1. what are you mixed with?

 Middle Eastern, Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Black, Native American (Blackfoot), irish, and french

2. What ethnicity have you often been mistaken for?

 Filipino (when i was younger) and Indian  

3. is your hair curly or straight

  curly and big AF!! but my hair is also very fine its easy to change my hair style!

4. Was coming from different backgrounds challenging growing up?

Yes!!! My family from both sides would make me feel like i wasn’t good enough at times, mostly my mothers. And because of this i hated who i was for a very long time and rejected my culture until i was in high school. i still face problems now 

5. Which backgrounds do you embrace the most?

 I guess my Mexican culture but i keep traits from all of my backgrounds tbh

6. Have you ever been teased for being different?

  i’ve been called a mutt, sand nigger, dirty, ect. i’ve been hit on specifically because of my skin. this ideal that i was exotic was seen as either disgusting or hot. 

7. Have you ever been ashamed of being multi-racial?

 yes. as long as i can remember i hated myself. i still feel this way sometimes. but i am growing to love myself.

8. Do you feel that being mixed has its benefits?

  i had/have the privilege of eating all kinds of yummy food and i get to wear different ‘traditional’ clothing! 

9. What makes being multiracial a beautiful thing?

    we get to learn about multi cultures rather then just one or two

10. Any advice to someone who struggles with their multiracial identity?

i couldn’t give you any. but i hope that you find a way to love yourself. i hope you find acceptance. i hope you find love. 

1. what are you mixed with?

 Italian/Irish/Mohawk-Seneca (First Nations/Native American)

2. What ethnicity have you often been mistaken for?

    Jordanian, Palestinian, Israeli

3. is your hair curly or straight

     Gently wavy

4. Was coming from different backgrounds challenging growing up?

It was because I am the “white girl” to my Native friends and the “Native Girl” to my non-Native friends. I always felt like I fell in the middle, but never had a real place.

5. Which backgrounds do you embrace the most?

All of them. I try to intermingle all of my backgrounds proudly, and now Japanese, since my daughter is half.

6. Have you ever been teased for being different?

   Since everyone mistakes me for Israeli/Palestinian/Jordanian, yes. Either that or I got picked on for people not figuring out my ethnicity.

7. Have you ever been ashamed of being multi-racial?

  Not for a second.

8. Do you feel that being mixed has its benefits?
Certainly. I love being a “melting pot” child. Soooo many genetic possibilities. Plus, we mixed girls gotta stick together. ;)

9. What makes being multiracial a beautiful thing?

Feeling like you come from different corners of the world, you know your ancestors went through a lot for you to end up where and who you are. It’s pretty beautiful to be the product of the triumphs and travels of your family.

10. Any advice to someone who struggles with their multiracial identity?

Remember that the more you embrace every part of you, you will gain confidence in yourself. You are so much more than just “a mixed girl”. You have a personality, a style, a voice, a grace all your own. 

I believe it was Dr. Seuss who said, “Be who you are. Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

Hi!I’m Tianna,& I’m From Miami,Florida.♥

Q1:Irish/Native American/African American

Q2:I’ve been mistaken for being Hispanic most of the time

Q3:Curly,as you can see in the picture

Q4:It sometimes is because African American girls at my school sometimes call me things like stuck-up & “White Girl”

Q5:I personally embrace all of them

Q6:Well mostly Q4 covers up that LOL

Q7:No,I actually think it’s a cool thing.Just being one nationality means you don’t have that much history to go back into,The Great-Grandmas & Great many things are always different nationality then they’re dads or moms are other nationality.

Q8:I would like to hope it isn’t but the sad truth is that it does in America.

Q9:It says “Hey I’m variety of cool cultures and traditions”

Q10:Never want to take a nationality out of you,just be yourself and don’t listen to the haters.

Hey, 

My name is Anita Ghans and I am a student in the Anthropology-Sociology Program at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI.  I am doing research for my Senior Individualized Thesis that aims to understand the process of racial and ethnic identity formation among black-multiracial women. I’m trying to find mixed race black women to interview for my thesis. I was wondering if you could help me out by posting this on your blog?

