Willie McBride
Long Beach, CA
I was born in Taiwan to a Chinese mother and African American father. I was orphaned an American serviceman and his wife adopted me; my adopted father just happens to be African American and my mother is Chinese. They also never mentioned that I was adopted and so I grew up thinking that I and my sisters, who are also adopted but happen to be full Chinese, were blood relatives. Growing up, my parents made it very clear that we should never look at another person’s color, that we should get to know the person instead. But they also made it very clear to me that people would always see my skin first, and the person behind it second. I’d like to think I’m still color-blind.
