Mixedraceproblems

it's kinda in the title 

[heroicandromache]

I LEARN ABOUT SACRIFICE

my mother has a language i dare not speak eight tones crashing like waves against her lips– this is hallowed ground and i i am not welcome here body too hollow, too much like puppet on a string  waiting for stage directions.

my mother walks her english to my aunt’s funeral, filial piety as backbone and gets asked to move– these seats are for family only

and i wonder: how much did she have to bury? am i holding the shovel? did i make the hole deeper?

my mother is an island, oasis i found too soon or not soon enough but now i am the reef i will protect her. 

my mother saves face turns the other cheek and bites tongue until it bleeds, this english a border she has crossed too many oceans only to find

another barrier. my white cousin says to me: “i don’t speak your language” and i get what my mother’s silence has always been trying to say.

[thewonderfulkatsukinikifrovs]

Being Mixed Race in the Hospital…

I don’t usually talk about things that are all that personal on here. Sure, I talk about topics that are personal to me but actual personal experience is something I keep to myself. Yet, today, I just can’t keep quiet.

Some of you may know that I am mixed race. Others of you may know that I am white-passing. I’ve always been aware of my passing privelege and I’ve always been very open about discussing race and racial experience in whatever limited way I can offer.

Today, I’m gonna talk about the thing that pisses me off the fucking most: racist doctors.

I’m gonna preface this with the usual “some doctors and other medical professionals are fine” thing. If you’re a medical professional and you haven’t done this then I’m not talking about you, don’t get your knickers in a bunch.

Across the board, people of colour - ESPECIALLY women of colour - tend to be under diagnosed in the health field across the board. This is something I see talked about a lot, and rightfully so. But what I don’t see a lot of is how mixed race people are often treated by doctors and other people working in hospitals and clinics.

I have anxiety and an autism spectrum disorder so often times I feel more comfortable going to the clinic with my father in tow. My father is what one might call racially ambiguous but he is noticeably much darker than me. When I was a child and even on days like today when I bring my father to the doctor with me for moral support I almost always get these comments:

“You’re here for x-reason? Oh yes, that’s so common now with all the mixing races.”

I shit you not, receptionists, doctors, nurses and dentists have all blamed almost every issue I’ve ever had on my mixed race, including but not limited to:

My General Anxiety Disorder

My Autism Spectrum Disorder

My Learning Disability

My Gastro-intestinal issues

My gluten-intolerance

The fact that I needed my wisdom tooth out???

I’ve even seen a doctor go so far as to look my father in the eye and tell him “these are the risks when you mix races.” I was a CHILD when that particular one happened. I cried all the way home and asked my parents if I was sick because I shouldn’t have been born. They told me no, they told me the doctor was wrong. But he was a doctor, I thought in my small child mind. How could a doctor be wrong?

Mixed race kids, no matter what they look like, deal with enough shit. We’re bullied, causing higher rates of mental illness, we deal with imposter syndrome, racism from outside and often inside our own families. If I had to tell you the number of times my own aunts called me a mutt you’d probably barf.

We do not need doctors telling little children lies about their health because they are mixed race. We do not need medical professionals teaching children that their existence as mixed race people are the cause of their pain.

To this dentist today that told me “Wisdom teeth extractions are becoming more common. Must be the mixing races.” Fuck you. Like hell I’m letting you touch my teeth now. I’ll find a nice, not racist dentist to take my teeth out of my head, thank you very much.

[spicy-alien-blog]

Growing up in a predominantly white area was, and still is, hellish for me.

Growing up in a mainly white area was, and still is, hellish for me.

At the age of 5 I moved from a place where there were lots of boys and girls like me but then i moved school to the south west of England. People were mainly from England, and it’s very difficult because in my old school people came from all over the world! Some people don’t make me feel comfortable where I am now, and this makes me feel really very sad. When I think about it, maybe they just don’t know much about different people, cultures and communities! My old home was quite different.