I plan to use the interview information in my senior thesis however the identities of the women interviewed will be kept anonymous. Participation is voluntary (of course). The women interviewed would  only share what they are comfortable with sharing. They may decline to participate, or you may choose not to answer any particular question that I ask. If they change their mind about participating, they may stop the interview at any time. As a multiracial woman, I think it is important that we allow our stories to be heard. All I ask is for you to be honest and open with me about your experiences.

This is legit, I promise! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or comments about the project.  My email is: k11sg01@kzoo.edu. Thanks! Love your blog!

1. what are you mixed with?

 Israeli, Irish, English, German, Native American, Mexican, and Indo-Caribbean

2. What ethnicity have you often been mistaken for?

Mostly Italian or Puerto Rican, Sometimes Middle Eastern

3. is your hair curly or straight

Very wavy

4. Was coming from different backgrounds challenging growing up?

I have never experienced racism and my parents families were pretty excited that they were adopting a mixed race kid

5. Which backgrounds do you embrace the most? I embrace my white side more since I am adopted into a white family that has very little diversity but I would love to learn about my other heritages, especially my Native American side because that is what I am mostly

Have you ever been teased for being different?

No people usually find it amazing that I am mixed with so many different things

7. Have you ever been ashamed of being multi-racial?

I love being multi-racial,

8. Do you feel that being mixed has its benefits? It has some, like it allows to explore different cultures

9. What makes being multiracial a beautiful thing?

The wide variety of different looks. You could have the same background as somebody else yet look completely different.

10. Any advice to someone who struggles with their multiracial identity? Embrace your identity and don’t let anybody tell you can’t be apart of a certain culture just because you don’t look the part.

1. what are you mixed with?

 Irish & Chahta (Native American)

2. What ethnicity have you often been mistaken for?

White in general.

3. is your hair curly or straight

Very wavy, bordering on curly, depending on the shampoo. ;)

4. Was coming from different backgrounds challenging growing up?

I actually didn’t know growing up that I was biracial - I only recently learned that I am also Chahta. I’m very pale because I’m anemic so I always just thought I was Irish.

5. Which backgrounds do you embrace the most?

I love my Irish heritage but my Chahta heritage is also incredibly important to me, especially since I have missed so much. I am learning as much as I can! I hope to one day speak both Irish and Chahta.

6. Have you ever been teased for being different?

I get funny looks sometimes for claiming to be native, but - surprisingly to me - most people say that I look it. I guess maybe people are getting to be more open-minded about your racial identity being more than your skin color.

7. Have you ever been ashamed of being multi-racial?

When I initially found out I was Chahta, I was afraid to explore further, because I look white, but after seeing so little hostility, I see I was just being afraid for no reason. Now I am proud to be both!

8. Do you feel that being mixed has its benefits?

I like to think/hope that it serves as a lesson to others to be more open-minded about race and racial assumptions. While heritage is extremely important, and honoring where you came from as well, we are all much much more than our race.

9. What makes being multiracial a beautiful thing?

It’s a sign of society progressing away from hatred of each other for superficial and ridiculous things. (I like to think)

10. Any advice to someone who struggles with their multiracial identity?

Don’t be afraid to embrace who you are. You are a beautiful person and every part of you is worth celebrating! Take pride and joy in who and what you are. You’re amazing. <3

A new project beautifully answering pointed questions like, “What are you?” and “Where are you from?”

1. what are you mixed with?

 Singaporean/ Malaysian/ Dutch (plus other euro)/ Sri Lankan

2. What ethnicity have you often been mistaken for?

    Middle eastern and Indian

3. is your hair curly or straight

     Dead 180 degrees straight.

4. Was coming from different backgrounds challenging growing up?

I was born in Australia, raised an Australian. I’ve never gotten racial slurs thrown at me. I think the issue for me was, fitting in to Sri Lankan, Malaysian, Singaporean and Dutch communities strictly. Because I hardly know anything about any of them. People wouldn’t get me sometimes. But here in Australia, almost everyone is mixed and don’t care. So not much issues.

5. Which backgrounds do you embrace the most?

None. But I can speak Malay and LOVE Malay food. Perhaps that counts?

6. Have you ever been teased for being different?

   I feel like older generations would look down on me being like OH HALF BREED. Other than that no.

