Multiracials’ Racial Socialization

Dr. Jarryd Willis PhD
21 min readJan 8, 2023

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Data on the Socialization Experiences of Half-White Multiracials (Wasians & Whitinos) & Interminority Multiracials (Blasians & Latinasians)

— Interminority #multiracials are substantially more likely to be socialized in both parents’ cultures (45.5%) than half-White multiracials (4.5%), χ2(2, N = 33) = 8.39, p = .015.

Multiracial Terminology — “The term multiracial is preferred since it does not give preference to implied assumptions of biological racial “purity” like other terms that quantify ratios or levels of mixedness (e.g., biracial, triracial, etc.; Jackson & Samuels, 2019)” (Kelly Jackson, 2021). https://twitter.com/DrJarryd/status/1603545628130189312

— Interminority multiracials who are part-White are substantially more likely to identify with their minority identity (62.5%) whereas half-White multiracials are more likely to equally identify with both their White & minority identities (46.5%), χ2 (2, N = 115) = 7.07, p = .029.

— There is no parent-gender bias in half-White multiracials’ racial socialization. They’re socialized predominantly in the minority parent’s culture, whether it’s their mom’s (68.8%) or dad’s (75%).

East Asian Multiracials: Closer to Which Identity

Among all East Asian multiracial groups (Asian-White, Asian-Hispanic, Asian-Black),

men were least likely and women were most likely to identify with their East Asian background.

This may be associated with the intersectionality of race & gender stereotypes (particularly low masculinity) in western media’s portrayals of East Asian men (Eng, 2001; Ingraham, 1994; Ono, 2009; Ono & Pham, 2009).

Family Culture — Nicole Leopardo, 2016

“Multiracials can be seen “as possessing insight & knowledge of two or more distinct & often antagonistic worlds, which enables him or her to lead the parent societies into transcending their differences” (Root, 1992, p.282).

Native American Multiracials — Nicole Chavez & Harmeet Kaur [CNN], 2021

— About 61% of American Indians & Alaska Natives are #Multiracial (US Census, 2020), meaning that Native Americans are a majority mixed group.

— About 31% of the total Native American population is part-Hispanic.

Hispanic Multiracials — Kim Parker, PEW, et al., 2015

— About 16.7% of Hispanic individuals are multiracial, with 79% of them being Whitino (part-White).

‘In 2020, Pew Research Center estimates found that Blatino adults were about 2% of the U.S. adult population and 12% of the adult Hispanic population’ (Mark Hugo Lopez et al., 2022).

Asian Multiracials

— About 17% of the US Asian population is multiracial, with 17.65% of them being Latinasian (part-Hispanic).

Black Multiracials — Christine Tamir, Pew Research, 2021 (Pew Data)

— About 13.104% of the US Black population is multiracial, with 3.59% of them being Blasian (3.4% part Asian only), 39.07% of them being Blatino (22.71% part Hispanic only), & 53.44% of them being part-White (44.43% of them being part White only).

—In addition, 23.42% of Black multiracials are 2nd-generation, with 69.87% of them being Blatino (with 38.47% being part Hispanic, Part Black, and part White).

Ethnoracial Calculations by Professor Jarryd of Pew Research Center’s data on Black Multiracials

Interminority Multiracials

Lauren Davenport, 2018 Among interminority multiracials, #Blasians (Black & Asian) are among the most prevalent & are “the fastest growing” interminority multiracials in the US as of the 2010 census, rising by “85% since 2000.”

“Black is the category most frequently selected by multiple-minority identifiers, with 56% marking it as one of their races; Asian is the second most commonly chosen category, at 48%” (Davenport, 2018).

Multiracial Households — Alba, 2021

“Among multiracials born in 2018, most were Hispanic-White (39.1%). Moreover, Hispanic-White multiracials’ households are “fairly evenly divided between families in which the Hispanic parent is the father and those in which it is the mother.

Black-White multiracials usually have a White mother & Asian-White multiracials usually have a White father.”

