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kianamai — Multiracial Identity
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Published: 2017-03-23 04:43:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 59314; 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 so sorry this has happened to you. I don't believe people should judge who you are based on your looks. But, I do hope it comes to an end soon enough. Just ignore them and be yourself 
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You are amazing, and I appreciate this being here <3
I am not mixed race, but I do absolutely see these issues against some people I know, so it's nice to see it from another's perspective < 3
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No. I understand what your trying to say.
This toke guts to make and put up here, and it's a good piece of work too.
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I have a half-brother and half-sister, half white and half black. They have dark skin and thick, curly hair, but they have statures and facial structures that are more white. I never thought anything of it, they're my family. But they get beaten over it every day at school.
'You're black, but, like, you're NOT black, you know?'
'If you're a real black girl you wouldn't have white friends.'
'OMG you TOTALLY dance like your white side!'
'Yeah, if you were full black you would be a lot hotter.'
My sister has severe anxiety attacks; so bad that she's an outpatient and sometimes even refuses to go to school.
What I remind her is this; they don't decide who you are. Not even your heritage does that. No one is 'truly black' or white or whatever. That's just another toxic social construct made by people too scared to be alienated, different or not accepted into any particular group, therefore already boxing you into a predestined type of person.
You are who YOU decide to be. Anyone that judges you by your physical features alone is someone who is not only slightly racist (what some may call "casual racism") but small minded and judgemental.
You are you, not who they see.
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THANK YOU
recently I've went through something similar where people repeatedly called me asian (I'm half Japanese/half Yugoslavian)
and I was getting so frustrated
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I'm white and Hispanic and people don't believe me because I "don't look anything like a Hispanic" ALRIGHT so I don't have dark skin, I'm white as a ghost and have freckles, I don't have dark hair or brown eyes, I have bluefish-grey eyes and dirty blonde/light brown hair, so what my genetics gave me more of a white kid look? Doesn't make me any less Hispanic than I am... I don't even bother saying I'm part because people look at me funny as if I crossed some forbidden line like "how dare this little white girl claim to be Hispanic like what the actual fuck" okay, guess I'm not, I guess you can say fuck you to half my Hispanic/Mexican family. Doesn't help that my step dad that raised me since the age of nine is black (I love the man and his family to death so don't take it as I'm upset with how I turned out), heck I picked up mannerisms and the way they talk from being around them and people get offended because I "talk like a little ghetto black girl" (their words not mine .-. Pretty offensive if you ask me) even though I'm white. Please, people just need to stop, I can't help that I was partially influenced without intending to be. But I get judged anyways for saying or talking like something "I'm not" screw that... Tbh I kind of feel I'm part black anyways do to that side of my family and how I was brought up, I can't help it even if that probably doesn't count and some people would probably just look at me like "really?" But I feel like a part of me is even though I'm technically not. is that bad?
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What kind of Japanese traditions do you do?
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I think you seem to be adorable
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this comic reminded me a lot of a rather heavy line from the animated movie Balto
"not a dog...
not a wolf...
all he knows... is what he is not..."
in the scene's context, this line is positively poignant.
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saaame...im black and american indian(lenape) and let me tell you, the comments are non-stop gurl =___=
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I'm black but I'm REALLY light skin and (no offense) everyone thinks I'm Hispanic or white
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I grew up with a very mixed racial (and cultural) background. My dad is Black and Japanese, and my mom is White and Mexican. So I grew up with a little bit of everything that involved my ethnic heritage on both sides, but I never identified as just one.
So I totally relate to this, cuz I dealt with this sort of thing a lot growing up as well. But it was mostly people not knowing WHAT I was, rather than just assuming what I was (though there were the occasional one or two people that did assume my ethnic background, or didn't believe me when I said I was mixed race).
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Nice to meet another Afro-Caribbean. Don't worry, this needed to be said.
