of success my grandfather grew up there was not even a path to get onto the to this type of success so that is a word that means to get out there i hope the interview reaches people as well. >> job creation is the name of the book booktv c-span2. >> good morning. how is everyone doing .

>> good morning. i n a planning commissioner as well as the festival committee this is the eighth annual book festival we're so happy to have everyone here.here. a wonderful city that probably supports the arts and humanities we're pleased to bring you this fabulous event to our sponsors and volunteers please say fate q. when you see them. for the consideration of a everybody here please violence all devices we also have a survey we would likeli your feedback and ms. olson will sign books following a late -- to begin the following presentation i am

part of the acquirer but this will help the of book festival please go to politics & prose to purchase of book the city has been cited as one of the most diverse cities in america for its contemporary life in the hope that is throughout the nation the author has crafted a book of life in america with the multiracial family living that of which she writes and says she is often mistaken for the nanny her for her biracial children and i am sure she will talk about that. despite that climate the reality is america is

changing in has changed within the next 20 or 30 years less than half of the population of america will be white she has given hundreds of interviews with families she has talked to try america a few weeks ago to discuss what it is like to be the mayor of the most diverse city in the country i urge you to see his response to experience aas shift in now we will all talk about that shift the name of the book is called mob of cleaver family.

[applause] >> thank you so much i am so excited to be here iso corrected recovery countyunty and i was the only dark skinned person in the entire parochial classroom in the '60s and '70s my parentskensin were forbidden by law to marry in the state of maryland in 1961 when i tell my a children that they are incredulous it was illegal in 16 states for people of other races to very period that is crazy. likewise when my children tell their children could not marry in tall 2015 cable law believe it there are so many changes going on in our

society right now with rapidity of which the family paradigm is changing thaty only in my childhood people cannot get married but now this oh, and nobody would blink an eye-to-eye still with them to go to school of the south because i have experienced racism in the south so there are pockets which we all know but it is shifting my book is an examination and how the tide is changing and what we can do to support these families that are not like the cleaver family. how many here remember?. >> i dreamed of being the cleaver family i wanted my mom to vacuum in high heels

and my father to be seatedy in his armed chair i thoughtug that was the ultimate and that is not what i had. kids can be cruel every person here can remember something been that was said to them when they were a child because that is the cruel nature of childhood we're all trying to find our places and people can't get nasty. my cross to bear at that time i went to catholic school my entire life and my parents got divorced severe excommunicated from the catholic church childrench could not come to my house because my parents werey divorced and excommunicated my father got custody i believe partially because of

racism there was talk of having my bomb deported to the philippines i still don't understand what happened but i am glad that is not the case today or the basis of which custody awards are made so i have two children this is the first book i ever wrote mony why is your skin so brown? people assume because i and dark skin that i could not be their mother so i was there any any.ple who talking to people who had children that did not look like them and found out i was not alone racism has

always been more vicious against african-americans however there is no other dark skinned person who was not a domestic worker in endicott to appoint when thee nanny came up to me and saidaidi he is so cute d you live in? i said yes. [laughter] and i am sleeping with then father. [laughter] then after that moment the various nannies in the townth would still point to me to say there she is. my son has a blue eyes it is such a strange anomaly you have to go back to

generations to find anyone with blue eyes but it happened said he was born for his first year. a lot of things happenedappen al people mistaking me for a the nanny like the dentist would say with the mom likech this? are the gym teachers to say how about the mother's and the nanny'src gather round they are all the mothers and she asked if i had ever had a birth the experience. i said yes. this is my second one. it was cathartic i also wrote an article for "the post" but was printed in the montgomery county journal and that was widely distributed to raise

consciousness about how parents don't always look like their children and now they have two female or twoo male parents. my father later in life mary day younger woman and they mistook him for a the grandfather. and i was dismayed because my half-brother thought my father is so old he will die, so so with them that their curiosity overwhelm them to say insensitive things in the presence of children they are not aware of thee effect. i wish to look like everyone else my half-brother wish topeow my dad was younger so things

are changing now now will say parent never wander para number two instead of motherth or father is a sea change. but even over the last decade for the families in our country hough. i started to interview people after the success of the book in five different groups people who were adopted those who chose not to have children by choice is a the fastest-growing demographic, when i was a child having no brothers or sisters we were feeling

sorry for those children but now people choose to have one child because of resources, time, careers so laverty me give a little bit about the chapter that i studied. first in 2013 the census bureau reported within one year of white children under the age of five would be a minority and less than 50 percent of the population would be white. that is an incredibleti statistic that our country will go to a state where whites are not the majority had never thought i wasn't live to see that i.m. happy for my children they don't

have to check white for asian-pacific islander because they have to choose than they have to pick one side of their family i always choose asian-pacific islander then nobody would accept if i said white even the teachers would say i fake you did this wrong. mixed race is say box of almost every demographic.ial ses while social services are slow to keep up with the changes the point is there is no normal with the country with a lot of different families and the paradigms' have shifted.

