Maltese/Irish/Scottish | Jamaican
I identify myself as a mixed-race person of colour. My mother was born in Malta and has Maltese blood, yet she was raised in England to Irish/Maltese and Scottish parents. My dad was born in England to Jamaican parents. I grew up in Amsterdam, Florida, Boston, Dubai, Singapore and London. I feel that I have always been aware of my mixed-race background. I was brought up by two white parents (my Dutch step-father and my mother). It was always made pretty obvious that I was different by other people. Both my biological father and my mother were very insistent that myself and my brothers were aware that we were of mixed heritage, I think this was important to me being confident in who I was. I have had many negative experiences being mixed race (racism etc) but I feel the select positive experiences have been more profound. As cliché as it sounds the inauguration of Barack Obama as president was immensely profound experience in my life. I had moved again, on my own this time, to stay with my aunty and uncle. I knew neither who I was nor what I was doing. For some reason, seeing Obama being inaugurated instilled an amazing drive and pride in being firstly a PoC and secondly mixed race. I remember finishing his book Letters to My Father and feeling incredibly motivated to succeed academically. I enrolled in a local college, with the lots of help and love from my aunt and uncle and I was determined to like Obama go to University. I will forever have the image of a black man on the steps of The White House in my mind as some form of motivation. I think the future is a tough and uphill battle but not fully pessimistic. I think the divisions in race right now are so apparent and often an encouraged division that mixed race people sit on a very uncomfortable fence. I think mixed race folk are a key component to the discussions on integration and the idea of unity, we are a symbol not only visually of mixing and diversity but often times in areas where mixed-race folk are common you can see many positive examples of this diversity and the symbiosis of cultures is often the adhesive that binds these communities.
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