Blurring the color lines (cultural event)

The lecture on “Erotic, Exotic and Erased: Bi-Racial Identities” that took place at Chico State University as a part of Conversations on Diversity series on Wednesday, April 9, raised a number of interesting questions on how bi-racial people identify themselves and how society perceives them. The lecture consisted of Dr. Lopez’s brief introduction about the matter (she did a lot of research in this field and teaches several classes on diversity), the movie and the personal stories of three CSU students who have mixed ethnic heritage. Dr. Lopez in her introduction stated that nowadays more and more children are born to bi-racial parents, including her own daughter, who is half Mexican and half African American. She mentioned that when her daughter was growing up she had difficulties on identifying herself with any particular race, thus fitting herself in the frame of our society.  She did her best to educate her young daughter about race to make her feel comfortable and accepted as her daughter felt as an outsider in a dominant white school and society.

Afterwards, a movie on bi-racial issues was shown where a young female athlete who is half Japanese and half Caucasian shared her personal life story. Much like Dr. Lopez’s daughter she felt as a stranger in the society as she wasn’t quite Japanese nor quite Caucasian. As a little girl she took classes on Japanese traditional dance, but she didn’t feel comfortable as she didn’t look like most of the Japanese girls. She also felt left out at school where most children were Caucasian. When children asked her about her race, she didn’t know what to answer as she didn’t belong to any particular race - she was a blend of two races, which made her feel very uncertain about herself. With age she started to notice that she was more accepted among her white friends, they treated her as equal which undoubtedly gave her more confidence and self-assurance. Later on she became a news reporter on a well recognized TV channel and her exotic appearance aroused a lot of interest and attention among the viewers. She started to get a lot of letters from people who wanted to know more about her race and life story. It was then when she finally accepted her bi-racial status and realized that she didn’t need to belong to one race. She was a mixture of two races and that mixture constitutes the core of her personality and character. That blend of two different types of blood and race made her unique and exotic, distinctive from all the rest. This final realization led to complete understanding of her identity that helped her to take up running. She took part in Olympic Games a couple times and even won several awards.

Furthermore, three CSU students shared briefly their personal stories. The first speaker was half Caucasian and half African American. He admitted that during his childhood like the main heroine of the movie, he didn’t feel comfortable among his black friends as he wasn’t black enough to play basketball and he also felt awkward in the company of his white friends as he didn’t quite look like them. But as he was growing into teen hood, he felt he was more accepted by his friends and noticed that his race didn’t really matter much anymore. The second speaker was half Caucasian half Jamaican. She stated that she never felt left out or lonely because of her bi-racial identity. She regularly visits both of her family’s relatives and is well aware of distinctive characteristics and traditions of both cultures that she has in her genes. She has always felt accepted by her friends and never felt like she was different from other people. The third speaker had quite a rich mixture of different races in her blood: her family members and relatives were Native American, Mexican, Portuguese, African American and Spanish. She said she never really realized that she was different until somebody from her classmates referred to her as her Mexican friend. After that she became aware of her mixed race, but never really felt left out of society as her appearance doesn’t really look too foreign.

Being born in Russia where the predominant race is Caucasian, I didn’t really have a chance to experience interaction with people of different race or mixed race. All people look the same in Russia – fair or dark hair, blue or brown eyes, white skin. My first acquaintance with a different race was in middle school. One of my classmates had really pretty narrow eyes which I was infatuated with. Other children didn’t seem to share my opinion and used to tease her a lot about her “squinty cat’s eyes”. I felt very sorry for her and used to console her all the time when she was crying in the hallway after the usual attack on her appearance. After a while we became friends and I found out that she was bi-racial - her mother was a native Kalmikian ( Kalmikiya is one of the member republics of Russian Federation and due to its Mongolian heritage its native citizens have slanted eyes ) and her father was Caucasian. As she was growing up, she was getting more and more attractive and exotic looking, which made people very interested in her. It definitely boosted her confidence and she has grown into an interesting individual with an exotic appearance and beautiful soul.

It makes me sad to see that people with mixed ethnic heritage are being judged a lot in society. I personally think that they are very unique people as they have a diverse cultural background which enriches their personality and makes it exclusive. I think bi-racial people should consider their mixed blood a blessing as it broadens their horizons and enables them to be open-minded and non-judgmental.                        

It is a shame when people are judged by the color of their skin and not by the content of their soul. Instead of looking inside a person’s heart we focus on the shape of their eyes, the tone of their skin, the style of their hair. In the world where people are judged by their appearance and race it must be very difficult to exist and be happy. But it can be possible. It becomes possible when you are comfortable with who you are no matter how different you look from the people around you. When you accept yourself for who you are, when you finally discover your identity and that special corner of your soul that makes you a unique individual, the world will change around you. People that surround you will feel that change and will acknowledge and appreciate you for that exceptional person that you are.