Mixed People, You Deserve to Take Up Space

People would stare at me a lot — even in the US, depending on where I was. It felt like I couldn’t have a normal conversation after meeting a new person until I addressed the “what are you” question, whether someone asked directly or because it felt like it was percolating behind their eyes. Sometimes people would react with utter incredulity, as though they could not believe all human beings are actually part of the same species and capable of reproduction, and wanted to know how my parents met and all the details of my early childhood and would ask very inappropriate questions, like “are your parents still together?” I have responded that I am literally ‘other’ to demographic questions on forms. I cannot overstate how alone and frustrated I felt as a child and adolescent. Because of course, most mixed people have mono-racial parents and relatives. You have to figure out this one part of your life entirely on your own. <a href="https://selamjie.medium.com/mixed-people-you-deserve-to-take-up-space-4ecc9678ab5d">Click Here</a>