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Blood blossoms · 07-02-2007, 08:38 AM

Yikes. I've gotten this for most of my life. I'm very mixed - I've got Latin, African, Caucasian and even apparently Amerindian roots if you go back far enough, but most people usually just think of me as half-white, half-black - a mulatto. Since my skin is naturally tanned, but not too much so, I've never really fit in with any particular group of people. When I lived in Ohio as a kid, I was the only non-Caucasian kid in the class, except for my classes with an Indian girl (who I had a crush on at six years old, haha). But I was always separated from the others for my race. People were wary to talk to me, and one teacher in particular was quite rude to me and my parents at any chance she got, but she would turn around and be sweet and smiling to the Caucasian kids and their parents. She called me "black," even though my skin is nowhere near that color.

When I came to the Caribbean, I found the opposite problem. I was now usually the lightest-skinned in my class. The racism was much stronger in my island, supposedly because of the long history of slavery, so I was called "white boy" and bullied daily. Even the other mixed kids were treated better because they acted "black," whereas I didn't want to be anything I didn't feel like.

About the good/bad hair thing - man, I know all about that. I'm still told I have nice hair and skin by locals, which is a compliment I take with a grain of salt - it's an insult to the complimenters at the same time. A Jamaican guy I know once told me about a term they use, "dry hair," to denote undesirable people with nappy hair. So, that hair thing's very much alive.

About the blog - that person said some contradictory things. First she says that she's mixed with African-American blood - fine. Then, she says she generally identifies with being African-American, but later down, she says that she feels like she's from Africa (but African Americans are Americans, and possibly "impure" and mixed themselves) and that she IS African-American. She also seems to be leaning to an anti-white stance by the end of the blog.

07-02-2007, 08:38 AM	#33
Blood blossoms Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: The drizzling state of Denial Posts: 263	Yikes. I've gotten this for most of my life. I'm very mixed - I've got Latin, African, Caucasian and even apparently Amerindian roots if you go back far enough, but most people usually just think of me as half-white, half-black - a mulatto. Since my skin is naturally tanned, but not too much so, I've never really fit in with any particular group of people. When I lived in Ohio as a kid, I was the only non-Caucasian kid in the class, except for my classes with an Indian girl (who I had a crush on at six years old, haha). But I was always separated from the others for my race. People were wary to talk to me, and one teacher in particular was quite rude to me and my parents at any chance she got, but she would turn around and be sweet and smiling to the Caucasian kids and their parents. She called me "black," even though my skin is nowhere near that color. When I came to the Caribbean, I found the opposite problem. I was now usually the lightest-skinned in my class. The racism was much stronger in my island, supposedly because of the long history of slavery, so I was called "white boy" and bullied daily. Even the other mixed kids were treated better because they acted "black," whereas I didn't want to be anything I didn't feel like. About the good/bad hair thing - man, I know all about that. I'm still told I have nice hair and skin by locals, which is a compliment I take with a grain of salt - it's an insult to the complimenters at the same time. A Jamaican guy I know once told me about a term they use, "dry hair," to denote undesirable people with nappy hair. So, that hair thing's very much alive. About the blog - that person said some contradictory things. First she says that she's mixed with African-American blood - fine. Then, she says she generally identifies with being African-American, but later down, she says that she feels like she's from Africa (but African Americans are Americans, and possibly "impure" and mixed themselves) and that she IS African-American. She also seems to be leaning to an anti-white stance by the end of the blog. __________________ Being yourself is like taking a shower; if you don't do it too often, you'll start to stink. Like, really bad. Gasmask school-evacuation-for-anthax bad.