I have been reading in this forum a bit, thinking it would be of interest to me because I am what people consider to be "mixed". My mother's ancestors were originally from Germany and Austria, although they came to the US in the early 1880s. My father was born in the Philippines and his ancestry is Filipino.
I don't identify with my father's side at all because he was not in my life growing up. I just recently got in touch with him a few years ago when I was 25.
My view of race was always negative while growing up. I grew up in the outer suburbs in Minnesota. There was barely ANY diversity. I was constantly asked if I was Chinese, black, Japanese, Mexican, you name it. I grew up hating the fact that I was different.
Fast forward to my grown up life. I love myself now.
I still live in an area that has barely any diversity, and I still get questions but they are asked more nicely from adults. I can appreciate my exotic looks now - and I say exotic because I married into a family of Danish/German ancestry. I look wildly different from all of them! My children are 1/4 Filipino but you'd never know it. My littlest one is a complete opposite of me ... I wonder sometimes if I am her mother!
But anyway, I see I have a lot to learn. I blocked out "race" as a child and I am ignorant of a lot of things. For example, I didn't realize that my husband was NOT Caucasian! So, is there a place to help the person like me?
I don't identify with my father's side at all because he was not in my life growing up. I just recently got in touch with him a few years ago when I was 25.
My view of race was always negative while growing up. I grew up in the outer suburbs in Minnesota. There was barely ANY diversity. I was constantly asked if I was Chinese, black, Japanese, Mexican, you name it. I grew up hating the fact that I was different.
Fast forward to my grown up life. I love myself now.
I still live in an area that has barely any diversity, and I still get questions but they are asked more nicely from adults. I can appreciate my exotic looks now - and I say exotic because I married into a family of Danish/German ancestry. I look wildly different from all of them! My children are 1/4 Filipino but you'd never know it. My littlest one is a complete opposite of me ... I wonder sometimes if I am her mother!But anyway, I see I have a lot to learn. I blocked out "race" as a child and I am ignorant of a lot of things. For example, I didn't realize that my husband was NOT Caucasian! So, is there a place to help the person like me?
Seriously.
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