Personal Narrative Essay: Mixed Race

I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To

To start off, both of my parents are white Americans. My father’s great grandparents came to america from czechoslovakia in the late 1800’s and same for my mothers German great grandparents. Born and raised in primarily white small towns, my parents are your stereotypical middle class white americans. About 10 years into their relationship when my mom first got pregnant with my oldest brother Dalton (23), they bought a 3 story house that was right outside of a suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Anoka, Mn. The nearest gas station was about a 8 minute drive, and the nearest restaurant was 10. They had 3 boys together, and took in my oldest cousin Chey when she was 10 because my aunt had passed.

Those that study racial discrimination over mixed races tend to find that those individual usually do not have another mixed race relative or friend that can relate to the same situation as them. But psychologists believe that it’s best for individuals to seek help from those that are of mixed race if they have been discriminated against. But to also know that they are not alone. “Adolescents who do not have a stable racial identity show lower self-esteem,” says Astrea Greig, a Psychological Doctor that meets with multi and mono-racial young adults (and children) over substance abuse and perceived discrimination. And this being a stable racial identity, occurs when individuals either young or old, have been discriminated or brought down emotionally and psychologically over being mixed-race (or even mono-racial) that they are depressed/ashamed over the fact that they are mixed. This striking a fairly large problem, it’s best to find a biracial-multiracial, referring from what was mentioned earlier, to help when problems such as discrimination occur. It’s best not going through such as thing alone and is better when someone has a support

James McBride can tell you firsthand about man verse racial identity. Journalizing his experience in his New York Times Bestseller novel the Color of Water simply outlined his struggles of finding who he was. His upbringing included a black father and a Jewish white mother. His background made it hard for him to understand why his home was different than others on the street. Although McBride experience shows an older outtake of racial identity, some may say this still is a problem today. Offspring feels the need to pick a race in society to succeed in the generation and it may be the step to understands them more. Notice in the subtitle of the book "A black Men tribute to his white mother" he label himself as just black as if there was a barrier between his mother and himself because the so different. Today we need to not let racial identity become a big part of our lives.

As a biracial woman growing up in the South, I never knew my place in the world. My father is a dark-skinned African American and my mother is a fair-skinned Caucasian, leaving my sister and I to fall somewhere in the middle. In elementary, my unique background caused numerous personal problems. Friends would assume I was adopted. I would frantically defend myself by saying “I am not adopted! My mommy is white and my daddy is black, and there is nothing wrong with me.” My classmates often told me that I was not possible: “black goes with black, and white goes with white.” In time, both races rejected me. I was bullied by the black girls at my school for being “too white” regarding my clothes and my hair. I continued to struggle with this

Many don’t realize this, but our life is forever indebted in danger. Our life, as in, minorities. This isn’t a dream nor is it long overdue. It has been time and time again when African Americans are placed on the backburner as we watch the members of our communities and societies whom have less melanin than us take what they want believe is rightfully theirs. No one has ever took the time to seek what we deserve for all the horrible endangerment we’ve been put through for years and years to come. I believe that African Americans whom stand together in regards to the Black Lives Matter protest are fighting because we know of the injustice we have had to endure that dates back to so long ago that we just can’t stand on the sidelines

Too black for the White kids, yet somehow too white for the Black kids, oh the perils of a cappuccino mixed race kid. But it’s true. My life since I was young, at least younger than my eighteen year old self, has been about which group do I most fit in with. Between the four school changes over the course of twelve years, all in white suburban towns I’ve molded myself into an array of characters.

This is one of the most painful subjects for me as a part Hispanic and part African-American. When I relocated to the United States in 1988, I was not prepared for what I experienced concerning racism in America. The racist and ignorant comments made by Hispanics towards and about African American and the racist and ignorant comments made by African Americans towards and about Hispanics were disturbing and offensive to say the least. And each and every time I stood up for my Hispanic roots and my African-American roots. Added to that, the issue of “dark skin and light skin within the African-American community. First time, I heard the term “high yellow ______” was when an African-American woman used that term about me. I didn’t even know what

As I backed out of the driveway, blood rushing to my face, I had a sudden realization. My entire life I have been looked at as a stereotype rather than a human being. The color of my skin led to people already having judgement about me before engaging in a conversation. Race is a minor characteristic yet it is deeply constructed within our society. The difficulties that black people experience bubbles up racial tension underlying the “post-racial” society that we live in. It is important to have the vocabulary to describe your lived experiences in order to feel like they are justified because people are always trying to dismiss them. “You people always make everything about race!” they would exclaim. Because, for us, everything is about race and it has always been that way. Black people can’t simply live their lives without the presence of their race being objectified. Those who do not understand need to not only recognize but acknowledge race without being oblivious to the reality of this

I am an African American. You must be wondering what’s my name since im “black”, you might be thinking that its ghetto, right? No need to know where I came from, you must think that I come from the projects right? It’s not like it’s important to you. You probably think that my future plans are that I won’t finished high school and that I will become pregnant. One look at the color of my skin is all it takes. Right? Look again.

Understanding this will help one realize how they are. In the article, ‘Speaking in Tongues,’ Obama mentions a girl name Joyce from college who was part Italian, part French and part Native American and states her struggle with people trying to label her. “I’m not Black… I’m multiracial… Why should I have to choose between them? …They’re the ones who are telling me I can’t be who I am.” (Smith, 2008) In this quote, Joyce tells that she is multiracial, meaning she is accepting all roots. When she says that people are trying to tell her she can’t be who she is, she is not agreeing to make others comfortable. However there are also people that do not want to accept their roots, specifically their genetics. In the previous article, ‘DNA rewrites history for African-Americans,’ Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not want to embrace the fact that he was 50% white and 50% black. ““I’ll never see my family tree in quite the same way,” Gates says on the PBS show program, “I have the blues. Can I still have the blues?”” (Willing, 2006) After discovering his true heritage, Gates did not want to accept his ‘new’ identity, but instead rejects it, unlike Joyce. When he denies his identity it only hurts him because he does not recognize his entire

In today’s society, it is obvious that we still face racism and oppression. Something that we talk about historically happening, such as the civil rights movement, is very alive today. History is in a way repeating itself. Some may counter this argument and say “all lives matter”, but they cannot ignore the disproportionate injustice against African Americans today. If we study the Black Lives Matter movement, we can see that discrimination and oppression still exists, but there are constructive ways to deal with it.

Throughout life I have had people asking “ Are you, like, half white and half white.” I have heard people talk about other races like they were not equal. For example, fourth grade I had this one friend who said “people should stay with their own race” not knowing that I was biracial. So I kind of felt like there was something wrong with me as a kid. But few years later I learned that there was nothing wrong with me, and that it was just others ignorance how they were raised to think. Today, I am proud to be biracial, knowing that there is nothing wrong with it.

Through the years I’ve realized that their viewpoints weren’t completely unfounded. Being half-white does have its privileges and it wasn’t until I was introduced to the fact that the way society regarded African-Americans is completely different to how they view me as a biracial individual that I realized this. At the same time, I became aware of my blackness and the voice I have within

What are you? Do you classify yourself as simply black, African-American, or do you not know? When I ask what are you, I am asking you about your roots, the roots that make you, you. My roots is what I use to differentiate myself because I am more than just an American and I am more than just black. Nowadays black identity is used not only as a race but as ethnicity, including for people who do not know their heritage. On the other hand, freedom for people in the black race is much more than it was in the 20th century. Although, the black race have civil rights, racial issues still continue to exist today.