The Honorable Anthony J. Portantino
State Capitol, Room 2003
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: AB 1281, The California School Racial Equality Designation Act

Dear Assembly Member Portantino:

I am a resident of California and I am Select... Multiracial the parent of a Multiracial child the parent of Multiracial children a teacher in the California schools an advocate for equal rights for Multiracial children and adults .^*

I believe that it is important to have the designation of "multiracial" included on school forms in California because proper racial and ethnic terminology has been shown to be extremely critical to the psychological well-being of students; multiracial students are no different. It is time to give our California multiracial population the dignified, clear, and consistent terminology it deserves.

California has the largest population of people who "checked more than one race" according to the U.S. 2000 Census. The federal government calls multiracial people "people of more than one race" or "people of two or more races."

AB 1281 will add "Multiracial students may check two or more boxes" to all educational forms that require racial and ethnic data collection in the state of California. I urge the members of the legislature to pass this important measure and thank you for supporting California's multiracial children and adults.

Sincerely,