Racial Socialization & Dating

— Regardless of sex or sexuality, the ethnoracial background of half-White multiracials’ lovers was more likely to overlap with their dad if mom was the minority parent (43.4%) & more likely to overlap with their mom if dad was the minority parent (53.3%)

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Interminority Multiracials who are closer to their dad are substantially more likely to be multilingual (60%) than half-White multiracials who are closer to their dad (0%). Dads of interminority kiddos may feel more responsibility for passing on the culture/heritage.

Multiracial Generations

2nd Generation = have 1 #multiracial parent

President Barack Obama = 1st-Generation (2 monoracial parents)

Sasha & Malia Obama = 2nd-Generation (their dad is multiracial)

Second-Generation Multiracials

Professor Willis’ lab found that interminority multiracials are slightly more likely to be 2nd-generation (54.6%) whereas half-White multiracials are disproportionately more likely to be 1st-generation (78.3%),
χ2(1, N = 317) = 35.83, p < .001.

— Among 2nd-Gen Multiracials, interminority multiracials were substantially more likely to identify with both their monoracial & multiracial parent (60%), whereas 50% of half-White multiracials identified with their White parent & 50% identified with their multiracial parent, but none identified with both, χ2(2, N = 35) = 10.75, p = .005.

Partial Racial Interracial Couples & Romantic Satisfaction

Interracial daters with a multiracial lover who overlaps with one of their identities report more satisfaction than couples in which the lovers don’t overlap (unique) F(1, 37) = 9.32, p = .004.

Wasian Experiences — Allison Hartley, 2018

“People perceive the “other” first — the part of [me] that differs [from them]. When visiting mom’s side of the family in Hong Kong, [people] point out my White appearance, while my Caucasian peers in Houston saw my dark hair & eyes.

While I may be genuinely open to friends’ curiosity about my mixed race and laugh about the nature of Wasians, I think individuals generally want to be perceived as themselves, first, without any racial labels.” — Allison Hartley, 2018

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Multiracial Microaggressions From Family

¨Multiracial individuals report experiencing microaggressions and discrimination from family members (Childs, 2002; Greig, 2015).

¨These experiences include having their identity challenged or denied; feeling isolated, uneducated about the Multiracial identity, or otherwise devalued in their family (Nadal et al., 2013).

¨Family discrimination challenges the assumption that family members provide unconditional acceptance, and has been linked to cardiovascular reactivity, and increased anxiety, depression and substance use in Multiracial populations (Franco & Carter, 2019; Franco & O’Brien, 2020).

¨Multiracial people may experience dual/multifaceted discrimination — discrimination based on their Multiracial identity and other minority identities, from monoracial ingroup members, and from family”

They’ll Go With The Lighter (Walters, 2018)

When Asian/ Black/ Hispanic minorities are featured on cover spreads or used in marketing campaigns they’re more likely to be half White than White models on the cover are to be half minority.

N = 100 covers

80 = monoracial White models

10 = monoracial minority models

10 = half minority — half White models

Of 20 minority models, 10 were monoracial minorities

Of 90 White models, 80 were White monoracials

Walters, K. (2018). “They’ll go with the lighter”: Tri-racial aesthetic labor in clothing retail. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(1), 128–141. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332649217710662

Multiracial Model Preference in Japan (Stephy Chung & Junko Ogura, 2018) [CNN — 10.25]

Sayumi Gunji (the Editorial director of Numéro Tokyo) estimates that 30% to 40% of runway models in Japanese fashion shows now identify as Hafu.

“Almost all top models in the their 20s are Hafu,

especially the top models of popular fashion magazines,” Sayumi said in a phone interview.

“(In) the Japanese media and market, a foreigner’s flawless looks aren’t as readily accepted — they feel a little distant. But multiracial models, who are taller, have bigger eyes, higher noses (and) Barbie-doll-like looks, are admired because they are dreamy looking but not totally different from Japanese. That’s the key to their popularity,” added Sayumi.

Sheer #Multiracial Brilliance — Sarah Doneghy, 2022

“What are you?”

— How does it feel to NOT be asked that question?

“People assume I’m monoracial Black. No one has ever come up to me & asked if I was Iranian.”

