ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses racism among children, which is often evident in the way children view others who are different from them. It sustains the distinct racial boundaries that precipitate monoracism, which is a form of systematic and/or interpersonal oppression directed toward people who do not fit into a single racial category. A number of studies on mixed-race youth's friendships focus on the rejection experienced by mixed-race youth from peers that leads to isolation. Consequently, friendship choices for mixed-race youth become a more challenging event, one that is characterized by strains, conflicts, and dilemmas not experienced by their monoracial counterparts. Related to diverse friendships, mixed-race youth may use/bridge their mixed-race status to develop friendships from both sides of their racial heritage or may form friendships with peers from multiple racial groups. To be sure, friendship homophily by mixed-race youth may be driven by the exclusion and/or rejection perpetrated by monoracial peers.
