To those of you who're mixed, have you ever had identity issues?
I botched this the first time, but now, I'm not afraid to speak my mind about this. To cut to the chase, I'm mixed; I'm Black-Spanish, for my mother was from the Bahamas, and my father (who was light-skinned) was from Central America. I've personally never had any sort of identity issues or trouble identifying myself when I was growing up. In fact, back then I used to flaunt how I was a "mutt" all around when I was in school. I don't do it as much, but I'm still proud of who I am.
But, what I want to know is this: Have any of you out there who's also mixed had identity issues? I mean, I've met mixed people, both online and offline, who've had absolutely no problems with who they are. I'm just talking about me and how I'm mixed with two things... I've encountered "mutts" who're mixed with over FIVE different things. How's that for a struggle? And yet... they don't have any struggle at all. I'll admit, I didn't know my biological father that well.
He was around was I was younger, but he's nowhere to be seen now. It isn't that he died or he cheated on my mom, mind you, it's just that they didn't really get along, so they separated, and my mom remarried, and I stayed with her. But that's besides the point. I grew up among my mother's side of the family, which were all primarily black, which is why nowadays I identify primarily as black. But as I got older and learned more about my father, I began to embrace my Spanish side.
To cut to the chase, I'm fully-grown now, and to this day, being mixed hasn't really bothered me. In fact, the only reason I started thinking about it again is because I heard from "very reliable sources" that there are apparently people out there like who had it far harder than I ever did. And yes, if that's the case, then I understand it. But I'm here to say that I am MIXED, and I am proud of who I am, and I'll never let anybody tell me otherwise.
But now I ask all of you: Have you had any problems being of mixed race? Have you accepted who YOU are?