Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
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?
12 Answers
- 5 years ago
Why do you say you're half Spanish when your dad wasn't from Spain? You mean you're half whatever country he comes from right?
I'm mixed, mostly Bajan (Barbados), a little bit of British (English) a little bit of Spanish (Spain)... See what I did there? And a fraction of Irish. I identify as mixed race. But I do get put in the "black" category by others as I am darker skinned than most of the people in my country.
I don't have identity issues. My children might, as I am married to a Malaysian tribe woman from Borneo who is half Chinese. So they are gonna be some weird cocktail kids.
- Anonymous5 years ago
I loved reading your personal account of your experience.
Myself, i'm black, but had a mixed-race grandparent, but you can't really tell and it's not the same thing as a direct mix. But I've had friends that have struggled to fit into both camps of their dominant ethnicities; it's like it messes with their heads, naturally being flexible and constantly crossing cultural boundaries.
- Anonymous5 years ago
The idea of being pure is a self delusion anyway. Anyone who knows about human populations and the geological timescale know that all humans are mixed.
Yes there is no such thing as a pure white person, sorry.
The very definition of the races is a construct from perspective (meaning people of a certain group tend to see themselves as something pure).
The reality is that hominids have been interbreeding for millions of years, the idea of pure is just a delusion.
- Anonymous5 years ago
Most teens experience identity issues regardless of race.
Some age out of their issues naturally, some don't. Good for you.
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- 5 years ago
My family always told me it was important to embrace all of my cultures, but since I was raised by my Black side and since I am mostly Black, sometimes I was made to feel that my other cultures (Filipino and Mexican), did not matter at all, or it wasn't significant, especially to those who believe in the one drop, and when I would bring up that I am mixed, people would think I am boasting or bragging when I was not.
Other than that... I am proud to be all the things I am, I do see myself as a Black man first (my mom is Black, my dad is half Black and a quarter Filipino and a quarter Mexican), since that is what America will treat me as, but I love all my family, I know all of my Filipino and Mexican family, I love them, I love my grandmother, I love my dad, and I know who I am.
- choko_canyonLv 75 years ago
No. I don't base my identity on my ethnicity, I base it on who I am as a person.
- Anonymous5 years ago
German & Irish..I am..I know, both sides..in their entirety*..they make up what I call,and know..is my whole*..no
confusion..at all..Born into this life time..just as I am..and,know the me..very well,and..rightly,so..been with me,
only always..~*
- Anonymous5 years ago
yes
ALMOST to the point of a split personality
