Finally I learned to accept myself

Katherine Porter,
San Leandro, CA.

I grew up disowned by my racial cultures…too different from White, too different from Chinese. Talked about by cousins, wondered about by strangers, eroticized by college boys, and discounted by the census. Always had to check “other” on the surveys. Felt like I had to be the best example of whatever someone thought I was – East Indian, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Greek, East Asian, Native American, Persian…whatever – but only felt accepted when visiting Hawaii…because I looked like the people there. But I’ve always had to find a path to see myself as valuable… it has been a journey of turning away from common labels and roles because I didn’t fit. I finally learned to accept myself as beautiful and unique. Now I try to teach my daughter the same thing as she struggles with her “difference” of being multiracial.