Creole Archives - The Race Card Project

No offense BUT, what are you?

August 9, 2024August 9, 2024 1980's, Black, check the box, coversation, Creole, Dutch, ethnicity, Francesca Sam-Sin, Guyana, Holland, Katy, mixed, other, TX, what are you

Francesca Sam-Sin,
Katy, TX.

“No offense BUT, what are you?” That’s usually how the conversation about my race begins.

When I arrived in the U.S. in the 80’s I was really surprised by the emphasis on race. The first time someone asked what “race” I was, it took me a minute to understand exactly what they were referring to. Race? A potato sack race? A sprinter? A distance runner? OH! My ethnicity. Wow! I had never been asked that before. I was born in Holland, raised in Suriname (Dutch Guyana). In simplistic American terms my mom is White and my dad, Black. In cultural and historical terms, my mom is the product of a French father and Dominican mother-my father is the product of a Creole mother and Black and Chinese father. I grew up knowing my culture, my ethnic background…never a color. You were either Dutch or Surinamese, not black or white. So, when people say: “No offense but, what are you?!” I give them a history lesson, not a color. I don’t consider myself Black or White. I’m a mixture of so many things that the best answer I can give people is that I’m an “other.” I am all the other things that are not on the list of races. I feel that if I chose one ethnicity, I would be denying another. I embrace everything that I am and suffer the injustices of all minorities.

From my perspective, it would be a lot easier to identify with one group of people because the reality is that I’m never truly accepted by ANY. In Junior High I wasn’t Black enough…in high school I wasn’t White enough and by the time I went to college, people had become more politically correct and just called me “exotic” (like a bird or something?!). Racially I’ve never belonged anywhere and culturally I’m scattered everywhere– from China to Suriname to Holland to America. I’m proud of my heritage, but I think that the focus society has placed on “categorizing” people has resulted in many of us who are multi-cultural to choose one or the other. So, I choose “Other.” It’s time for people to start thinking outside the (race) “box.”

Acceptable, only after identified as Hawaiian

December 5, 2023January 20, 2024 1970's, acceptable, Creole, Hawaiian, Hispanic/Mexican, identofy, Inuit, Louisiana, MD, minority status, Nedra De Lima, offensive, polite, White Plains

Nedra De Lima,
White Plains, MD.

Experienced “minority status” when we moved stateside from Hawaii in the 70s. I was most often identified as Hispanic/Mexican. Was also identified as generic Native American or African American. Also Inuit or Louisiana Creole. Too many times, I only became acceptable after I identified as Hawaiian Chinese. Then I became exotic and welcome. People would break out into a relieved smile which I found offensive because it was always the folks who thought I was Mexican or Black. Most of the time they would pat my back or arm and want to engage in a conversation. I was safe enough to touch and interesting enough to talk to now. I was always polite but in my mind and in my heart they sickened me.

I’m “too white” or “too black”

December 5, 2023December 5, 2023 biological, CA, class, cookie cutter, Creole, DNA, Edison LaCour, French, irish, Medican, multiethnic marriage, Orange County, too black

Edison LaCour,
Orange County, CA.

I am a product of a biracial marriage, or now with my newfound knowledge from my Biological Anthropology class, a multiethnic marriage. While race is a social construct, this has not stopped me from feeling it’s effects from society. Biologically, it is said that behavior is influenced by mostly by biological factors innate to that person through their DNA. However, I feel like sometimes society can have a large effect on a person. In my case, I physiologically display African-American and Hispanic qualities. However, growing up in primarily the predominantly white suburbs of San Diego and Orange County, I believe I grew up to be a product of my environment, reflecting my surroundings. So I believe that people have stereotyped me based on my physiological ethnic characteristics and have treated me with prejudice because I don’t fit the cookie-cutter mold of the suburbs or the private catholic school I attended. On the flip side of that, people question my biological ethnic heritage by saying I’m not black because I act white or that I “don’t act black enough.” I have embraced my ethnic identity as a man of Creole (African-American and French), Mexican, Irish, and other European descendants and learned to brush off prejudices from anyone. I know what I am, and will stay true to myself as long as I live.

I’m a American Indian not a Native American

June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 African, Creole, culturless, Damone Wilson, Milwaukee, Native American, WI

