British/Italian | Jamaican
I am a mixed-race, gender-fluid, pansexual person. Both of my parents were born in London but with parents that did not originate from here. My Father has an Italian father and British mother, and my mother has Jamaican parents. For as long as I can remember I have been aware, I was raised by my Father and he had different skin to me so I imagine I would have asked, especially once starting infant school. However, I didn’t realise the complexities that came with this until much later. I lived in London until I was nine and then I moved to Cornwall. I have always been an introvert and moving there meant I was never able to disappear. I have experienced a lot of racism and it wasn’t until I was older that I got to process it properly. Unfortunately my parents didn’t combine their cultures, they were only together for a short time. My Father had sole custody of me but made sure I got to experience a lot of both sides of my culture.
Don’t get me wrong, Cornwall is a beautiful place with many great people, but ignorance is a huge issue. Living in a part of the country with your all White family, and in an area with an extreme lack of diversity and a lot of racism for nine years is very exhausting. From the age of ten I began compartmentalising to keep my head up. As soon as I left Cornwall, I began to slowly connect with myself and my identity more and process everything. In the last year there has been another huge shift in my life and in the world around me. I have become much more vocal. Through writing I have gotten over searching for the validation of my voice and I just speak my own truth. I love honouring my truth and expressing myself between all the binaries I fall within.
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