“How does it feel to walk around with a part of you unseen?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVGAlYPNhA&t=116s

ChatGPT & Multiracial Culture

Multiracial Culture

🤖: Multiracial culture in the United States refers to the cultural traditions and practices of people who are of mixed racial and ethnic heritage. Multiracial people in the United States come from a variety of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, and their cultural traditions and practices may be influenced by their diverse heritage.

Multiracial culture in the United States is often shaped by the experiences of people who are of mixed racial and ethnic heritage. Many multiracial people have a unique perspective on issues of race and identity, and may face challenges related to belonging and being accepted by both majority and minority groups.

Multiracial culture in the United States is also shaped by the cultural traditions and practices of the various racial and ethnic groups that make up a person’s heritage. For example, a person who is of both African American and European descent may have cultural practices and traditions that are influenced by both of these cultural heritages.

Blasian Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is 2nd-Generation #Multiracial given that her dad is 1st-generation (Indian-Black). Moreover,

Nicki Minaj has a Japanese Great Grandfather

but unsure if it’s on her mother’s or father’s side. Thus, she could be 3rd or 4th-generation multiracial.

https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/204453861371559937?s=20&t=7Xl0rx2GPfdJAukLs4Nf2Q

Carmelo Anthony 🏀 was 23 when he learned about his Latino background. Unfortunately, his Puerto Rican father died when he was 2. Is Carmelo allowed to dress in, participate in, represent that aspect of his background?

https://twitter.com/DrJarryd/status/1609656728425226240

Interracial Courtship — Beenna Han, 2021

— “Asian man-White woman couples tended to perceive less patriarchal & more egalitarian marital power than monoracial Asian couples”

Marital Power = “the ability to make decisions affecting the life of the family” (Blood and Wolf, 1960).

Native American Multiracials — Carolyn Liebler, 2018

“Among those who report AIAN race, reporting a tribal affiliation is not guaranteed. Tribal non-response is less common among monoracial respondents (29%) than multiracial respondents (37%).

There should be a clear separation between the concepts of race, ancestry, and tribal affiliation so that people with AIAN origins can figure out how to convey their self-identification clearly. Excluding a subpopulation gives an incomplete picture of a social situation and unfairly removes the opportunity for the group to benefit from the results of the study. American Indians and Alaska Natives deserve full inclusion in the benefits of census enumeration (e.g., allocated funds) and studies aimed at understanding or improving society.”

Asian Multiracials (Graphs)

Hispanic Multiracials (Kelly Jackson, 2021)

“People of mixed Latinx and non-Latinx heritage (e.g., one biological parent who is of Latin American origin and another who is not of Latin American origin) are included as multiracial because research consistently reports that mixed Latinx individuals share similar processes of identity development and experiences of racial discrimination as those of other multiracial groups (Jackson, Wolven, & Crudup, 2019; Jiménez, 2004; Romo, 2011; Vasquez, 2010).”

See Also

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Who is Hispanic — (Lopez et al., 2022)

“Latinos can have a variety of skin tones. A 2021 survey of Latino adults showed a majority (57%) say skin color shapes their daily life experiences at least somewhat. Most say having a darker skin color hurts Latinos’ ability to get ahead in the U.S. (62%), while having a lighter skin color helps Latinos get ahead (59%).

In 2019, 30% of Hispanic newlyweds married someone who is not Hispanic; the Hispanic intermarriage rate is similar to that for Asians (29%) but higher than the rate among Black (18%) and White (12%) newlyweds. Among Hispanic newlyweds, 39% of those born in the U.S. married someone who is not Hispanic, compared with 17% of immigrants, according to an analysis of American Community Survey data. Among all married Hispanics, 20% had a spouse who is not Hispanic as of 2019.”

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/09/15/who-is-hispanic/

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Asian Non-Hispanic

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Half-Mexican Multiracials: Daniel, 2022

Greater ambivalence is displayed toward non-Black dual minority offspring (Guevarra 2012; Leonard 1992), but hypodescent has still pushed them toward the less privileged racial background although which one is considered the most subaltern can vary situationally.

