According to the National Center for HealthStatistics, the number of children born to oneBlack and one white parent has risen from just9,000 in 1968 to more than 52,000 in 1991.

Common Thread

Prism is not the only group dedicated toproviding a forum for the growing number ofmultiracial students at Harvard.

Common Thread, established last fall byUniversity Health Services (UHS) fellow Howard W.Brown, is a discussion group "for individuals forwhom one of their identifications is biracial ormultiracial."

Brown, a clinical social worker who identifieshimself as "a New Yorker, Black and biracial--notnecessarily in that order," began the group as away to explore issues faced by multiracial membersof the Harvard community.

"There has been a perceived stigma attached tobeing multiracial or biracial," Brown says. "Thebiggest challenge is ignorance."

But Brown says the "stigma" attached toidentifying oneself as multiracial may keep peoplefrom coming to meetings of groups like Prism andCommon Thread.

Though Brown put up posters announcing thegroup in the fall and received several calls frominterested students, he says only three, two ofwhom are graduate students, consistently attendmeetings.

On one Wednesday at 6 p.m., Brown surveys theempty conference room on the third floor of UHSand shrugs his shoulders.

"This is the first time no one's showed up,"Brown says, adding his patience to his list of thebenefits of the group. "One of the advantages of agroup like this is that it's my responsibility tobe here. I'm not burdened by silly things likepapers and exams."

And, Brown adds, Common Thread is neither asupport group nor an educational group. Rather, hesays, "It gives them a place to talk withoutpeople looking at them like they're crazy."

Mixed-Race, not Mixed-Up

Johnson-Arbor says she's talked to Brown onmore than one occasion--not to express interest,but concern about Common Thread's purpose.

"I don't think these groups are a very goodidea," Johnson-Arbor says. "It's just, 'Hi, I'mbiracial. I have a problem."

Johnson-Arbor, who is a member of Prism'sexecutive board, says the UHS discussion groupplays into the stereotype of the "mixed-up" childof mixed heritage.