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kianamai — Multiracial Identity
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Published: 2017-03-23 04:43:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 59318; Favourites: 2488; Downloads: 76
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EDIT: Hey! I made a kind of extension of this comic on tumblr using a little dog cat named Puppittykianamaiart.tumblr.com/post/16…
Being mixed race is an interesting experience and the experience definitely shapes who you think you are. Because I arguably look more black, despite being 50/50, and it's easier for people to categorize me as such (African American), I just kinda accepted that over time. I started identifying myself as just African American. But that's not who I am. I'm mixed. Both of these things at the same time. Also I'm not even African. I'm Jamaican/Afro-Caribbean. NOT ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN FYI.
But even when I tried accepting that identity, it didn't feel right. I grew up in Hawaii with primarily Japanese traditions and a Japanese American way of life. So I always thought I identified with being Japanese more than anything. But because I didn't look the part, it was never really okay with other people. Same thing on the other side. I don't "sound black" or have black features other than my hair and skin tone (which is also debatable).
The world is so set on being black and white and people having to fit into specific categories. Apparently, it wasn't until 2000 Census that multiracial people could fill in more than one category for race. I remember that always being stressful during SAT tests. Having to either pick Asian or Black. Anyways, I think it's important that you don't have these black and white stereotypes of people and how they're supposed to be whether it comes to race or gender or sexuality or occupation or anything. All people are different. Yes certain stereotypes exist for a reason but don't be surprised when people don't fit them.
Also just... like don't tell multiracial people the kind of things mentioned in the comic^^^ One, it perpetuates a lot of racially charged stereotypes. And two, it just fucks with us lol. It messes with our sense of belonging and identity and for the most part we'll just take it because it happens all the time and what are we gonna do, y'know? Don't try to categorize us. We just are what we are and that's all we can be
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Comments: 653
I'm sorry that happens to you!
Also it's c'est la vie!
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Thanks, everybody has struggles and shit so no ones perfect!!!
Also OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!
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As long as you know who you are, does it really matter what other people think?
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I'm 1/4 Jamaican from my mother's side but I certainly don't seem it, specially since I'm too pale for that.
What's more I sound American/ have a weird accent despite being 3/4 British. Due likely to how many American friends
I do end up talking to regularly.
It is as you say, everyone tells you what you are and are not but it's up to yourself to decide.
That's why I'm always interested to found out more about my heritage if I can and about others,
to be able to experience multiple heritage, I think that's more important than picking one side of yourself.
But again with picking race on exams and such, I would always feel conflicted, sort of like I expected myself to side
with my British heritage just because I never got the chance to experience Jamaica myself.
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Everyone's an expert apparently
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I feel you. The messed up part is I hear it from my own family.
I'm Mexican/ Irish but i take alot from my white side. I grew up in a Hispanic community and culture but everyone still saw me as a white girl. My sisters and cousins even called me this funky name to single me out. I'm older now so I don't hear it from them anymore but it still kind of hurts when people get too surprised when they find out I'm Hispanic.
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Huh. I wonder if it's a biracial thing? I'm Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Irish, Swedish, And Italian and everyone always believed me when i told them all my races.
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I'm sorry, I have the same problem, I have every continent (except Asia) in my blood, but everyone tells me otherwise.
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Identity politics is the most toxic enemy of human unity in the face of injustice in existence today.
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Ki, let me tell you this: (pardon my language) fuck them for saying anything like that to you. You do not need to be one or the other or need to fit into a category. Your identity is how you see yourself and that is a wonderful thing, because what I see is a wonderful human being period. Stay true to yourself, ki.
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This reminds me of a person who told an artist their character didn't have enough 'black features' smh not everyone looks the same
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I deal with this crap all the time!!
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*applauds*
I won't insult you by saying I understand, but I admire your strength.
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I'm Puerto Rican but because I don't "act" Puerto Rican people think I'm a mix or another race entirely.
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My grandfather is native-american, so I suppose that makes me 25% Native? I have his high cheekbones, but I'm pale as the damn moon. We may have connection to a tribe but we're not sure which one yet. My grand-uncle died of cancer before he could finish looking for the connection.
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You have no idea how much I can relate to this.
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I'm 50/50 white/Filipino. My dad's side of my family (the white side) is fairly small, but my mom has a huge family spread out across the states. I've grown up hanging around my Filipino family while they cooked and ate Filipino food, went to Filipino parties, and talked about their childhood growing up in the Philippines. So as you may guess, I kinda relate to that side of my family more.