7. Have you ever been ashamed of being multi-racial?

     NOPE :3

8. Do you feel that being mixed has its benefits?

YOU ARE LIVING PROOF THAT RACE HAS NO BARRIER ON RACE AND IF SOMEONE THROWS A RACIAL SLURR AT YOU I CAN BE LOL DOESN’T APPLY MAAATEEEEEEEEE.

9. What makes being multiracial a beautiful thing?

 The miracles of genetics! 

10. Any advice to someone who struggles with their multiracial identity?

     I’ve never experienced it myself, but i’ve seen and heard stories where the legitimacy of the individual being mixed was tested based on looks. Just tell them, “you obviously have no idea how genetics work do you?” then strut on out :)

IF any of your specific groups bother you about not embracing the culture, especially if it’s some old uncle, just nod and ignore.

<3

This a photo of my younger brother and I. Our mother is Dutch/Irish/English/German and our father is Singaporean/Malaysian/Sri Lankan. It’s quite interesting how genetics works. Here’s the plot twist, although my mother is Caucasian, she was born in Sri Lanka, and so has the Sri Lankan accent. She moved to Australia when she was 17. My parents are at opposite poles of the spectra. My mother has pale white skin and blue eyes and my father has dark skin and dark brown eyes. My brother got the  European body build and I got the white/black skin colour mix. We were both born in Australia and still live there. Whenever I go out, people think I’m Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Saudi or any Middle Eastern country. It’s a task and a half to explain to people what I really am, and you can’t single out one country because when people meet my parents it’s like ‘hang on what?’ Finding the right foundation for me is hard! I tan in the summer and ghostly in the winter haha! But that’s okay.
I love who I am and my family history. In my entire family, everybody is mixed. We love it. You can even taste it in the food we eat.

I suppose although I’ve been brought up Australian, speak english at home and no very little about any of my cultures, it’s interesting to discuss about how everything actually fell into place. Both my parents spoke english at home and so did their parents, so we don’t know much of any of the languages. However, I do know basic Malay.

As you can tell, it definately is a task to explain all of this to a stranger. But I suppose it’s a good conversation starter. Usually, people take a guessing game as to what I am. It’s fun and entertaining. Currently, I am dating a Chinese guy. Theoretically, if things continue and we have kids, IMAGINE THEIR EXPLANATION.

It’s a beautiful phenomenon, intertwining DNA. HOORAY :)

Hello! My name is Sade (Shaw-day). I’m a 19 year old Filipino-African American girl, born in Guam, US. My mom is from the Philippines and my dad is from South Carolina, US.

I love the way I am and I’m not going to let anybody else out there decide for me what my identity should be. I am proud to be biracial. Throughout my life, I’ve been picked on by quite a lot of people in my school years, mostly because of the way I looked. 

“You don’t look Asian. You don’t have the skin or the eyes." 

"Filipinos aren’t Asian.”

“You’re black and black only.”

This kind of stuff that I would hear people say to me always irritated me. Even now, it still does. People need to understand that Asia is pretty diverse and that not all people in those countries look the same.

MIXED GIRL TAG <3

Q1: I’m mixed with Italian, Welsh, Irish, German and African-American 

Q2: A lot of people think I’m Spanish for some reason lol. I don’t see it?

Q3: My hair is curly 

Q4: Coming from different backgrounds was a little challenging growing up. I never came across racism too much, but growing up in an all white community made me feel so different from everyone. In school the black kids who didn’t know me would treat me like I was just a little naive white girl and the white kids who didn’t know me would treat me like I’m ghetto. I hated my curly hair and ruined it for a long time because I thought straight was better and curly hair was ugly.

Q5: I don’t just embrace one background.

Q6: I was teased for being different back in middle school. Kids would throw pencils in my hair bc it was so big and curly and they weren’t used to it. I got called a poodle and I had kids tell me my hair looked like pubic hair before too. One girl told me I was ugly bc I’m black but she was just jealous that her ex bf had a thing for me lmao. 

