Dutch | Ghanaian
I identify myself as mixed White/Black. I don’t consider myself to be a half breed, or double breed. My moms from the Netherlands and my dad’s from Ghana. They met through my mom’s sister who was also dating a Ghanaian man. They went to school together and met here in the Netherlands. I grew up in Amsterdam, born and raised. Because I didn’t really have contact with my father, for a long time I didn’t so much want to be Black as much. I had the feeling that I didn’t want to be associated with my African roots, I linked everything African to my dad. But actually, since I was 18 I finally was able to separate those, and I started exploring my heritage and what it means to be of African descent. I’m actually very proud of that and that has nothing to do with the bond I have with my father. I really do stand for it and I’m very aware that when people look at me they see a Black woman. I enjoy it a lot when people try to guess where I’m from. I think of that as something positive. That they think of me as some new apparition that they haven’t seen before and that I could actually be anything when it comes to my ethnicity. I experience that as very positive. The negative part is mainly the racism and the prejudice. That doesn’t really have anything to do with being mixed itself, but more so that they only see the darker colour of my skin and that they have prejudices about that. I often find it hard to deal with that because it triggers a certain aggression within me. I feel like defending myself but most of the time it’s ignorance coming from the other party. I’m still looking for the best way to handle those type of situations. If I were to be born again and could decide for others too I’d want us to live as one people. No difference in culture or religion. Because I’m really searching for togetherness for all people in this world. So that’s what I’d choose. I think that everyone, in a distant future, will be mixed with something. Even if it’s from their distant ancestors. And that because of that people will understand better and get it more what it means to be of different ethnicities.
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