W iley O nline L ibrary on [27/09/2023]. See the T erm s and C onditions (https://onlinelibrary.w iley.com /term s-and-conditions) on W iley O nline L ibrary for rules of use; O A articles are governed by the applicable C reative C om m ons L icense https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02786.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02786.x https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649219899683 https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12622 https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2010.57.1.25 https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2010.57.1.25 https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920514560444 https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12866 https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12866 ``You're biracial but´´: Multiracial socialization discourse among mommy bloggers with Black and non-Black multiracial children INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW Racial and ethnic socialization in monoracial families Racial and ethnic socialization in multiracial families Multiracial identification THE ROLE OF MOMMY BLOGS IN CONTEMPORARY MOTHERHOOD METHODS Sample Data Data analysis FINDINGS Multiracial identity socialization Cultural socialization Exposure to diversity Race conscious socialization Preparation for bias General preparation for bias Safety socialization DISCUSSION CONCLUSION REFERENCES