From the age of 5 onward my friends call me racist names and made hurtful comments towards me. I have just moved to an all-white, farmer-dominated primary school, and the hateful mindset that some of them live in causes me to feel unwanted. I am compared to animal feces, told to go back to my own country, and that I should be pleased that at least some of me is white. I do not think that all of them meant to say the things they did, to deliberately make me feel isolated and afraid, but their lack of experience with talking to, and being with, people even remotely different from themselves really makes an impact when it comes to talking to someone from a Mixed Race background like myself. I’m receiving comments like “you’re an outsider” ” The coloured one” ”you’re kind of pretty for a brown girl” ”you’re the same colour as shit.” All of these types of comments from an early age all through to the age of 11, made me feel like less of a person than I really am; it was my racial background that made me feel like this.

At the age of 10 I’m waiting on a fairy godmother to come down and cast a spell so I can be white, so I can be the same as everyone else. My peers and my predominantly white surroundings make me feel unbelievably uncomfortable. I started to become aware that it was my appearance that attracted unwanted attention with other people, but it’s my complex heritage that is my monster to fight. I feel like I don’t know my own heritage and this has always made me feel disconnected to where I could possibly belong.  I am not BiRacial or anything as easy to explain as that. I am a true mix of hundreds of different nationalities and my family before me are also like this. Somehow, I still can’t get over the confusion I feel every day about it and if I can’t understand it, how can I expect other people to understand and respect me? I don’t think it is seen as a good thing right now, it just makes me different.

  At the age of 11 I’ve just moved up to a senior school in Dorset. I’m afraid and different to the rest of my year. Everyone is white. I feel like loneliness is eating me alive, swallowing every ounce of hope I have yet to spare. It feasts upon any confidence and self love I have left, leaving behind this empty carcass; I’m full of so much despair and self-loathing that I can’t seem to hold onto anything positive anymore. The people I share my education with take my heart into their claws, squeezing out all the life I can muster that morning. I have somehow created a monster within my mind and it only ever wants me to feel cold and useless. I have no power over it. I feel like I shouldn’t be the colour I am and I feel like I shouldn’t be accepted into their society because I’m not like them.

At the age of 14 I’ve moved again, this time to Cornwall. The very end of England. I think that as I’ve moved around, I’ve had to fight the same battles each time. Meeting new people and each time having to explain my genetic makeup, something I, myself, don’t even fully understand yet.

Whilst being down here, not only have I, personally, been the receiver of discriminatory comments and the punch line to jokes because of my skin colour, but I have played witness to countless islamophobic jokes and Donald Trump-like views being openly preached.

Being told that “racism doesn’t exist anymore” will never fail to make me re-evaluate what I should and shouldn’t be offended at.  The fact that these people, some of which are racist to me and to other people, think that it it is okay to say that infuriates me.I can’t help but think “they don’t know a damn thing!” and then this in turn makes me question “Do I know a damn thing?”. Sometimes it’ll be for five minutes.  An hour. A day. A week. But looking back on it now I understand that I am allowed to feel however I want to about discriminative comments said to me or that affect me.

“There’s no such thing as white privilege” says the white man. Having people deny the product of their history because they don’t like it will always seem ridiculous to me; being told this in the aggressive way that it was,just makes me angry and upset. I remember thinking “How dare he? How dare he deny something that will forever affect me and vast amount of people in the world?” I think that part of me is jealous because it will never affect his life in a negative way, and this infuriates me. It infuriates me that I have no control over how such a medieval concept as white privilege can tragically still be a major issue today!

And to top it all off: “ Mixed race people are just products of a dirty love.”  To those of you that are reading this and are mixed race, do I really need to explain why this was one of the most devastatingly catastrophic few seconds of my life? My life, my family, and other people in the mixed race community were just being insulted and shunned. I remember receiving the comment and I felt like my heart skipped a beat. The feelings that rushed through me where unearthly and tortuous, and if I was to explain how I feel about it, it would take me millenia.

