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Personal Narrative-Racism In High School

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“Get out of my car,” said my mom with a smile. Wearing an unnecessarily large backpack and reveling in the significance of the moment, I caught my reflection in the window: a young, slender boy with dark skin from my father, almond-shaped eyes from my mother, and a big smile all my own. I had a little hop in my step, pleased with what I saw. It was my first day at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). I heaved open the government-issued doors and was hit with a wave of Chinese chatter. Once I entered, silence rippled through the crowd and hung in the air like heavy fog until a sharp whisper cut through.
“It’s a black guy.”
Those four words flipped my self-perception upside down. I was no longer a mixed-race boy. I was now a black guy. Raised in a biracial home, I had been taught race is not biological and only a social construct, so I never really considered using race to define people. Deep inside, I had already gotten used to being treated as an outsider …show more content…

On the first day of tryouts, my future teammates were visibly enthusiastic when I, a black-looking guy, showed up at the track. The look of disappointment was also apparent when I told them I was Asian. When I asked why they were so disappointed, the captain said jokingly, “We haven’t had a black guy in years. We thought you could bring some legitimacy to the team.” However, the joke was on them. I surpassed the entire team in the 100 meter dash as a sophomore.
That comment on the first day of school was a turning point for me. I learned quickly to embrace all my weirdness and that being Blasian (black/Asian) is fantastic. I have two completely different stories to tell when I talk about my family. I have proven to myself and to my peers that I don't have fit a particular stereotype, I’m good at science, and I can run quickly. High school has been tough, but I’ll leave more resilient and mature than I was three years

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