Johnson-Arbor says she's no stranger to suchaccusations. Her mixed heritage has, in fact, madeheadlines: Her mother, a Black televisionpersonality, sued her father, a white businessexecutive, for child support.

"He kept saying he wasn't my father,"Johnson-Arbor says. "But there were blood testssaying he was my father."

The publicity from the case--there are picturesin Jet magazine of Johnson-Arbor as a toddler,holding the child-support check--alienated herfather, who did not speak to either her mother orher for years afterwards.

Johnson-Arbor met her father for the first timewhen she went to visit him in Chicago during herfirst year at Harvard.

Riding back from the airport, Johnson-Arborsays she was shocked by how much she resembledhim.

"All of a sudden, I was sitting across fromsomeone who looked like me," Johnson-Arbor says."He had the same face as I did."

But Johnson-Arbor says she has not seen herfather again since that first visit.

"He still couldn't deal with having adaughter," Johnson-Arbor says. "I'm not surewhether it's because of my mother or the fact thatI was biracial."

Even though her contact with her father hasbeen limited, JohnsonArbor says she identifiesvery strongly with being biracial--and sees Prismas a place to create a "social network" for peoplelike her, who refuse to privilege one ethnicidentity over another.

"I find myself very comfortable around biracialpeople," JohnsonArbor says. "There are so manypressures to choose one way or another."

Choosing

But not all mixed-race students choose tostraddle the line between two heritages.

Chris Lewis '96, whose father is Black andmother is white, says he usually identifieshimself as being Black and has been heavilyinvolved in Black student organizations since hefirst came to Harvard.

Lewis is a now member of the historically BlackMITbased fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, as well asthe Black Entrepreneur's Club and the BSA.

Lewis, a Cabot House resident, says he now has"very little contact with people of other races."