At the age of 15 I frequently think about what culture and what background suits me the most. I come from a multi cultural background that holds a phenomenal mix of races. Am I Indian? Am I Irish? I’ve never really felt like I fit in with the communities that I have roots in because of how frail each root is. I can find myself thinking that I haven’t ever got anyone to talk about this kind of mixed race exclusive issue.

However, when I am with other people who feel the same as I do about this kind of situation, I feel like I am accepted and that I do matter. When feeling down about all this, the best thing is to talk to someone that might understand and be able to relate about this situation as it provides a sense of comfort and community.

To those of you that have just read what I have had to say: If you are in the lucky position to not be in the situation that I am in, I beg of you to learn from the mistakes that I have spoke of. Don’t be that person that is clueless about what they are saying. If you are in a similar position to myself then just remember that you are never alone.

[keetkaatart]

mixed-race representation matters.

mixed-race people stand at a strange intersection of marginalised yet privileged. in terms of discrimination it’s not exactly like we’ve drawn the short end of the stick. so i really don’t wanna come across here like we have it the worst. let me just get that out of the way. what i am saying is that people continuously ignore our stories. it’s very rare that we see ourselves accurately portrayed in the media, if *at all*. And when we’re there, we’re often then pigeonholed into one ethnicity/race/culture, we never just get to be ourselves. this is lazy. this is narrow-minded. it makes it seem like we don’t matter and/or exist. just an observation. still holding on for my mixed-race hero lol.  on a lighter note, if anyone knows of a character in a movie/tv series/book etc that is treated with care and dignity, let me know! :D 

[my-path-serpentine]

don’t forget mixed race people come in all shapes and colours, not just the one deemed most attractive. no two mixed race folks will look the same, and every kind is good

[mixedraceproblems]

Rant

As a mixed person one of the most common things I get from my friends is picking which race they prefer me to be; let me explain. I am frequently called a “white girl” because I like Starbucks or do things that they consider to be “white” yet when it suits them they will laugh at my afro saying it’s been electrocuted or make jokes about how I must clearly wear weave because black people cant grow hair dispute the fact my hair is actually longer than most of theirs when straighten. I have become so fed up of people picking which one of my races suits them and making jokes about it but of course whenever I show my annoyance they defend themselves by simply saying it was only a joke. Those who are not mixed race don’t understand what it’s like to be discriminated or have jokes made about your mixes, I for one am fed up with this behaviour and feel like it must stop. Who’s with me?

[mixedraceproblems]

is it dumb that i don't know how to identify? my dad is black, my mom is white, and i'm somewhere in between. i get called oreo and light skin bitch, and then those people will turn around and say i don't look black enough and i'm just white. my parents don't really acknowledge it, they're very old fashioned and i'm surprised they even got married at all. it's just awkward and tiring and i feel stupid for not being able to pin down my identity. anyway. needed a quick rant, sorry and thank you😂

Nah its not dumb at all, I think its a lot harder trying to find how you identify yourself when everyone else keeps trying to tell you what you are but honestly you just take your time and don’t let other people define you. I’m glad you could rant on my page tho xD 

[kianamaiart]

The multiracial experience

[mixedraceproblems]

My Experience

When I was 8 years old I moved towns, my new “home” was in a predominantly white area, having previously lived in a very multicultural area the reality was shocking. This was the first time i really noticed that there were far less multicultural people than i originally thought, in all fairness before I moved towns it hadn't really occurred to me that i was mixed race because i was so used to being surrounded by people of different races that i figured everywhere else was like my home town, filled with lots of different people who look different; however when i first walked into my new school and counted the handful of none white people in the room the reality hit me. Yes there were 2 black kids, 2 Asian kids and one other mixed race child but being in that room still made me feel like an outcast because it was only then that i realised being mixed race made me stand out and although there many be a few other kids of other ethnicities none of them were like me, none of them were from the exact same countries as me and for a few years this caused me to isolate myself from my new class mates in different ways. Its been 10 years since I first moved to a town i can truly call my home, I have learnt to understand myself better and further learn about the countries I’m from as well as meeting new people mixed and none mixed alike, each experience has helped me to become more confident in who i am as a person. I used to hate being mixed race because it made me feel alone and different but now I love who i am and i wouldn’t change that fact about me.

