The Fluidity

Posted in Articles, Autobiography, Media Archive, United States on 2013-10-24 15:31Z by Steven

The Fluidity

Neither/Both: my mixed-race experience
2013-10-19

Lola Osunkoya

I went to the skating rink on a night I don’t usually go, and found myself to be the only female of color there.  It was unusual to me because on my regularly night, it’s a predominantly Black crowd.  In this stage of my identity development, I’m very conscious of my racial surroundings when I am one of the few.

Today I identify primarily as Mixed, but also as Black.  That has changed over the years as Mixed identities are inherently fluid… if we choose that route – static is another choice.  I have been militantly Mixed, not White enough, begrudgingly Black.  All of them had a certain frantic energy on them because I felt like they were dependent on outside validation.  Today I feel more at peace with my chosen identity.  Will it remain this way now that it feels peaceful?  Maybe.  But the fluidity could push me in a new direction sometime in the future…

Read the entire article here.

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