Irish/Italian | French/German/Mexican
Mixedracefaces have collaborated with UK Parliament to profile some of their staff members and MP’s , helping raise diversity awareness and to highlight that there is a place for everyone in their workplace.
My Mother’s heritage is French/German and Mexican. My Father’s heritage is Irish and Italian. I am a U.S. national and an immigrant to the UK, where I have indefinite leave to remain. My parents split up when I was small, so I don’t have many memories of them trying to combine their cultures. The most positive aspect of having mixed heritage is knowing that I’m the person that defines my identity -- that my inheritance and the boundaries of my experience are not determined by who or what other people think I am. I find it hard to pinpoint experiences based on perceptions of me as mixed-race. As a child I don’t think I really had any conception of being mixed-race. Growing up in the U.S., the cultural idea of a nation of immigrants contributing to a melting pot that produces an ‘American’ identity was very powerful. As I grow older, I am starting to reflect a lot more on what my heritage is and what it means. I want to know more about my family’s experience, and how they feel about their heritage. I want to know more about what my Grandmother felt about being in an interracial marriage. I want to know how my Mother feels about the language and the concept of being mixed-race, and whether or not she thinks that reflects her experience. I only remember her talking about herself as ‘half Mexican’, in the U.S. mode of expression of heritage as parts of a whole, as fractions or percentages. I’m also more aware of how my individual experience is situated in a whole range of experiences of identity. My workplace is very vocal about the importance of diversity and inclusion, emphasises that everyone shares responsibility for making the workplace welcoming and inclusive. My immediate colleagues have always made space and time for different perspectives, and that’s a big part of why I like where I work. If I were born again I wouldn’t want to be anything or anybody else. I would only want to notice more and learn more and ask more questions along the way.
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