This page has allowed me to connect to other people who have had similar experiences, if you would like to share your story about dealing with any issues to do with being mixed race then please message me and i will post it, you never know, your past experience may help someone struggling right now.

[youknowyouremixedwhen]

You know your mixed when

people are like “How did that even happen” like people of different races meeting is the most fucked up mind boggling thing on the world

[cestvibe]

[mixedraceproblems]

Mixed Race Magazine

Hi guys I’m planning to create a one of a kind online magazine especially for mixed race & multiracial women for a university project. It would be a massive help if anyone who considers themselves mixed race/multiracial could fill in this market research survey for me so that I can get started on it :) Thank you so much! 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BQQMQCD 

[hijadepavlov-deactivated2017012]

Saying “Mixed people are valid even if we feel unsure about our heritage.” 

…and saying “White people who may-or-may-not-be-1/64th-non-white and don’t claim that heritage / only claim it to get a free pass when they’re being racist / self-identify as white are… still white.” 

….aren’t actually contradicting statements. 

Johnny Depp saying he’s 1/64th Cherokee to justify his brownface in The Lone Ranger, when he’s never before claimed that identity? Still white (also, a racist).

Rowan Blanchard being proud that she’s got a mixed race grandparent but saying that she identifies as white and has white privilege? A Lawful White™.

Cody Christian, who actively chooses to identify as Native, puts Native first in his resume for acting jobs and has a strong connection to NA heritage thanks to his mom? Not white, even if he is white passing.

White Latinxs (like Karla Souza, Guillermo del Toro, Gael García Bernal, etc.) saying they’re proud of being Latinx and that they experience discrimination because of their nationality, their culture and/or their accent? Targeted by [Link: Racialized Xenophobia] outside of LatAm, but still white. 

Being mixed has a lot to do with experience and self-identification, with deciding to claim that heritage and being somehow influenced by it. On the other hand, being white-passing is influenced by a lot of factors (name, accent, nationality, religion, cultural practices, etc.) and even white people might be read as non-white if they don’t adjust to the idea of what is “acceptable whiteness”. 

So, yes, you are allowed to identify as mixed/not-white even if your relationship with your heritage is messy and complicated! [Link: This post is for you!] The point is, mixed people would struggle much less with our identity if we finally ended this stupid “We’re all mixed!” discourse that conflates our struggles with those of white people. 

[allmixed--up]

Being Mixed doesn’t mean we are watered down versions of our ethnicities. We are still whole.

[mixedheritageproblems]

Why I Am Okay With 'Other'

When I was a little girl, my father bought me a book called “Color Me Beautiful” that introduced me to 20-30 kids by explaining to me what delicious snack their skin resembled. Peach, vanilla, caramel, cocoa, ebony, milk, cinnamon, I can’t even remember them all. At the end, it showed all the kids grinning huge and holding hands and it said something about people being this happy rainbow, you get the jist. Instead of this making me an insatiable cannibal, it rendered me virtually race-blind, which was really cute and probably my (both multiracial and raised in the South in the ’60s) parents’ aim [aside: when I went to kindergarten a girl asked me what color I was and I replied “warm and light like vanilla”]. My favorite Barbie was the Hawaiian one, was her name Kira? Because I thought she looked like me. My parents never shoved race down my throat and I never thought about it.

Enter the Real World. It would just be exhaustive to list all the incidents, but here are a few: my own cousins explaining to me how I was “white” and therefore bad and not allowed to hang out with them; me and my biracial best friend being called “Oreos” by black and white kids on the bus; my white friends explaining to me at lunch how I “wasn’t really black”, that I just had “black in me” because I wasn’t “ghetto”; the same friends referring to me as their “black friend”; a clerk at a mall cart asking me my ethnicity then declaring me a “mutt” (he didn’t get the sale, y’all).

