Thank you so much for this. My body is on fire with the raised memories that surface after reading, of the swallowed injustices, that held hands with the nuanced love that I experienced from all areas of my different families - love often given in a spiral of rejection, acceptance, disappointment, confusion, despair, and delight that the colour of my skin evoked.
The conversations are with me every day. Skin deep - is such an interesting term. I too identify as black rather than mixed race, even though I am ‘mixed race’, because being white washed, has become over the decades, an unbearable and consistent result of choosing to remain “mixed”. This article speaks to me in volumes. It gets under my skin, punches into the muscles and roars in my heart. Identity must be claimed - sometimes it takes decades; very rarely - do you see it so clearly named.
I don't have words for the immediate kinship & understanding I felt in every bit expressed here. It's so wonderful to read about the additional intersectionality and layer of queerness to the mix!
I always say, mixedness cannot exist in a vacuum – it is so interlinked with all the other parts of our identity. Will expresses this amazingly – I hope you get your hands on Sunstruck!
I relate to so much of what William is saying! Identifying as Black later in life, the fact that people for some reason feel “safe” to say all kinds of racist shit around you, the light-skinned privilege. But especially this passage, it hit my heart like a hammer:
“It's weird, growing up racialised and mixed – you internalise a lot of the microaggressions until you open your eyes to them, or someone, something, opens your eyes. So much of it was feeling uncomfortable, not quite knowing why, and if you expressed that, being told that you shouldn’t react. Your difference is reflected and pointed out to you again and again.”
Thank you so much for this. My body is on fire with the raised memories that surface after reading, of the swallowed injustices, that held hands with the nuanced love that I experienced from all areas of my different families - love often given in a spiral of rejection, acceptance, disappointment, confusion, despair, and delight that the colour of my skin evoked.
The conversations are with me every day. Skin deep - is such an interesting term. I too identify as black rather than mixed race, even though I am ‘mixed race’, because being white washed, has become over the decades, an unbearable and consistent result of choosing to remain “mixed”. This article speaks to me in volumes. It gets under my skin, punches into the muscles and roars in my heart. Identity must be claimed - sometimes it takes decades; very rarely - do you see it so clearly named.
I don't have words for the immediate kinship & understanding I felt in every bit expressed here. It's so wonderful to read about the additional intersectionality and layer of queerness to the mix!
I feel less lonely 🙏🏽 I gotta find this book!
I always say, mixedness cannot exist in a vacuum – it is so interlinked with all the other parts of our identity. Will expresses this amazingly – I hope you get your hands on Sunstruck!
I relate to so much of what William is saying! Identifying as Black later in life, the fact that people for some reason feel “safe” to say all kinds of racist shit around you, the light-skinned privilege. But especially this passage, it hit my heart like a hammer:
“It's weird, growing up racialised and mixed – you internalise a lot of the microaggressions until you open your eyes to them, or someone, something, opens your eyes. So much of it was feeling uncomfortable, not quite knowing why, and if you expressed that, being told that you shouldn’t react. Your difference is reflected and pointed out to you again and again.”
Looking forward to reading Sunstruck!
Thank you so much for sharing that it resonated so much Joy!!