#mixedother

“#JeanetteNkwate is head of content at @allthingshairuk.

With a #Filipino mother and a #Cameroonian father, she says people don’t expect #mixedracepeople to look like she does.

‘Being #mixedrace but not light-skinned, I’ve received interesting reactions from people of all backgrounds. Albeit a sweeping statement, but with white and #Asian people, I typically get shock because I don’t fit into what they deem to be mixed-race. While #Black people are often hyper-curious to figure out my heritage and quite frequently are inadvertently a little prejudiced with their statements – normally it’s something about my eyes.’

Jeanette’s dad had a really bad accident when he was younger, so his family sent him to London for treatment. Her mother was a nurse in the hospital where he was recovering.

She knows that her particular ‘mix’ is considered unusual, as many people still assume that being mixed-race always means that you are part white.

‘I know that I don’t fit into what people generally think of as mixed-race because I don’t have a light skin-tone.’

‘It annoys me that in questionnaires, #beingmixed race is only presented as white and otherness. I always opt for “#mixedother”, “other” or “#mixed”.

‘I also don’t see being mixed-race and being black as mutually exclusive things. I know that people like to classify others, but I identify myself as both: I’m a Black woman but I’m also a mixed-race woman.’

Jeanette says that #beingmixedrace gives her a unique experience of life. She says she loves being able to dip into and celebrate different cultures; ‘and that’s something that I feel more comfortable doing and vocalising now, as I’m older.’

‘I love and identify with both sides. I would say I possibly lean slightly towards my Dad’s heritage, but only because I know that when people see my skin tone they see me as “just black”.

‘I would say that both communities are inclusive, but the black community is more immediately inclusive because they can easily identify me as one of their own.’”
via Natalie Morris @metro.co.uk

Read the full article at the link in my bio!!

Any of my darker skinned mixed girls relate to this?
#mixedgirlproblems #mixedgirl (at UK)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CcLTqkGO4Cb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=