Mixed: Exploring What It Means to Be Blended in America

About the Author\nJeanne Jones is a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and author. One of seven children growing up in a predominantly white Midwest city, she had the unique opportunity of being introduced at an early age to people of different races, cultures, and religions. In her adult life she has consistently craved a deeper understanding of how and why racism and indisputable socioeconomic gaps have continued to prevail in America.\nAfter becoming the wife of a black man and the mother to biracial and black children, her privilege was amplified in an unexpected way, and her desire to educate herself on these topics grew. Jones received a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she studied racial disparities in the criminal justice system. She went on to earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and has completed the Transformational Leadership program through Bellevue University in Omaha, Nebraska. She holds the national certification Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence through the American Society of Quality, served on the board of directors of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, and spent two decades working for Fortune 500 companies in leadership roles.\nHer most important role is being a mother, and her dream for her mixed family is to improve race relations in our divided country, one uncomfortable but necessary conversation at a time.\nIn Mixed, Jeanne Jones reflects on being a white wife and mother raising her blended biracial family in the Midwest, while providing the call to action America so desperately needs: we need to fix the rampant racial injustice this country faces. Not tomorrow, not in a year, but today.\nThe Jones family exemplifies the race-related dichotomies that exist in America: their biracial twin girls have ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War and came to America via Ellis Island on one side, and rare documentation tracing their family to a runaway slave from Virginia who was captured and taken to Mississippi on the other.\nExposed to different cultures and races from a young age, Jeanne Jones has always been interested in viewing the world through the lens of others. Her children's experiences with identity come to the forefront as she explores colorism and the impact it has already had on their twins: one is viewed as "passing," with light skin and blue eyes, while the other is often perceived as Hispanic. Touching on the hypocrisy of race relations in America, Jones highlights experiences had by her own mixed family as they navigate the world as we know it, including contrasting the way her husband is treated by those who recognize him from his college football career, and the lack of awareness by others who questioned him as a possible robber while taking a walk in his own neighborhood.\nCandid, compelling, and ultimately revelatory, Mixed is a heartfelt, necessary, and timely exploration into the heart and soul of what it means to be and live as mixed, blended, and biracial in America.