The FluidityPosted in Articles, Autobiography, Media Archive, United States on 2013-10-24 15:31Z by Steven |
Neither/Both: my mixed-race experience
2013-10-19
Lola Osunkoya
I went to the skating rink on a night I don’t usually go, and found myself to be the only female of color there. It was unusual to me because on my regularly night, it’s a predominantly Black crowd. In this stage of my identity development, I’m very conscious of my racial surroundings when I am one of the few.
Today I identify primarily as Mixed, but also as Black. That has changed over the years as Mixed identities are inherently fluid… if we choose that route – static is another choice. I have been militantly Mixed, not White enough, begrudgingly Black. All of them had a certain frantic energy on them because I felt like they were dependent on outside validation. Today I feel more at peace with my chosen identity. Will it remain this way now that it feels peaceful? Maybe. But the fluidity could push me in a new direction sometime in the future…
Read the entire article here.