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I see you as a very amazing person who inspires me to do better. I see you as you
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UGH YES
like I'm black american(Nigerian & Jamaican) Native American (Choctaw) and German and my little cousin called me 'white' and he was like 5 so that kind of hurt me that he thought that way/thought of me as different from him (that and I'm obviously not white lol I'm just a bit lighter complected than that side of my family who is just a bit darker)
so I was like "we're all family bb. I'm not white I'm the same as you I'm only a little bit lighter and my hair is a different color..."
and he was just "no you're white! and you talk white too!" and he thought it was funny and kept saying it bc my gma and uncle started to laugh.
they're from the deep south and I'm from california so there is a difference in my way of speaking that I was always extra self conscious about when visiting them
idk I guess it just really affected me and made me kinda uncomfortable and just changed how I viewed myself, especially with some similar things I went through in the past so I really feel this
but anyway thanks for sharing! sorry for rambling I guess I just wish things like this were said more often ^ ^
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I identify with this a lot even though I am not mixed.
Since I'm white, it seems I can't like or do certain things. Like, rap, for instance. My mom said that I was "too white" to do it
I hate that
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I know you are a human being just like the rest of us and a deviant artist so a friend too. Till next time friend.
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I love this so much!! I can definitely relate being 50% white and 50% hispanic(although i look predominantly white). I've never felt truly at place and I dont feel like i belong to any group. Its great to see that Im not alone and can actually relate to someone
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Same mixed human here, I'm half Mexican and half Caucasian! I totally get that never truly feeling at place. I have darker features so people can tell I'm not completely white, but they have the hardest time guessing lol I'm often told I look Asian. Only next to my Hispanic family can you tell I'm of Latinx heritage. I can't really relate to either side more than another, you know? It's like, when I'm hanging with my Mexican family, I find myself thinking, fondly of course, "Holy crap, you guys are super Mexican," lol
And vise versa with my white family! It's a really weird feeling being biracial and yet somehow simultaneously feeling like neither. >.<
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Yeah, Im Filipino-canadian, My skin tone is white and people in the Philippines tell me I don't look like a Filipino cause my skin isn't dark enough, my nose is to sharp..😑😑
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pfft same being chinese and white people tell me I'm white and some people don't even know that I'm mixed ;o;
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Saaaaame, except for me it's sexuality. Everyone tells me I'm gay and I'm like "No. I'm not.😑"
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Thanks for posting your experience. It's something I've struggled with this as well growing up.
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This makes me so sad cause it's true. Some poor mixed race people that I know go through this.
Not really related to this post but i just felt like i can say this here xD
What I hate is when people tell me I am trying to he something I am not just cause I am black. Just because you have a certain skin tone does not mean you have to act a certain way. It's upsetting for me tbh. I can't just be me with out be criticized. You know what I mean?
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I feel you. Almost everyone is saying thigs to me like "You're American, NOT Mexican" or "You're Mexican NOT American". LIEK BOIIII I AM A MEXICAN BURRITO BORN AND RAISED IN AMERICA BY A LOVING MOTHER WHOS AN IMMIGRANT FROM MEXICO WHO HAS TRIED EXTREMELY HARD TO KEEP MY SISTERS AND I WELL EDUCATED AND TRYING TO NOT LET US GO AND DIE ON OUR FIRST DAY OF ADULTHOOD. That always shuts em up.
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TBH this is similar to my experience growing up - and what I still deal with when I interact w/ my family and most people. I'm not enough for either side of my family or the cultures / heritage associated w/ them, so I often got reminded that I was neither and didn't really belong anywhere. :/ I distinctly remember filling out those little forms for tests and having a proctor / teacher go over my info and "fix" it because - according to her - I did not "look" native enough to justify filling in the bubble, even though that's exactly what I am. And if I filled it out the other way, she would also go back and give me a new sheet to fill out. She just kept making me redo the stupid sheet until I filled it out how she wanted me to / perceived to be correct. I was so angry at the end, I just couldn't really handle the rest of the day.
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Fascinating this tendency in humans to search for differences rather than what they have in common...
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i see you more as a homo sapien
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I don't see you as either- I see you as Kilalaaa.
