CRITICAL MIXED RACE STUDIES CONFERENCE

MASC was pleased to take part in the inaugural CRITICAL MIXED RACE STUDIES CONFERENCE taking place at DePaul University, Chicago, IL in Fall 2010.

“Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies,” the first annual Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, was held at DePaul University in Chicago on November 5-6, 2010.

For more info, visit the conference website: http://las.depaul.edu/aas/About/CMRSConference/index.asp

MASC will be hosting 2 panels:

“20 YEARS OF SEEING CHANGE: A MULTIRACIAL ORGANIZATION FROM THEN TILL NOW”

Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC) is one of the longest-standing multiracial organizations spanning over 20 years of history in one of the most culturally diverse locations in the world. See our short film entitled “Seeing Change”, documenting our appearances in the media, learn about issues then and now, and get a peek at what we’re doing next. Why was the Census changed and how did MASC play a role? What was the Census Bureau telling us back in 1989? What’s wrong with the Census today? Hear from two past presidents then and today. Lastly, we will have an open discussion with the audience as to how local community organizations can better serve you.

“A Rx FOR THE FDA: ETHICAL DILEMMAS FOR MULTIRACIAL PEOPLE IN RACE BASED MEDICINE”

The (project) is funded in part by a grant from The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF). Created in 1992, as a private, independent foundation, TCWF’s mission is to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention.

In 2005, BiDil was the first medication approved by the FDA for use with only one race of people: self-identified blacks. BiDil will be discussed as a case study of the ethical implications that race based medicine may have for multiracial people. The purpose of the panel shall be to discuss the ethical implications this kind of indication for use has for multiracial people.

Questions to be discussed include:

a) Is it ethical for a physician to prescribe a medication if a patient is not of the race indicated? Vice-versa, is it ethical for a physician to deny a prescription if he doesn’t believe the reported race of the patient? b) Will an insurer reimburse if one race is used on a policy but a different race is reported to the physician? c ) The Human Genome Project has gone through great lengths to refute any genetic or biological basis for race and yet still the general public has not fully embraced it. Will the pharmaceutical industry drive further stereotypes with clinical data to support race based medicines? d) Will efforts to address discrepancies in health care based on social, economic, and environmental factors be hampered by the rush to attribute disease to genetic factors that support race based medicines?

This panel may become the starting point to providing recommendations to the FDA to require consideration of multiracial people when conducting clinical trials.

*MASC will also be taking part in a roundtable discussion with other multiracial community leaders on:

“Community-Based Multiracial Movements: Learning from the Past, Looking Toward the Future”

Multiracial community organizations and efforts have helped make space for Multiracial people in academia and in broader United States society. This roundtable will bring together leaders of several prominent and historic community-based Multiracial organizations and projects. We’ll discuss the varied histories, goals, and possible futures of Multiracial organizing.

How YOU can get involved:

1) Attend the conference! The conference is FREE – you can register through the conference website.

2) Support MASC! as we represent your interests at the national Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference! Donations will help bring panelists to Chicago, and can be made through MASC’s Paypal button (see below). All donations are tax deductible.  We appreciate your support in helping us represent our community.

About CMRS:

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is the transracial, transdisciplinary, and transnational critical analysis of the institutionalization of social, cultural, and political orders based on dominant conceptions of race. CMRS emphasizes the mutability of race and the porosity of racial boundaries in order to critique processes of racialization and social stratification based on race. CMRS addresses local and global systemic injustices rooted in systems of racialization.