What are your intersections?
I am multiracial. My mama is black and Native American (mostly Cherokee). My father is Irish, German, and Swiss.
What is your background growing up?
I was raised by my mama who worked EXTREMELY hard to make sure I had a great education and was exposed to lots of different types of people and ways of life. She made sure I had everything I needed but I do remember moments of financial struggle for my mom. She definitely shielded me from a great deal, but I know it was hard working full time and raising me on her own. In the end, I did get a wonderful education so hopefully she feels it was worth it!
Because I grew up in such diversity, it made things slightly less confusing for me growing up as a multiethnic child. There was still a great deal of tension within me though. While I definitely look like a person of color, my skin and hair texture create ambiguity. And with that ambiguity, comes privilege. I was permitted into white spaces my black friends couldn’t get into and fit into black spaces my white friends never dared enter. On the other hand, I didn’t completely “fit in” on either side. I had black friends who called me “whitewashed” and white friends who would exoticize me and say I was smart BECAUSE I was mixed (as if the “whiteness” is what made me so). Although both groups ostensibly “accepted” me, they each had ways of making me feel like an outsider so I quickly learned to adapt to my environments. I figured out how to be me but a version of me that fit into different groups. Code switching, essentially! It’s pretty much a super power and anyone with any intersectionality has it. You weave in and out of different groups but still maintain your “you-ness”.
How do your intersections affect you?
As I’ve gotten older, I have truly embraced all that I am. It was definitely a long journey. The truth is we are all layered (like an onion! Shrek gets it). The world tells us we have to fit into certain categories in order to make sense of things. It’s easier to say “all people of this group are this way” because it saves time. But we are nuanced and it is to our own detriment that we silence part of ourselves to garner favor and love. I don’t have the privilege of hiding my multiplicity because it is written on my skin. But since I’ve embraced it, it has made me a more empathetic and understanding human. Surprisingly, it’s given me a more firm foundation. There is no part of my heritage that I shy away from which allows me to understand myself better and in turn makes me more capable of relating to others. Poetry is what really allowed me to dive into all the conflicting feelings I had about being a mixie. It gave me a space to say all that I wanted without shame. It has been truly freeing and catharsis is a powerfully addictive drug.
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#TWintersectionalfridays: Space to explore intersections of identity and systems of oppression. Space to tell your story. Space to listen. Every Friday of 2019. // Week 04/52. 'Alex' / 8x8 in. / mixed media on paper