TOO BAD I LOST THE MELANIN LOTTERY TOO MY BROTHER. (Well, I still only sunburned once in my life when I was a small child and from then on just only tanned well, so at least there's that.)
But yeah people like to throw out all sorts of guesses as to what I am. I don't mind, except there was one time in 20th Century Humanities classes. The teacher was getting into civil rights issues, and he used the scenario of a national marble contest(???) He was like "You, Julian, would be more likely to win, because you're white, than (a classmate that was more obviously Asian than I was.)"
I really liked that teacher, but I freaking blew my top. Even though I only had 10 minutes between classes I stayed behind and just tore into him. He just stayed silent and let me rant, I think he realised how badly he screwed up. I think he only said he wanted to explain the paradigm of growing up as someone that's not white and I was just "EXCUSE ME WHAT ABOUT THE PARADIGM OF ME GROWING UP AROUND MY FILIPINO RELATIVES, HAVING FILIPINO FOOD, AND HAVING PEOPLE ALWAYS GUESSING WHAT I AM? That is the paradigm I live with!"
Also I couldn't help but note that I was as Filipino as Obama was black, considering his mom is white. OH SNAP OUR PRESIDENT AT THE TIME WAS MULTIRACIAL HIMSELF.
Uhm, yeah. Sorry for the all caps and sass, this is a topic that gets me super-salty.
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Stereotypes and set in stone categories are a problem today, if only people could be a bit more flexible and accepting.
Though I, having a colorful European background of Dutch, Irish, French and German can not relate to your experiences, I can certainly sympathize. May we hope for people to be more open minded in the future.
Ive had tests asking for my race as well, I just don't fill it out cuz heck, they don't need to know!
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Wait a sec, you have to fill in what "race" you are on SAT questions?
(Had to look up what SAT was at first tbh but we have an equivalant of it in sweden too)
That just feels kinda wierd doesn't it? Like does the universities base who you are as a person on what race you are? Isn't that just more stereotyping? Why should it even be included in a test to begin with, isn't it your scores that matter?
I don't know maybe i'm looking into it the wrong way. I can't really say since every type of test i've done that ask anything similar only ask for if your born in sweden or not (since you usually have to take some extra steps if you have a social security number from another country)
Sorry for rambling, i just find it so wierd that race should even matter to people, especially others who keeps telling you what your race is.
Can't we all just be humans and that's that
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wow this is real powerful... I love how you are! Stay adorable (/;O
Im aboriginal (from mother's side) and my dad is white. But my gran is Scottish and people seem to think I'm from England. And Honestly? Im not "proud" to be an aborigine cause lets face it. The "bad types" seem to get more views then the actual aborigines who do good things and yet still they're recognized as thugs or druggies. And the "bad types" has to always ALWAYS play the woe-es-me act. Its degrading and so freaking stupid! I guess that the big reason I am not proud to be aboriginal. Because I get recognized as lower class, hells bells I have a friend who "jokingly" does that. And it doesn't feel good at all.
Sometimes I would just love to be Scottish. So I don't feel the, uh, the icky-ness that the word Aborigine does to me and what that entails.
I am proud to some extent, but very little. How aborigines can actually live off the land and the story telling, I love the story telling and some of the art is okay. I dunno, maybe it'll change. If you're reading this kilalaaa I have to thank you (Cause even in text form my thoughts can go on a bit)
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I can sort of relate.
While I would probably not count as biracial (races always struck me as arbitrary, so i prefer to simply use ethnicity) I am Luso-Swedish. Both cultures are rather different, and while I feel far more at home in Portugal, but I look more Swedish having light hair and blue-grey eyes (the Portuguese tend to be far more accepting of me, however. If I say I am Portuguese, then I am to them, especially since many emigrate and then return with partner and kids), I do have a lot of very Swedish attitudes and cultural traits as well.
Eventually I just figured that I was both. Not half, or quarter, or anything. I am both, and trying to categorize it all is pointless.
But I do hope that people become less... pig-headed to you in the future.
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Yeah, I've heard similar complaints from my friend who's Chinese/Taiwanese but was raised in America. In Taiwan, she doesn't pronounce things right/ has an accent. In America, people will rag on her for her customs like not watching Disney growing up but Studio Ghibli instead. I try not to be that person, but it can be hard when it's something I love. Then I try to change it into, "I've got to show you" or "Yeah, I've had this happen with a couple friends." Usually then I'll just tell her about it.