and those that would differrs from the last election and with middle america is slower to except changes but changes nonetheless under way. the first chapter is child free by a choice many people equate motherhood with womanhood and they're often ashamed by their colleagues o or friends for not having children that my grandfather started to ask me what i would have children because procreation is assumed.nk that many people are filled without being parents. it is not for everyone. not for it may be selfish i fake it is selfish to do have children if you were not

ready and you don't have the time or resources to give the child what they deserve. the women and men that i interviewed you a cadillac of maternal instinct the environmental impact of over population and the desire not to bring children into a violent world are there reasons for not procreating.ntew everyone was aware of the kid centric culture and has an paddled negative commentsn i am trying to do my part to dispel those assumptions and have people be honored with whatever choice they make. >> 15% of new marriages aree intergenerational of.

people started to boycott cheerios because they featured on television a white mother am black fathernd m mixed-race kid it was a huge uproar that floored me because there is an interesting website where mixed-race family send in pictures of their families to show that we are normal. now i see those mixed race ads in print media often the specially the billboards. but almost every multiracial person i have met has dealt with the question what are you? why should i have to

face that i think i do almost every day but if i say i american philips n.v. with puzzlement and did not accept that as the answer but it is crazy but i don't want to have to choose ich want to honor that heritage as well because of the assumptions made in our country i have been mistaken as a waitress my friend who is a prosecutor buses accused of trying to steal his children twice to say this man is trying to steal these kids from the playground so we have a way

to go and these aremp ingrained in childhood but if people like you are interested they can make changes through your conversations and actionsnversa and not making assumptionsns calling people out when they do and we're getting better and better at that every dayren my children are in college and they are pretty liberal but the first day of class the professor asked what ised your name and what pronoun would you like to be called? that by gary is slowly eroding. because if i assume a pronoun they get very upset that this single-parent they

also found they were older and did not have time to get married now you can have a sperm donor amazon hit shows to have children by themselves and that is a valid choice there is a huge network of online and parents of singletons the fastest-growing family unit that children often fare better than those even with two children because they treat them as adults much earlier and there vocabulary's our expanded as a result an even higher iq is. family is to adopt when i i

grew up you were adopted it was fearful to think that i could have been adopted but why? why was that perceive to be negative? that is beautiful. so when people address my friends who have adoptednd children with questions as where did you get her as if she was a commodity is harmful so what can we do? education is the primary wayhese on these efforts that is the largest gathering of people in the united states and for the first time i ever felt

truly understood i a have never felt truly american or filipino because my mother wanted me to be so american she would not teach me the language of that was a loss of a great gift so if you speak another language toward another culture please share that with your children or they will grow up like me. [laughter] so express these from my young age inside out is the only radio show inin washington d.c. because we have a huge lgbt communitymy pat so i do my part to eradicate

those prejudices' sorry do want to be some time for questions someone has as microphone if you have a comment i have a facebook pager i encourage people to share their stories ofst nontraditional families and i would love to hear from you this project to the future to have a place of nontraditional families to a share strategies for dealing with the indignities that weal deal with. would who would like to ask a question or make a comment?. >> i don't know how to make this a question because i know a little bit about you

already but isn't it important to think less in terms and open people's minds and hearts?. >> that is true and every time we meet somebody that has a lifetime prejudiced paren and that is all they know they don't even know theyy are prejudiced because it is so much more important to introduce them cordially than somebody that does not fit their stereotype. >> i believe that is the truth aba spoke to vehemently about certain

topics but for instance everyone here knows so many that is gay but before thatho ia there was day and though a bit of misunderstanding or fear because people are afraid of what is not familiar there are some groups that go door to door to show they are normally and connie and and concernedtio, of the environment so those interactions help to increase understanding you are absolutely right. they give for that comment. >> 8q for your story i am intrigued but i would like

to hear about your children when were they aware there was a difference?. >> children honorary good observers but a poor interpreters.eters at a certain point when my daughter was five she said why is your skin so brown or why do people ask if you are our babysitter? i do think that day ashley fact she didn't like it we did not look the same because he will have a tribal desire to fit and and it made her uncomfortable. my son was less so but my daughter is pretty sensitive and it to occur some time to realize our skin color is different but then became very involved with anyone is

interested in other cultures i would have loved that my best friend from high school text of me to say you are mixed-race? i did not know that. [laughter] i tried really hard to be dutch cheerleader i just wanted to be like everyonene else. now i a them broad to be multi-cultural. -- prague to be multi-cultural and i am so excited.she does people speak to me in spanish almost everyday and luckily i learned it in college and i enjoy practicing it. but i just want to say i am

a filipino and be done. so bring some attention so once you make these assumptions there are fewer filipinos than people who come into contact so i understand why these assumptions are made by a more apt to talk about it now than i was. . .n, but

was i can hold up but it was a testament to myself. we care about what people think and more about how we feel about ourselves at least this person does and i'm excited so keep a lookout and we will be signing books in the politics and prose tend i work as a bookselleros because i love authors talks and books and i know i'm preaching to the choir but it's the most

amazing bookstore in the country and i hope you will come by and visit us. thank you so much. [applause] conscience of a conservative which calls for conservatism and interviewed by a