Nigerian | English/Irish
I am a combination of several different things, all at once or in various combinations depending on the situation or how I feel at the time, none of them contradicting or cancelling out the others. This has always made sense to me, and has never been a source of confusion.
Being mixed-wasn’t something I gave a lot of conscious thought to as a child, but in hindsight I can see that it was on my mind all the time. On the first day of school, I immediately gravitated towards the only other mixed boy in my class (I’m happy to report that we’re still friends, 28 years later!) and I always felt a sense of relief at seeing other Brown faces in a room. I was also aware of spaces where I felt like I didn’t belong, and usually tried to get out of them as quickly as possible. As an adult, the only differences are that I do give a lot of conscious thought to my mixed-ness, and actively seek out spaces where I feel like I do belong.
I am always intrigued by how differently I might be perceived depending on where I am. For example, in the UK I feel that I am more likely to be seen as mixed-race. When I have visited the USA, on the other hand, I am often referred to as Black. When I visited The Gambia, meanwhile, I felt that I was perceived as more White than Black. I’m also mistaken for being from other places quite frequently, I have been asked if I am Asian, Brazilian, Arabic, Mediterranean, and many other combinations! I don’t mind this at all, but I have always been overjoyed on the few occasions where someone has been able to identify my West African heritage just by looking at me. When seeking out role models, in recent years I have found myself looking to people from mixed backgrounds who are a little further along in their journeys than I am. They show me what’s possible! My advice would be: explore, explore, and keep exploring! And that it’s never too late to claim and investigate parts of your cultures, they’re your cultures after all.
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