Mexicans were only White by default because the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war between the U.S. and Mexico made them eligible for U.S. citizenship as early as 1848, at a time when only “White persons” could naturalize.

Unlike individuals with African & Asian ancestry, who were specifically prohibited from intermarrying with Whites, antimiscegenation statutes were not applied to Mexican Americans,

who were legally defined by the absence of definition (Orenstein 2005). Still, while Mexican Americans were granted full citizenship and legally defined as “White”, restrictionists sought their prohibition on racial grounds. In practice, Anglo-Americans generally thought of them as nonWhite (Gómez 2018; Gross 2003).”

Multiracial Census 2020 — Nicholas Jones et al., 2021

“In 2020, the percentage of people who reported multiple races changed more than all of the monoracial groups, increasing from 2.9% of the population (9 million people) in 2010 to 10.2% of the population (33.8 million people) in 2020.

[About 93.9%] of those who were classified as Some Other Race alone were of Hispanic or Latino origin.”

UCSD Undergraduate Student Demographics (2021)

Undergraduate Diversity Dashboard

#International students = 21.3%

#Bisexual students = 7%

US #Immigrant students = 1.84%

Women = 51.26% (50.3% of undergrads)

Tweet: https://twitter.com/DrJarryd/status/1594173075708575744

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Countries of International Students at UCSD

— Most international students are from China, then India, & the 3rd most common country is Taiwan.

Top 3 Countries of all students

Sidenotes

International Students — Tu Mengwei, 2018

— In 2014, women comprised 51% of Chinese students in the United States, 55% in Canada, and 63% in the United Kingdom.

East Asians are the majority of international students in the US (IIEglobal, 2020; Liangyan Wang, 2020; Shenoy, 2019; Yu-Ri Kim, 2020).

IIEGlobal Tweet: “1-out of-4 international students are in CA or NY

https://twitter.com/IIEglobal/status/1593613775998898176

According to new Open Doors Report, 1 in 4 International Students studied in California or New York. The data shows International Students continue to study in all 50 U.S. states.

Access new data here: https://opendoorsdata.org

SoCal Lab’s Black Subjects

Most of our Black subjects (n = 92 out of N = 4866) have been multiracial (n = 49).

Among Black multiracials, the Black parent was their dad 78.9% of the time.

Mieke Eoyang, 2018 [Twitter Thread] — Nicki Minaj

“For those people who are debating whether or not Nicki Minmaj is engaging in cultural appropriation with her Chun-Li single/SNL performance, I have some thoughts. *Speaking as a Chinese American woman.

First, Chun-Li is a video game character, conceived as the first female in a fighting game. She was a bad ass, and created by a Japanese designer with a Chinese backstory. She’s one of the most recognized characters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chun-Li

As anyone who has been to a Comicon will tell you, the people who dress up as Chun-Li are not limited to Asian women. People of all races & genders identify with her. I don’t also believe that I should be limited to identifying only with Asian female characters.

Should Nicki Minaj be limited to only dressing as Storm? Or Nakia or Okoye?Why should race be used to limit people’s identification with fictional characters? Because if that’s true, honestly, at Halloween, that would have seriously limited my options.

Why shouldn’t @NICKIMINAJ want to portray herself as one of the best known, earliest examples of a female fighter, the kind of woman who holds her own in any street fight? The creation of the character as Asian, with all the iconography that entails, was decades ago.

But @NICKIMINAJ isn’t the first African American to adopt Asian characters. Are we saying that Jim Kelly was engaging in cultural appropriation appearing in Bruce Lee movies? Or that @WuTangClan shouldn’t have embraced Chinese culture? (note: https://youtube.com/watch?v=2z3wUD3AZg4…)

The links between African Americans and Chinese martial arts go back. https://theroot.com/20-essential-black-kung-fu-connections-1790868319… But it’s not just the cultural ties. African Americans & Chinese Americans share a history of systemic discrimination in the US.

