What Are You?
As a biracial woman in America, that question has been asked of me more often than I like to admit
“You don’t talk Black.” This is probably the phrase I have heard muttered to me the most when it comes to my identity. My mother is white and my father is black. Therefore, I identify as biracial, having parents of two different races. As a person of color, I am faced with social challenges, but I think most biracial people would agree that being biracial poses some different kinds of challenges that those who identify as monoracial will never experience. Being biracial is a constant social crisis that includes microaggressions, the feeling of not belonging to any society, and being forced to choose between two parts of me that make up one whole person. These personal troubles of mine are part of a broader public issue in America concerning biracialism, the principle or practice of combining or representing two separate races.
First, I’ll begin by saying: I am not “half” anything.
I have multiple selves, molded together, that form a whole person. Being called “half” can make a person feel like they don’t fully belong to any society. Not surprisingly, feeling like an outsider can affect a person’s emotional and mental well-being. It is even worse when one is called a “mutt.” One of my biggest struggles, that…
