Living as a person of mixed race

Being mixed is not really a big deal, but it does come with it's fair share of identity crisises and acceptance issues. Here's a poem, by Maria P.P. Root, that I found somewhere on the internet that really describes how I feel about being racially mixed it's called:

The Mixed Race bill of Rights

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to be responsible for people's discomfort with my physical ambiguity.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.
To identify myself differently from how my parents identify me.
To identify myself differently from my brothers and sisters.
To identify myself differently in different situations.

I HAVE THE RIGHT...

To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial.
To change my identity over my lifetime -- and more than once.
To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.
To freely choose whom I befriend and love.

The comic strip at the top of the page and the following strips are borrowed from "The Boondocks" by Aaron Mcgruder they should really hit home for anybody mixed or biracial.

Check out today's "Boondock" strip at Ucomics.com

or visit the Boondock's homepage...

Here are some of my favorite links that deal with the mixedrace experience:

Mixedfolks.com is cool site it includes an extensive list of celeberities and athletes who are mixed, lot's of pics and stories from regular everyday mixed people, a list of links to other sites dealing with mixedfolks and an extensive listing of books on the subject. The Message boards on this site are amazing. They are very active and the people that post are very intelligent, and creative.

The Mavin Foundation is the US's leading organization dedicated to multiracial youth and families.

Go back to Words to live by...