Solon Attoh: "Mixed people are forced to adapt"

How this Creative Manager uses education to dismantle stereotypes

Sep 21, 2020

Hi, welcome back to Mixed Messages! This week, I speak to Solon Attoh, Creative Manager at mixedracefaces, a platform that captures portraits and stories of people with mixed heritage. Solon is of Dutch and Ghanaian heritage, and focuses on education to break down the stereotypes of what it means to be mixed. Having shared my story on mixedracefaces last year, I was excited to turn the tables and hear Solon’s story.

How would you define your ethnicity?

I’d say I’m mixed Ghanaian and Dutch. I wouldn’t say half, because I think mixed is more of a compliment to the ethnicities that make you.

When I was younger, I was probably often profiled to be Black, which is an easy way for someone to put me in a box. That’s one of the negative sides to being mixed.

How do you react to the question “where are you from?” I find it quite stressful, I’d rather people were specific about what they’re asking me.

I find it interesting when people ask me, so I can help to educate them. It all depends on the intention behind the question; you can see who’s trying to be sensitive. I try to assume that everyone’s coming from a good place, but it can trigger that feeling of trauma based on your past experiences.

mixedracefaces

British | Indian “I identify as mixed Indian and English. My Dad is White British, and was born and grew up in Birmingham, where he still lives with my Mom. My Mom is Indian, born in Tanzania but moved to London when she was 2 years old. My grandparents are East African Indian, living in Tanzania and Kenya, but their parents were born in Punjab in India.
I think people think that mixed-race just means someone of mixed Black and White heritage, and that is SO not the case. Being mixed purely means that you come from more than one ethnic heritage, and it’s time we started to recognise that and stopped using the term as a shorthand for light-skinned Black men you find attractive (I’m looking at you, Love Island). Mixed-race is not a type, you cannot fancy everyone from more than one ethnic heritage. Mixed-race people can often be seen as their other race when in groups from their other mix (i.e. Black with White group, and White with Black groups). One negative experience is never feeling like I fit in. When I’m with my White family, I can feel Indian, whereas with my Indian family, I feel White. Indian relatives even ask why I’m so White in Punjabi when they think I don’t understand, but I do. I don’t speak Punjabi though, and I can’t dance to Bollywood music, nor do I have the beautiful thick hair of someone who is full Indian, which does make me uncomfortable and I am jealous. I wish I looked like beautiful Indian women! I sometimes feel like a fraud in the culture. One positive experience is that being mixed has given me a curiosity and deeper interest in learning about people’s cultures.

If I had the opportunity to be born again I would return exactly as me! With thicker hair. So many young people these days are mixed-race, and this is only going to continue as we have children ourselves. We are going to continue becoming visible in media, on magazines, in the houses of parliament, in space and more, proving to people that mixed-race is not one homogenous group, we are diverse, and we are successful.” See full story on our website #mixedracefaces

April 16, 2019

How have you held on to your cultural heritage?

I’ve grown up with both African and Dutch food, I’ve grown up with a culture that respects aunties and uncles… there’s certain things I’ve been exposed to that I’ve kept along the way. I’m in a third culture at the moment, where I have a lot of British ways, so it’s up to me to retain my original culture. I think it helps to stay close to older generations in your family to get that exposure to cultural customs.

I feel more connected to my mum’s Dutch culture, which may be because I lived with her after my parents split up. It was easier to visit Holland than it was to go to Ghana, to which I only went once and I lived there for a year. Dutch culture was more within my reach.

Was there a point growing up where you realised you were mixed?

I went to live in Ghana for a year when I was nine and I was told that I wasn’t Ghanaian at school. I was referred to as a white person. That’s when I found out I was a bit different. I was never ashamed of it, but I felt like I needed to go and do some research on my Dutch side to figure that part out.

mixedracefaces

British | Ghanaian “I know that both my parents were born and raised in Britain, but my Dad’s parents came here from Ghana to start a new life. Often when I meet new people one of the first things they ask is where I’m from. It makes me proud to say I’m half Ghanaian. It doesn’t bother me when they ask as it’s pretty obvious from my skin colour and hair that I have different heritage.  My role model is Maya Angelou. I’m able to understand the discrimination and prejudice she experienced. My parents named me after her because she was a strong independent Black woman, and that’s what I aspire to be every day. Coincidentally, we were quite similar in the things we enjoy, as she made a living out of her passion for writing, which is what I hope to do one day. We also both enjoy singing.

We celebrate some of our cultures at home but probably not as much as we should do. We see our cousins quite a lot but not so much of our Grandma, as she’s often traveling back to Ghana and to my Aunt’s in Florida. She prefers the weather, it’s always too cold in the UK according to her. We all love peanut soup, fufu and my favourite jollof rice.

When it comes to my cultures I like the fact that I have these two sides that go together to make me, and they go together to make me a well-rounded person.

My parents talk a lot about their cultures, I feel like I have a good understanding of both of them and I understand where I come from. I’d like to go to Ghana soon though, so I can experience it for myself, my cousins went last year and loved it!” Want to read more? – Subscribe at www.mixedracefaces.com/subscription #mixedracefaces

June 7, 2020

How and why did mixedracefaces start?

It started in 2018 in Peckham. We were having lots of conversations with different people with so many commonalities in their stories of how they felt about their identity. We [Solon works with his wife, Rachael, and mother, Tenee] decided we needed to document and share these experiences to give people a resource to tune into.

The inspiration for the platform is also in honour of Rienkje Zoet, my grandmother. Rienkje was a Dutch woman who married my grandfather, Fred Attoh, a Ghanaian photographer, in the 1950s. She lived in Ghana for 25 years, and was a strong woman who broke down barriers to enter a different culture in a time when inter-racialism wasn’t widely accepted.

We decided to create a mainly digital platform so that it would be accessible to a lot of people. Our plan is for mixedracefaces to be a global platform that’s embedded into as many organisations and communities as possible as an educational resource. We want to ensure we keep offering stories and context to people’s experiences, as well as visuals.

How are you dismantling the stereotype of what it means to be mixed-race?

Changing the stereotype will take time, but we’re trying to redefine the term. Back in the day, mixed-race people was mainly seen as mixed Black and white, but at mixedracefaces we’re delving into other areas of being mixed.

We’re also exploring people who have mixed heritage from a culture perspective to understand how they see themselves. We’re trying to move away from the view that mixed people have a certain ‘look’ - we shouldn’t presume someone’s heritage from looking at them. Let’s have a conversation first and understand their history, which is something I feel our platform offers.

If you could describe being mixed in one word, what would it be?

Chameleon. It’s not just mixed people who are able to adapt to different situations, but I think we’re forced to.

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