ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author introduces the concept of bi-racialized "institutions of violence" as an explanatory framework for the ways in which children, such as Ruby and Similola create family. Ruby and Similola construct personal narratives which address specific bi-racialized violence experienced in White English children's homes. However, the testimonies of Akousa, Sarah, Yemi and Bisi, as well as the author's own, also point to the lived psychosocial tyrannies of growing up metisse within one's birth families. On both sides of the Atlantic there is continual debate over the repercussions of placing Black and metis(se) children with White families or family surrogates. This issue is particularly controversial when addressing the placement of metis(se) children, who can claim at least two heritages — and technical membership in both Black and White communities. As the tainted seeds of a forbidden union, Ruby's and Similola's fates seemed sealed even before they emerged as the sun-kissed daughters of White English and German mothers.
