Jamaican British | Persian-Iranian
I identify myself as mixed-race, Black, Brown, British, Persian-Iranian and Jamaican. My mother is British and of Jamaican ancestry. She was brought up in Brockley, South-East London. My great-grandad travelled from Jamaica to Birmingham just after the Windrush. He’d left my grandad in Jamaica until he was able to bring him over. My father is Persian-Iranian and came to the UK to study micro-biology in late 1978, just before the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Iran shares many borders and because of this it has many ethnicities, so we use the affix ‘Persian’ to make the distinction from Armenian, Turkish, Arab and so on. The use of ‘Persian’ also has political connotations, though that’s for another time. Growing up our father always reinforced our Persianess. We predominantly ate Persian food, though sometimes with a Jamaican twist. The difference in cuisine (and quantity!) was always apparent when I would go around to friends’ houses for dinner. Regarding race, our dad would call me ‘caramel’ and my brother ‘fudge’. When we lived in Berkshire we used to get stared at a lot, I was convinced that people stared because they thought I was famous, at which point I’d proper ham it up and slide on my sunglasses (rain or shine) with an (attempted) super model strut for good measure. I’ve always felt more connected to my African side over the Caribbean part of me. I was recently in Zanzibar and had the pleasure of watching a local dance group named J Combat Crew. I could see so much of myself in the way they moved. I have many cultures but first and foremost I’m British. English is my mother-tongue, and Britain is where I’ve spent the majority of my life. There are however few that can relate to the complexities of being British, Persian-Iranian & Jamaican. It’s a roller-coaster for the brave. If there are still stereotypes towards mixed-race people then that is sure to change, as the mixed-race becomes the fastest growing race in the UK. I believe that mixing/sharing is the most effective way to dismantle prejudice. I believe in reincarnation, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to experience them all.
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