Danny James King: “My identity will never be in response to somebody else”
The playwright on owning his narrative, his layers of difference and being a bridge between worlds
Hi, welcome back to Mixed Messages! Before we get started, have you got your tickets to Mixed Messages Live yet? On Tuesday 1st July, we’ll be at Lush, Beak Street, with William Hunter, Deepa Paul and Megan Jayne Crabbe, where the authors will also be signing books. Last year was such a special evening, I can’t wait to see you IRL again soon!
But back to today – this week’s guest is playwright and writer Danny James King, who is of mixed-Caribbean, English and Irish heritage. His new play, Miss Myrtle’s Garden, is currently showing at London’s Holloway Theatre, where one woman’s struggle with dementia throws up questions of grief, love and understanding. There is also a book in the works about all the men Danny has ever loved – of course, you’ll be the first to read an extract when we get it! Read Danny’s story here now.
How do you define your identity?
My mum’s parents are from the Caribbean, my dad’s family is a mixture of English and Irish ancestry.
I define my ethnicity as mixed-race, but I was raised to say Black. I move between the two. I grew up with my mum, who'd say that if you’re in any way mixed-race, you’re just Black. She never cared to define me any other way.
When I got into my teens, people would start to find it jarring when I called myself Black. I eventually started saying mixed-race because of that. In my 20s, I moved to New York and people did not understand mixed-race. Everybody called me Black. The whole conversation about what mixed meant didn’t seem to be a big thing. I’ve always found it interesting that no-one anywhere calls me white.
I strongly believe that it’s nobody else’s choice [how you identify.] My identity will never be in response to somebody else. It will always be crafted by me.
Have you always been quite steady in your sense of self?
My grandmother was the most influential person in my life. She was a West Indian woman and a very wise person. A wise person is someone who teaches you how to think rather than what to think. With that firm footing, I was able to go into most rooms and know that my identity was mine. She encouraged me to be really proud of my heritage. That gave me a strong sense of self. She's actually who the character, Miss Myrtle, is loosely based on.
As mixed people, our identities do not exist in a vacuum, and you’ve found that other elements of your identity have perhaps been more visible, and therefore made your race less ‘important.’
I’ve had multiple facets to my identity that have definitely made me feel like an outsider. Being mixed-race was not one of them. I had a disability when I was a kid, I was in a wheelchair for a good year of my life. I always valued being an outsider, I thought the coolest people were outsiders. I was always trying to create my own world. Whenever people would say ‘you’re not like us,’ I thought ‘thank God.’
I think you're right, I had something else to focus on. I went to school in Peckham and then Camden, so I was one of a few mixed-race kids in a mainly Black school and then one of the only mixed-race kids in my year in a predominantly white school. Being the odd one out was something I had learned how to do.
What was your cultural upbringing like at home?
My childhood was mostly Black culture, my West Indian heritage came through in food, music, everything. A lot of kids who grew up identifying as Black or mixed-race in this country will probably tell you that a lot of their references, the stuff that they grew up watching and consuming, were Black American culture. All my favourite TV shows were Sister, Sister, Moesha, the first album I ever bought was Heads High by Mr. Vegas.
Do you think we need more mixed representation in the arts?
I think every kind of representation is important. I would have loved to have seen more mixed-race characters growing up. I always had a strong sense of self, but my experience would have been enhanced. You don't want to grow up not being able to see yourself.
That representation has to come from us to be done well, but we also need to have something to say. I don't know that mixed-race people do have something to say. I would like to know how we would like to be seen, collectively.
It would also be nice to focus on our similarities. I’ve always found them much more interesting and more powerful than the things that make us different. What are those threads of commonality that exist in every culture? I like the idea of being a bridge rather than feeling like you have to be on one side or the other, because actually you get to decide what your conversation is.
Have you noticed any stereotypes about mixed identity?
I don’t know if it was a slur, but somebody I used to date said that he and his friends called mixed-race people ‘mixies,’ saying that we didn't know where we belonged. The second part pissed me off because I was assigned a narrative. I'm very wary of people who tell me who I am. You notice it in people who tell you who you are a lot, trying to control your narrative of them. It moves on to feel like a form of control over you.
What would you say is one of the best things about being mixed?
The access I have to different worlds. I can move between them. It’s like being a kid who's brought up speaking a second language, because they then find it easier to learn other languages. I find it easier to go into other cultures, see what's going on and be respectful, understanding there's a difference rather than approaching it from either a place of fear.
I can move through different worlds and I don't have to lose myself along the way. Whether or not I’m respected in those spaces is a different matter.
How would you sum up your mixed experience in one word?
Powerful.
Get your tickets to Miss Myrtle’s Garden here now. Next week, I’ll be taking another break (apologies for two in a row, but there’s a good reason I promise!), but in the meantime, remember to get your tickets to Mixed Messages Live here now! Subscribe to get Mixed Messages in your inbox next Monday. Shop Mixed Messages tote bags and bookmarks on Etsy now!