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don't listen to them, not evrything is about race, it is more about who you are and that you are happy with it.
you are not more or less worth, if you don't fit in a particular criterium.
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Funny how everyone goes on about how they are more then their appearance and you don't know them based on just that and don't assume judging by what they "appear" to be or how they sound, that it only creates unfair bias and stereotypes.
But, these same people will turn around going on about how you can't be this, this, or that because you don't appear/sound like it.....smh..
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should we care? you're cool either way sooo...
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I'm from the Caribbean. If it makes ya feel better we'd just call you black but on the fair skin side, haha. Or simply "mixed". This isn't to disregard your Japanese side but idk, it's just how it goes. Americans have issues when it comes to race, I'm sorry you had to grow up like that.
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Just be who you want to be. You are perfect the way you are. You could have rainbow skin color and I'd still love and accept you as my fellow human. Skin color doesn't matter in the slightest. I often prefer to use "Afro-American" when referring to African Americans, for one I just like the sound of it and I think it sounds better. I'm white as hell (literally I get sunburn in the shade, now that's white for you. xD), but I know I have Cherokee, Polish, Irish, and English in me. I'm a melting pot of nations. I'm also dating a Hispanic guy and we've talked about having children (waaaaay down the road, girl I'm only 23 and i don't need kids now. xD). Odds are if this relationship stays serious and I do marry him, I'm going to be outed from my family because they don't believe in interracial marriage...Well for their own kin...so to speak. Like my family is okay with others doing it, just not me or my sister doing it. I'm ready for it. I strongly believe in the "Let come what may" ideal.
But eh, you are who you are. Don't you ever let someone make you into something you're not. Remember, You are a fabulous human being!
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Preach, babe, preach. I was literally thinking about this a few days ago. I'm not mixed (well I kinda am like I'm pretty sure I'm some percent french and maybe something but I'm mostly Afro-Caribbean so I just go with black) but I mentioned to my friend how mixed people are always isolated. They aren't enough of either race they are a mix of and get hate from both (or more) races for being "too much of one race" or "not enough of the other race" and it's just so stupid?? I love mutliracial people. I love the idea that two cultures come together in one person and they get to experience that. I'm like 90% postive that one day, being mixed race will be the majority as more people from different cultures have children together and you know what, I think that's super rad. I love it when people learn and respect other people's culture and I adore watching people smile and have fun while experiencing other cultures. I like to think it brings us closer as humans. It's beautiful and amazing and I hope mopre of it happens. So multiracial people are amazing and should never feel pressure to fit into one race because they aren't one race. They're a mix and you know what adding more colors to the mix makes art bright and beauiful. Oh god, that last line was so cheesy, I'm sorry. <3
Also can we talk about how apparently if you don't act a certain way, you also don't fit into groups? Because of my part frenchness, I have light skin for a black person and I also appartenly don't "act" black enough to be black? People like to use the term "oreo" to decribe a black person who "acts white" and I just?????? I didn't know an entire race filled with millions of people all act the same exact way and you had to act that way to be black. Stop pushing your racist sterotypes on me, thanks.
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"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Dr. Seuss
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Those are supposed to be hearts <3
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youre who you are and no one can say otherwise
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Haha XDD I can relate to this a lot. I'm biracial too ^^
Im Cambodian/Chinese but people always think Im black(???)
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Por que no Los dos? Haha I feel ya. I'm half mexican hAlf white. Hard half line there and yet I got more of my dad's white side and I'm not very tan and my facial features are eh plus I don't know Spanish very well because we moved to Texas too soon!! But I'm still very much mexican as I am american. I've even had to tell my parents when teachers would correct my papers on test when I was younger "Oh no, your not hispanic. Your white" and bubble it for me hahaha like seriously?? My mom got offended but I thought it was funny. People amirite? 
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yeah some people are not that smart/nice
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When people tell me I don't look "Western" (I live in Libya) I just tell them I take after my dad, so it's never bothered me; but then again, that's just me
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