Q7: I used to be ashamed of being multi racial when I was a kid but I love it now and I wouldn’t have it any other way 

Q8: I do feel that being mixed has it’s benefits. The first and most important one to me being that racism is completely non-existent for me. I hear a lot of my white friends say racist little remarks and it just disgusts me, even if it’s not about me or anyone close to me. I have more of an understanding and more respect for different types of people than I commonly see in people that come from just one background. Not just race, but also religion and culture. Also, I got the best of both worlds. I got some good ass hair, a gorgeous skin tone and a nice body. Imma cutie witha booty, ayyy!!! 

Q9: I personally believe that being multiracial is a very beautiful thing! People are becoming more accepting of other races and cultures and we’re proof of it! 

Q10: Stop comparing yourself to everyone else! Embrace your own beauty and work it! Not everyone is the same that’s the beauty of this world. Be proud of yourself and be happy and comfortable in your own skin. If you feel beautiful and confident people will sense that and they’ll think of you the same!

hey there my name is Devon and it’s so cool stumbling across this, my whole life i have had mixed girl problems. In the recent years from high school to university i always have people tell me that i look “black” because of my skin but then they say my facial features make me not look “black”. also that i am the whitest black person they’ve ever met (what ever that means)  then they proceed to ask my what i am, and i politely answer that i am; British, Scottish, irish, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Venezuelan, Chinese, Arawak, Carib, Spanish, Jewish, and Indian

after a while it gets a little tiring 

This is the most open I shall ever be. I am stuck in a place that resembles the intermediate state of limbo. Their questions, jokes and remarks have become facsimile, nothing i haven’t heard before, I grow tired of laughing at what they say when I do not in the least bit find it amusing. I let their words roll off my shoulders, the way that they, without thinking, let them roll off their tongues. I have grown weary of pretending that it doesn’t hurt me. Your ignorance. Your insensitivity. What business is it of yours which one of my parents is not white? What right have you to make me feel as though I am inadequate and irrelevant? From where, do you gather the self-esteem, confidence, to randomly walk up to me on the street and question the being that is me? From where, do you get the audacity to compare my skin to caramel, not realizing that this statement, this comparison, will weigh heavily on my heart for days and days to come. Read this and understand; all I ask for is sensitivity, understanding, for my growing insecurity. I struggle enough as it is on my own. I too question what I am, who I am. You however, all of you, questioning what and who I am is not helping me figure it out. It’s not helping me come to terms with any of the unresolved turmoil inside of me. Let me be.

Once one of my friends told me “ oh you went to Disney land, you’re so white” and then “ this is the type of music you listen to, you’re so black” and this same person told me that white people are the most racist and then changed it to black are the most racsist.

My bestie said something racsist about whites and when I went to defend myself she told me I was mix so it didn’t count.

Being mixed isn’t the problem. My father is Native American ( Blackfoot), Haitian, and American Black while my mom is a mixture of Eurpeanian descent but is mainly Romanian. I feel you should be proud of being mix. That’s part of your identity. If I weren’t mix things would be so diffrent for me. People have no idea what streotype to set me up with and so therefore I’m my own person.

The thing that I hate is that if I went out on the street with my step mom and half brother we would automatically be considered family. But if I go somewhere with my mom and my older brother we can’t be related because I’m to dark to be a white women’s baby.

You know how black people have “ Black is beutiful” and the movie “for colored girls” they should have that for mixed people. We exist, we’re not “other”, we’ll multi-racial. If I choosed to marry a man of a diffrent skin tone it shouldn’t matter. One of the best way to be culturally aware is to be surrounded by others of different races.

Hey MGP! Could you please signal boost this zine? I think your followers might be into it. <3

In Passing… is a zine created to explore the complicated idea of passing across identities, including race, age, disability, sexuality, class, gender, and housing status. In Passing… will be a community conversation centering the voices of marginalized people, especially those living at the intersections of multiple oppressions. 

Passing is often used to describe the ability of a person to be regarded as a member of social groups other than their own, most often a member of a group with more societal power. Passing can be something you chose, or something that is determined for you by other people. For many of us, it creates a sense of being caught between two worlds, half of both and not enough of either. Passing can be something you desire, something you are ashamed of, or both all at once. 

Submissions are due April 1st, 2013 at midnight PST. 

More information on the FB Page.