You always hear how “mixed kids have problems” but I think it’s more like “society has a problem with us.” I’m sick of being asked to pick a side, mainly because I can’t pick a side if I wanted to. The way I see it, no side’s ever been particularly good to me.

When I asked my friend why she felt more comfortable identifying as black (her dad is white) instead of multiracial or biracial, she said because she always ‘felt’ black, felt like her experience could be best described as a black American experience. In that same line of thinking, I feel like an ‘other’ - not white, not black, not indigenous enough to be called Native, creole but not from Louisiana, grandpas who tanned and curled their hair and lied about their race to save their wives and children, grandmas from nameless islands - ‘Other’ people.

[my-path-serpentine]

don’t forget mixed race people come in all shapes and colours, not just the one deemed most attractive. no two mixed race folks will look the same, and every kind is good

[bellygangstaboo]

[msladyjay]

GO 👏 THE 👏 FUCK 👏 OFF. Also, the American educational system is trash. I applaud this child’s parents for giving her a voice and standing up against bias authority.

[fridakahloblvd]

(Can someone caption this?)

[nico-incognito]

Classroom full of mostly black and brown students:

Black student: [unintelligible—and then]  …and then throwing everything away beneath it because it doesn’t pertain to you. I’m sorry —

White teacher: —you know what, I’m sorry -I’m sorry…

Black student: —No, no, no…I let you talk -I let you talk, you’re gonna let me talk.

[Other students gasps]

White student: Go ahead. Finish.

Black student: I’m sorry that this is the way that it is. You’re right, it is fucked up. But white people control everything…and that’s not fair. And when anybody, any other minority tries to say anything about it or change it, we’re complaining or we’re ungrateful or all this other stuff because we still have this or that. But then you say something about ‘Oh, I don’t want—there’s too many Latinos and there’s too many—’

White teacher: I didn’t say that—

[Various students disagree]

White teacher: I said I want to control the border!

Black student: You said you don’t want this to turn into a Latin country because there’ll be too many 

White teacher: I did not say that.

[Various students disagree]

Student 2: You said you want to preserve the American culture.

Black student: There is no American culture. American culture is EVERYTHING.

[Various students agree]

Random: Mayonnaise!

[Students laugh]

Black student: And because you are white and so closed-minded, you refuse to accept that, you refuse to accept—

White teacher: Don’t tell me I’m closed-minded—

Black student: Everything you’ve said to me is closed-minded.

White teacher: Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I’m closed-minded.

Black student: You don’t need to agree—I -I’ve had conversations with people that don’t agree with me, but if they at least listen and try to accept—you’re not accepting the truth.

White teacher: Why do I have to accept what you think is right?

Black student: You need to accept the truth! Not what I think is right, what is actually happening right—

White teacher: Well, let me tell you what I think. You said white people have been in control of everything….who is the president of the United States right now?!

Students: A black man!

*Various sounds of incredulity*

Black student: WITH A WHITE CONGRESS! WITH A WHITE SENATE! WITH WHITE EVERYTHING ELSE! HE DOESN’T HAVE THE CONTROL OF EVERYTHING!

Random: GO OFF 

Other Random: GO OFF–

*The class is in an uproar*

Random student: YOU ARE SO PRIVILEGED THAT YOU JUST DON’T SEE IT!

White teacher: Do we have to yell?!

Black student: Yes, because I’m mad.

[suitepetite]

Reblogging for the captioning. Thanks!

[bando--grand-scamyon]

YES, BECAUSE I’M MAD.

[lordrachaelmarissa-deactivated2]

This gives me hope. I’m 22. I’m not that old, but I’m assuming I’m older than these students in the video. To see this young intelligent woman school her teacher on white privilege and the affects of white supremacy gives me hope. They are young and using their voice! This is gives me hope ya’ll. 

[butthair-deactivated20181217]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

[kakashisbabymama]

You know what makes me so ecstatic about this video? Is the fact that black and brown kids are going to these schools full of white teachers teaching them sugar coats and white wash of their own history, erasing their existence. And then we have this room of these kids just so intelligent and taught already what is actually the truth. It just warms my heart so much.