Like African Americans, Chinese were discriminated against, especially in California. In some cases they were lynched by angry mobs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_massacre_of_1871…

The Chinese are the only nationality to be barred from entry into this country by statute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act…

“Many of the earliest civil rights cases in the US were won by Chinese American plaintiffs. Yick Wo v. Hopkins, US v. Wong Ark.”

But views of Chinese Americans in this country changed during WWII, when China was a US ally against the Japanese. And between the Japanese and the Communists, the ruling Nationalists of China were forced out, and many came here, where they were embraced by America.

Over time, Chinese Americans and Asians generally became embraced as “the model minority.” And today, we do not experience nearly the same kind of discrimination that African Americans do. But we shouldn’t forget that it lurks under the surface.

So I do not read Nicki Minaj’s portrayal of Chun-Li as “appropriation” but as an embrace of a strong female character, both transcendent of race, but also as a nod to the long cultural connections between the African American & Asian communities. /end.”

#aMorePerfectUnion

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History of Immigration Laws

— The Naturalization Act of 1790 required an immigrant to be White in order to naturalize.

— The Naturalization Act of 1870 explicitly extended naturalization laws to “aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent.” This meant that for the first time, Black children would be conferred citizenship upon birth, but Asians, Hispanics, & other minorities were exclude.

— The Page Act of 1875 (Republican Representative Horace F. Page) was the first US immigration law to explicitly prohibit the immigration of a particular group: persons of Asian descent

— The Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 (President Chester A. Arthur) was the first federal immigration law to prohibit immigration on the basis of race. The bill barred all Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, from immigrating to the U.S. for 10 years.

— The 1898 Supreme Court decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark finally extended naturalization laws to persons of Chinese descent by ruling that anyone born in the United States was indeed a U.S. citizen.

— The Chinese Exclusion Act was made permanent in 1903 until it was finally defeated thanks to the 1943 Magnuson Act.

— President Coolidge signed the U.S. federal 1924 Immigration Act into law. It capped the number of immigrants who could be admitted entry to the U.S. and barred immigration of persons who were not eligible for naturalization.

Multiracial Dating Preferences

— Half-White multiracials are more likely to date someone White or part-White (56.2%) than interminority multiracials (43.1%), χ2(1, N = 83) = 5.77, p = .016.

Interracial Preference (more of my lab’s data)

Of 70 subjects who indicated their longest relationship was interracial but who were no longer with that lover, 58.57% of them (n = 41) were currently dating interracially. Moreover, of those 41 subjects, 39.02% of them (n = 16) were interracially dating someone of the same race as their longest lover.

It may be the case that the 60.98% of subjects interracially dating someone of a new racial group developed a general-interracial preference whereas 39.02% developed a specific-interracial preference (an interracial-type similar to monoracial daters’ intraracial-type).

As such, participants with the specific-interracial preference may be less open to interracial dating in general & only date interracially with a specific group. This would suggest that the rate of interracial dating itself can’t be taken as a perfect barometer of progress on race relations. It’s useful but imperfect insofar as it may only be a metric of improved race relations with specific racial groups.

Novel Interracial Relationships.

Of all subjects interracially dating a new group (n = 51; and n = 26 whose longest relationship was monoracial), 50.98% (n = 26) were dating someone multiracial, 19.61% (n = 10) were dating someone White, & 29.41% (n = 15) were dating a monoracial minority.

Of the 26 dating someone multiracial, 65.4% dated someone who partially overlapped with their racial background.

A multiracial person who is not part White is magnitudes more likely to marry a White person than a multiracial who is not part Black is to marry a Black person.

- Black-Minority Multiracials (Blasian or half Black half Hispanic) are most likely to marry someone Black and White (like Obama) among mixed individuals.

The odds of a White male marrying a Black-White biracial woman (54.4%) are more than three times higher than the odds of a Black male marrying a Black White biracial woman (15%).

Seong-kya Ha et al., 2002

“Interracial marriage is the most conclusive and objective indicator of the degree of assimilation in the host society. Interracial marriage increases individual comfort and social stability (Salins, 1997).”