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you are you and that's awesome ^_^
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I know that feel. I'm Mexican on moms side(not sure what I am on my biological fathers side), yet I've been told that I'm not "tan enough" and such. Especially when I was livin in New Mexico. That was the worst of it. ^^
All you can really do is know what you are, and screw whatever anyone else says.
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i am just
basically a clusterfuck of cultures and races
so with me its just basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Jamaican or Japanese or both, you're still 100% pretty
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It's one of the things i love about where i live, is that no matter how you look, you're a Mexican(since we're stuck in this god forbidden corrupt goverment of a country together...)
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What matters is that you're human. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, yellow, red, brown, or patched, you've still got red blood like the rest of us.
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And the struggle will continue, will it go away who knows it's just there
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1st thank you lady kilaaa for sharing this to us and yes identity such a cmplex topic
2nd and this is truly a complex topic and i hope the world need not to be labeling people in such manners for their more than what they outer body their are much more
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I can so relate to this! I´m a mix of so many races, even I don´t seem to know what I am any more or what to call myself.
Thanks for sharing this great piece
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When you're Filipino, half say we're asian, half say we're pacific islander. I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT TO PUT AS MY RACE ON MY PAPER
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If you wanna go by what we more closely resemble, I'd say Pacific Islander. My mum is more often mistaken for that than anything else.
On the other hand, I'm 50/50 Filipino and white, and since I have a paler skin color I get people asking if I'm Korean or somesuch-- even people who are Koreans themselves.
Why did my brother have to steal all the melanin genes?!
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I feel this so hard! I'm Indian(Asian)/European, and everyone is like 'nuh uh.. you're African.. you have to be.' Hah.. right.. because you know..
Also.. What does it mean to 'talk black' I COULD GO ON FOREVER ABOUT THIS
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To talk black means to use what the American Linguistics Association calls African American vernacular in which syllables, consonants, and other such sounds and words are either added to or shortened into what is mostly called slang. Many people use them, but they mostly start within african american culture (Examples: swag (shortened from swagger), ya'll, sup, yo, dang, hoe (shortened from whore), n' (shortened from and), and so on.)
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The world tries to put everyone ok boxes or give them labels, but in the end it doesn't matter what u look like, especially when ur an awesome person at heart, ik personally I get a lot of comments with people telling me I'm white with my pale skin, green eyes, and I'm pretty tall but in reality both my parents and my siblings were born in Mexico, I mostly ignore them because it's not their job to tell me who I am
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It's not anywhere near to the same extent of your experience, but I definitely understand where you're coming from with this for sure. I'm a mixture of European and Native American heritage, which depending on where you are can also be a very difficult thing for either side of it. I grew up understanding that quite a lot of my heritage was Native American, and I grew up surrounded by that culture and people. So deep in my heart, I feel connected to it. But despite my family right up to my grandfather and father both having Native American features, I ended up with the German/Norwegian genes. I have dark brown hair, blue-hazel eyes and lighter skin, so to many I wasn't "indian enough" based on my appearance.
I'd rather not rant, so avoiding the big topic of racism (which is unfortunately alive and well where I grew up too), what really scorns me that there are a lot of wonderful things that are a part of my heritage and culture that I wasn't able to see or participate in, and places I'm still not legally even allowed to go because my name isn't on the list of tribe members (the Tribal Blood Quantum system is a ridiculous, complicated mess anyway). But on the opposite spectrum, whenever I share that I'm also Native I often get a fake smile and or a confused stare that I feel usually means they don't believe a word of it. Or maybe people think that I'm yet another crazy white person claiming to be 1/16th Cherokee with an ancestor believed to be a Cherokee princess (Cherokee princesses dont exist if that wasn't known already to anyone reading, by the way).
I'm glad you shared this post, because while we both have very different experiences with it, it makes me feel like someone else out there gets what it's like to be told who you are or aren't allowed to be.
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I'm half Japanese, one quarter okinawan, and one quarter english. It is sort of weird because I will tend to think of myself as Japanese American, but I definitely feel that sense of "well, not really", especially when I'm with my friends who are mostly pure asian. Being racially interstitial is sort of at odds with the whole paradigm of tribalization and identifying with a specific group of people. I mean I don't even feel comfortable calling myself hapa when I feel like that has the connotation of "half-n-half".
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It's tough for sure. Took me a long time to just be like, "hey, i'm both and that's that"
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We need to learn from dogs. I'm pretty sure mix-breeds don't look at pure breds and go "WHAT AM I."
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Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, I love when people share things like this, because I think it helps everybody learn something.
Thanks again <3
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