It was my first year of high school, and I was sitting in study hall when a girl walked up and asked, “Are you White?” At the time, all I responded with was “Yes and no,”.
How else was I supposed to answer a question like that?
Growing up, my mother was always worried about how the world would be with individuals like me and my brother. She believed that we would have to pick a side between White and Black people. But, if it came down to it, we would choose neither as we are both.
When I look at myself in the mirror, I am not ashamed of who I am. My parents told me that there would come a time when people would say things that could be viewed as discriminatory against me. Luckily, that did not happen.
At least, until two years ago.
I was a junior in high school when the Tops 2022 Buffalo shooting happened. A girl asked me to speak at an assembly my school was having to give an open space for students to talk about the incident. When it was my turn, I talked about how my dad’s side of the family lived close to the Jefferson Tops and how they go there all the time. On the day of the shooting, my aunt went there an hour before the shooting happened. What if she chose to arrive at that Tops at a different time? What if the shooter chose to arrive earlier than he anticipated?
After I talked about it, everyone said how courageous I was to share my story.
Then, of course, I had one person say, “She is using a bad situation to gain attention.”
As police brutality was on the rise, I was scared. Not only for all the families who lost a loved one to police violence, but also for a loved one of my own. My dad. He always would go out to Buffalo all the time to see his family, but what if police officers stopped him? What if he was the next victim I saw on the news?
Although it is hard being a mixed child in America, I wouldn’t do anything to change myself. I look in the mirror and admire my natural skin tone and my brunette curls every single day. I am proud to be a person of color.
If you are just like me, do not let those racial comments bring you down. Be proud to be a person of color. Be proud to be yourself.