For those of you who are biracial (or more), how do you feel about it?

[NickRowler]

I am biracial. My mom is White (Scotch-Irish) and my dad is White/Guatemalan. Compared to all my siblings I have the fairest features yet my facial structure looks more like my dad's.

I sometimes feel very stuck culturally. I feel too white to be latino. Yet I am not really white enough to just be white. So I sort of feel like I don't really belong anywhere. I have had people falsely try to claim I was "actually" Italian or Spanish (like from Spain). Whatever my skin looks like, I still grew up in a multicultural family, my grandpa is still an immigrant.

I do relate to the frustration of the filling out forms question. In the US you can only mark the "White/Caucasian" box if you are "non-Hispanic". But I am part hispanic but I am also white. It is confusing and sometimes I just leave it blank.

[jcmraz]

Okay so I'm not biracial. I'm just white/caucasian. My son is half vietnamese though and is a thing I've had to think about and explain to my girlfriend, who was born in Vietnam. If you're in the US you'll probably always be viewed as the minority part of your race socially and on anything official or government related. My son will always be seen just as asian. Not white. Not half white. I disagree with the way this is as it relegates and groups without any nuance. This is a difficult topic and I don't really feel like I have any end point for what I'm saying. I've just been having these thoughts too. I hope I was able to add a small amount to the conversation you wanted to have

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

If it's a paper form, and you think you're not adequately "defined" by the little checkbox choices, write in your own chosen description.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

it relegates and groups without any nuance

There's a lot of pressure for people to be shoved into group identities. It makes them easier to manipulate, if they accept the group label & the "characteristics" that are assumed or assigned to their group.
Refuse to be labeled, categorized, stereotyped or put into a cubbyhole. Just be who you want to be.

"It riles them to believe
that you perceive
the web they weave.
Keep on thinking free."
--Moody Blues

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I wait for the right moment, tell them I didn't know they felt about me that way and walk away

The ending of a lot of prejudice is when a person finds out their friend(s) are not what they thought they were & have to face how much they'd leaned on a stereotype instead of seeing everyone by "the content of their character".

[Macarenaoftime]

Mother's side: Ahhh, here's the rub. Spanish and Native American which is often misnomered into "Mexican" but "Mexican" is a country it is not a race. I knew a German guy who was born and raised in Mexico and called himself Mexican.

People tend to ignore that Mexico it's a pluricultural country in itself. And as a nation, we have had our fair amount of identity crisis as to what it is to be Mexican (mostly in the '20s).

We've gone from "we are native Americans", to "we're the fifth cosmic bronze race" (that last one it's from Vasconcelos), but I think the problem, as you said, it's not about race, it's about privilege and marginalization.

Maybe if there wasn't systematic discrimination and lack of opportunities, we wouldn't have this identity crisis.

Jaja, sorry for the rambling. I just really like the topic of identity and culture.

[Macarenaoftime]

I don't know what I am. I'm just a mexican with a jewish last name.

[therosesword]

People tend to ignore that Mexico it's a pluricultural country in itself.

When I'm feeling a bit snarky I've been known to say -- when someone has said something snide about "Mexicans" -- soooo, you don't like Native Americans? I got in a semi-argument with a guy once about the "American" flag when I said there was no such thing because all 35 countries plus territories in the "American" continents had not gotten together to decide on a flag. What he was looking at, was actually "Old Glory" the flag of the United States of America...

Anyone from the continents, north, central and south are "Americans"

oh, don't get me started. LOL

I love "fifth cosmic bronze race" I need to use that sometime.

[Macarenaoftime]

I love "fifth cosmic bronze race" I need to use that sometime.

Jaja, I'm glad you like it, although it's kinda one of the most polemic things that came out of the work of José Vasconcelos, so I would advise to do a little bit of research before doing anything.

[therosesword]

Believe me, I'll probably forget it by tomorrow. lol.

[bakasama25]

Interesting you didn't go into Chicanos vs Mexicans thing which makes the Mexican identity a bit more murky.

[a.g.meade]

I'm half Vietnamese, half American, but being biracial isn't something I really think about.

That said, there IS one thing I've noticed over the years: people's view of me and "what I am" seems to hinge on their background. If they're not Asian, they view me as Asian and/or 'not from around here' (most often, Hawaiian). If they're Asian, they view me as white... or anyway, not Asian. I don't really care how they view me as long as they aren't condescending or openly wearing their prejudice.

[therosesword]

LOL... my granddaddy was supposedly pure Castilian Spanish (and even that's probably mixed in Spain) and was married 6 times (or was it four...???). our background is so murky its legendary. my uncle claimed my mother was pure Castilian and the product of a Castilian mother but he was half because his mother was native .... it's so hairy why make things more difficult. they're all dead so... pffft!

[therosesword]

so very absolutely true. I look at it this way: "Oh, look, hello, you. Let's go have a coffee, kick back and chit chat."

[bakasama25]

I'm Filipino with a Great Grandmother who's Spanish but I tend to look Mexican to a lot of people except for Filipinos. I tend to get asked question in Spanish every so often. It's a bit weird filling out racial identity because I'm Asian and Hispanic but surveys tend to think those are mutually exclusive concepts.

[a.g.meade]

EXACTLY! I'm glad I'm not alone in this view!

[therosesword]

Some day the questions will be "human? non-human?" and we can go from there.

funny stories...

I was in Sicily for a month a couple years ago on the Isle of Ortigia. Evidently I had a doppleganger there because no matter where I went the Sicilians would call out "Theresa!" and everyone talked to me in Italian.

If I stand with a bunch of Croatians I blend in.

When I was in Mexico everyone thought I was Brazilian.

I got mistaken for Turkish once (by a Turk who started to talk to me in Turkish)

No one ever thinks I'm Austrian.

The best I can say is... I look like me.