African-American | French/Algonquin
My passion is playwriting, my pseudonym is ‘Somebody Jones’. I’m not sure where the ‘Somebody’ part came from, but ‘Jones’ was more deliberate. I wanted a name that wasn’t a slave name like my Father’s, but that wasn’t also strictly White French like my Mother’s (Tessier). So, I picked ‘Jones’ because it sounded Black and American. But during a conversation with my mentor, she made me realise that Jones is also a slave name, which was a funny realisation. In trying to run from my past, I ran straight into it, and my plays follow the same theme.
I wrote a play called ‘Black Women Dating White Men’. Before I wrote this, I was under the belief that to be a true activist, you must champion Black love, meaning that dating White people was out of the question, at least for me. So, it was no surprise that I hadn’t dated a White guy before, making it a huge surprise when I found myself in love with one.
I made this play as an assignment during my masters at Goldsmiths University. Once I found myself in love with a White guy, I immediately felt this sense of isolation; I didn’t have any friends who could help me navigate the inevitable clashes and conversations about race that my partner and I were sure to have. I decided to interview four other mixed/Black women in my position, and it was such a transformative project. We learned a lot, I feel like no matter who you are, there’s something you’ll take away from it too. My partner has challenged me in so many ways. I’m still a loud, opinionated, radical Black activist, but I’ve changed my own views on interracial dating, and I’m grateful for the lessons that I’ve learned and are still learning.
If I was born again, I’d want to be born when my biological Grandfather was alive. He was an actor (Robert Tessier) who played a Native American a lot. He passed before I was born and our connection to our Algonquin side died along with him. I would have loved to learn more about our tribe from him as well as just have had the opportunity to get to know him.
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