German/Irish | Colombian
I would say I am of mixed heritage, straight and of no defined religion. Although I was born into a Roman Catholic family, we never went to church. I just believe there is a higher energy that takes care of everything and guides us.
My mum was born in Colombia and moved to England at 27. My dad was born in UK, but his father was a German prisoner of war and his mother an Irish immigrant. They met in a club in London. I grew up on the borders of South East London / Kent – Beckenham.
I would say I began to understand I was of mixed ethnicity when I was around 8 years old. I wondered why my mum was one of like four parents in the playground that wasn’t speaking English and didn’t conform to the ‘mumsy’ type, she was also one of the darker skinned. My surname was also one that people got stuck on.
I have a mixed group of friends, we more have a connection on our universal believe, we all click because we don’t believe in being the same as everyone else.
When looking for a partner I look for an open mind, any sign of ignorance and I am out. I have always wanted to date someone that is of mixed heritage too, so that they could be more relatable. I am now generally more interested in people that enjoy exploring other cultures, and travel to new places.
I do think I think there is more openness towards mixed-race, however there is still stereotypes such as people thinking you need to be a certain colour to be mixed race. I often feel people think I am 100% English as I am light skin, light eyed and don’t feel comfortable speaking Spanish, I feel people try to test me to see how much I know of my culture and think because I identify as being mixed that I am not proud to be English.
My experience of mixed-race is mainly positive, you have best of all worlds and nothing is boring. You get to experience more cultures. The negative is not knowing where you fit in, not enough of each country to feel fully accepted.
If I had the opportunity to be born again I would return the same, but I would maybe embrace it more. I still feel bad about the embarrassment I felt for having a foreign mum at school.
The future of mixed-race is bright, we will get more mixed, and more integrated and people will hopefully open their eyes to house amazing it is to mix diverse cultures. Everyone will be more connected.