The “Standards” for a Biracial Person
As a mixed girl, I don’t remember having many stories about problems with my race. I’m very lucky to have grown up in a nurturing environment. Despite this, I have had one complication in the past. When I started middle school, I was living in Texas with my grandmother. For someone who has lived there, I can say that Texas, and the culture, is very different from North Carolina.
I remember going to a school primarily populated by black students, but it was still a diverse school. One day in my social studies class, we were assigned a project. I don’t remember what the project was, but I did have to move seats. I was sat next to a white boy and girl for the project. I was just minding my business during the class when the conversation was moved to me. “Which one of your parents is black?” The girl asked me, expecting her answer. I said “My mother,” and they both looked at me oddly. “That’s weird, usually it’s the other way around.” I had never heard that before. It was kind of strange hearing that my parents’ relationship was out of the norm.
After I went home that day, I told my mom, She simply explained that it wasn’t a big deal, and that people just think a certain way. This was the first time that I began understanding what people may be assuming whenever they see me. Later on in life, I started hearing other things. “Stop acting white,” is probably the most common one. I’ve never viewed myself as a single/more of one of the two races that I am. I’ve always been mixed race, and that is what I will continue to be called. These things never bothered me, but after a while, I started realizing that some people have mindsets instilled in them because of how they are raised, and how their environment affects them. There’s not necessarily anything that you can do about that. There will always be people in my life who I will disagree with, and who I will not understand the reasoning of. Learning to ignore the standard and think for ourselves despite the assumptions of what is typical is what makes us unique.
That one small moment in my life, along with many others, has changed my perspective on how I view people. No one can make me think of myself as anything less than what I am. A beautiful, biracial human being.
“A beautiful, biracial human being. ”
I don’t allow naive or biased words to creep into my head because everyone has their own thoughts, and I won’t let anyone’s voice but mine interfere with the choices that I make.
