Founder's comments bring criticism and praise.

Intermix.org.uk founder Sharron Hall was asked to respond to an article in The Guardian by Laura Smith on the mixed-race experience. Sharron's response produced a large amount of feedback from the public both praising and criticising her comments.

The response was limited to 550 words and Sharron was unable to say all that she wanted to regarding the article so for those of you who didn't get a chance to read it, here is the complete article, followed by a link to Laura Smith's original article, Sharron's article in The Guardian and the feedback.

As the founder of the UK's leading website for mixed-race people and their families, I was a little worried when several members emailed me about a piece in The Guardian’s society pages.

Every time a negative story appears the scales dip a little more under the weight of too many issues and not enough celebration. Laura Smith’s Absent Voices however, highlights some of the important challenges mixed-race individuals and families have to contend with.

The overrepresentation of mixed-race children in care, "Last year, mixed children accounted for 8% of looked after children, although only 3% of under-16s are mixed". These are worrying figures, and reflect how difficult it can be for these families. Your mixed race child is a sign you have crossed racial lines and you will constantly come across those who will seek to punish you because of that. Some feel it is their right to let you know they disapprove of your choice, they may do so with varying degrees of violence and can come from any racial group including your own. This can be too much for some parents especially if disapproval comes from within their own network of family and friends.

Parents can also face criticism for not knowing how to care for their mixed-race children and Laura gives us an example of that when she says:

"Say you are a mixed-race boy growing up with your white mother who doesn't know about the culture and your hair's not plaited and your skin's not creamed. You are going to feel self-conscious and will probably be teased at school."

That's just what happened to me, it wasn't that my mother didn't care, she tried to plait my hair but it was just too difficult for her to manage and her being white had very little to do with it. My Bajan father also couldn't manage it. There are many parents who need help especially if their child's hair is not the same as their own and would welcome helpful suggestions rather than criticism. Being a parent is not easy but it can be extremely difficult if your child has differences society does not want to recognise or cater for.

Education is of the utmost importance but at school mixed-race families face even more ignorance concerning their needs. Laura touched on: "A report commissioned by the Department for Education and skills in 2004 found that mixed children were ignored by school curricula and by school and local education authority policies on race." We all need to see portrayals of ourselves and where we fit into society and for most children school is where they get their first glimpses of the world around them and those that have gone before them. For mixed-race children however that world and history does not reflect them. Instead it's a world of high white achievement and history, a little black achievement and history and nothing about mixed-race history or achievement. So if both your parents are mixed-race or they are of Scottish, Jamaican, Chinese and Swiss heritage, exactly where do you fit in.

I started Intermix.org.uk because I wanted to change society’s perception of the mixed-race individual and family. The mixed-race experience is not just a black and white thing; it’s more than a colour, though that factor will cause the most distress and the least acceptance. Mixed-race is Jamaican and Japanese, or Scottish, Swedish and Thai, or even Pakistani, French, Nigerian and Welsh. There are any number of combinations and each results in a human being with as much right to be included in society as anyone else.

With the mixed-race population growing larger by the day, isn't it time for us to see its unique make-up as an identity in its own right?

Click here to read Laura Smith's article:

Click here to read Sharron Hall's response and feedback:

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