Justification of Multiracial Research — Nicole Leopardo, 2016

“Regional Significance of Topic The San Francisco Bay Area region is significant to this project for a few reasons. First, the state of California, at 4.7% multiracial, has almost two times the population of multiracial individuals than the United States, at 2.4 % multiracial (Park, J., Myers, D., & Wei, L., 2001).

Further, the San Francisco Bay Area is included in what is known as the “multiracial belt”, which is known as having a “concentration of the highest percent multiracial in the center of the state”, according to findings from the Race Contours 2000 study (Park, J., Myers, D., & Wei, L., 2001).

The multiracial population is substantial in this region and is projected to grow over time, making this research relevant over time, as well as contemporarily. That is, there is a high population of multiracial families and individuals that might see their personal experiences reflected in this research.”

Multiracial Articles

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Multiracial Erasure in Academic 4

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In Defense of Awkwafina

Jarryd: Nora authentically incorporated aspects of Black pop culture into her persona. She didn’t do that as a kid to strategically commoditize or appropriate anything. She would still be exactly who she is even without the cameras.

GamerGirl: I guess being the world’s most ethnoracially diverse country means that overlaps in cultural socialization are bound to occur. We have to figure out how to recognize emblems of inclusion vs acts of appropriation. Still feels like there’s a fine line there, albeit poorly defined.

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Allyship & DREAMers

Students Socially Utilitarian Stategies

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Martiniello & Verhaeghe, 2021

- Some interracial couples opt for double names to transmit the multiracial identity (Collet, 2019), [&] the order of the names reflects the power distribution (Cerchiaro, 2007).

- “Immigrants are more likely to give 1st names that are common in the host country to their daughters (Gerhards & Tuppat 2020; Sue & Telles 2007)” (Martiniello & Verhaeghe 2021), which improves their daughter’s odds of employment (Chowdhury et al, 2020; Oreopoulos & Dechief, 2012).

  • Additionally, the father’s ethnicity and religious identity is found to have an important weight on the name-giving of their sons (Sue & Telles, 2007). Some interracial couples opt for alternating the culture or origin of the names between newborns (Cerchiaro, 2007).

Interracial Marriage & Last Names — Ooi, 2016

Multiracial Asian-White individuals with a Chinese father (Chinese last name) make 11% less than those with a Chinese mother (White last name).

White women marrying interracially may want to keep their last name to avoid hiring & wage discrimination due to taking the last name of her minority husband.

Indeed, “White women married to Asian men earn approximately 10% less than Asian women married to White men” (Ooi, 2016).

Moreover, the minority husband may benefit from taking his White wife’s last name because John Smith will be paid more than John Ruiz Nguyen-Singh.

Overall

East Asian applicants who adopt Westernized names experience more success in majority White labor markets (Chowdhury et al., 2020).

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Why is there no data on Black-White interracial couples?

Yes, my lab has plenty of data on Black-White couples (including parents of subjects). I’m just not interested in presenting it at this time because ⬇️

“The majority of experimental research on racial/ethnic discrimination across multiple domains in the U.S. has focused primarily on differences between Whites and Blacks (Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2004; Gaddis, 2015; Pager, 2003).

Only recently have researchers started to examine discrimination against Hispanics using correspondence audits with any regularity (Gaddis 2017b; Quillian et al. 2017) and few studies have tested for discrimination against additional racial/ethnic groups.

(e.g., → Discrimination against Latino/as by landlords (Feldman and Weseley 2013; Friedman, Squires, and Galvan 2010; Hanson and Santas 2014;
HUD audits began including Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans in tests of discrimination in the early 2000s (Turner and Ross 2003a, 2003b)”

Thus, if you’re seeking more Black-White research, it can easily be found elsewhere.

“博观而约取,厚积而薄发。”

— 《稼说送张琥》宋 苏轼
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“Do a lot of reading then distill the wisdom for use; store up affluently then release little by little.”

— By Su Shi • Song Dynasty

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Dr. Jarryd Willis PhD
Dr. Jarryd Willis PhD

I'm passionate about making a tangible difference in the lives of others, & that's something I have the opportunity to do a professor & researcher.

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