Damone Wilson,
Milwaukee, WI

As a kid, I remember coming home from school & telling my grandmother about what I learned for black history month. That’s when she told me “boy you are not black you are Cherokee indian & creole”.. so I went to my mom and told her this new found info about us being indians &she told me “BOY U ARE BLACK”. So hearing that from my mom shut down my interest in my history…until I was in my 20s. Fast forward, Moving to Miami showed me that I was cultureless other than forcefed indoctrination on being “black” and descendants of “slaves”. Seeing the many cultures, from Haitian to Cubans, I was exposed to their way of heritage, traditions & culture. Then the words from my granny resurfaced in my brain. This made me start digging for info in the most important place, my families passed down knowledge. To my surprise, my family all knew that we were Cherokee. My great uncle told me how my granny (his mother)was a light brown skinned (full blooded) Cherokee woman with long straight black hair. So I asked my uncle “do we have any african” and he said “NOOO! THEY AFRICANS WERE ALWAYS JEALOUS OF US”…on another note I asked my granddad on my dads side of the family and they showed me pics of our great great grandfather and grandmother, both black foot Indians. When I ask them about this topic it’s almost like they’ve suppressed this knowledge, a instant joy is seen in their face. It’s puzzling to know that they know this but still go by “black” which is nothing but darkness, isn’t backed by a nation, a flag, nothing. Now I realize we are the only unidentified ppl that I can think of😂
And we are constantly reclassified lol it’s like a fairy tale…What’s worse is when I bring this topic up to white ppl they try to redirect you to propagated false info. Makes me wonder if it’s on purpose & if it’s a technic to keep the America landmass for themselves, keep the indigenous down & not fighting or even looking for the truth, which is that America was taken from us. The Indians who they claim were wiped out were really reclassified as black

Blackcican Spanish Speaker Didn’t Teach Kids.

May 25, 2021May 25, 2021 Blackcican, CA, CBU HIS311, Creole, Marisha Vandenberg, my own language, National Geographic, Riverside, spanish speaker, teach kids spanish

Marisha Vandenberg,
Riverside, CA

I was raised in a Mexican household with my mom and her entire family: Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, 2 Uncles & 3 Aunts. I’m also half Creole, so I was always darker and taller than my family and I had long curly hair. We went to church and I stood out like a sore thumb because they all looked alike, and I was the dark one, taller than everyone else not only in my family but in most of our church! I learned Spanish and when we visited family in Mexico, I was only allowed to speak Spanish. I was never really great at it, but over the years, I developed enough vocabulary to get by and native Spanish speakers gladly helped fill in the blanks. I speak Spanish with the appropriate accent, so they were glad to accept me, even if I was a bit darker than they anticipated. Fast forward to when I marry a Dutch German and we start our family. He became concerned that our children would be “confused” if they learned to speak English and Spanish at the same time, even though he knew that I had. None of my reassurances helped. He insisted they not learn both, and I caved in. Both of us regret those choices now and are working on teaching our children how to speak Spanish as teenagers. Our son pronounces words with the appropriate accent. Our youngest daughter pronounces words like a “white girl” (so she says). Our eldest daughter is adopted, so isn’t Mexican at all, but keeps up just fine! I wish my young ignorance hadn’t allowed me to cave in, but it’s never too late to right some wrongs! Thanks CBU-HIS311 for pointing me in this direction! What a great site!!!

I’m more than just a color

August 8, 2017 Bible Belt, Black American, boiling pot, Cherokee, Creole, dad, darker, darker the berry sweeter the juice, doctor, GA, grandparents, Haitian, Half, Jasmyn Joseph, LA, Lithonia, Mobile, Native American, skin color

Jasmyn Joseph,
Lithonia, GA.

I’m from Mobile, Al….. Bible Belt city, unfortunate my grandparents where witch doctors. My granny is half Black-American and Native Cherokee and grandfather was said to be Haitian. While my dad is a creole and Black-American mix. Yet, with some many mixtures in the boiling pot, I’m usually all the time mistaken for South African. So when I tell people my ethnicity, they make this comment “why are you so dark then,” and I say ” darker the berry sweeter the juice!”

Can’t fit me in a box!

August 17, 2015August 17, 2015 ambiguous, Arlington, category, check the box, Creole, fit in a box, human nature, identify, identity, Myriah, Sicilian, unique, VA, what are you

Myriah,
Arlington, VA.

All my life I’ve gotten the “what are you?” question. It seems to be human nature to try and categorize people in order to identify them better somehow. Being French Creole and Sicilian, I have always loved being racially ambiguous, because my identity goes way beyond man made categories. I am physically part of my families roots, but I am also a product of the neighborhood I grew up in, the music I listened to, and the many diverse friends and neighbors I surrounded myself with. Our identities cannot be summed up in a checked box. It is a beautiful, unique, and multidimensional puzzle. 🙂

See My Face Guess My Race

December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 Black, CA, Creole, Duarte, East Indian, Ed Houlemarde, face, guess, Jamaican, Mexican, New Orleans, Race, Spanish

Ed Houlemarde,
Duarte, CA.

I am what is considered a Creole – depending on wher I am I can be lumped into that areas primary race. In school I did not belong to a “race” Because my skin is olive I had mostly minority friends or friends of color. Teaches and later co-workers thought I was Mexican, Black, East Indian, Jamaican, Spanish and my favorite Italian.Even today people will ask what nationality I am and when I say mixed – they assume one of my parents is black. When I say my parents are from New Orleans they say -Oh.

We Creoles were treated like whites

September 4, 2013 Creole, LA, Mary LaCour Clark, racism, Shreveport, treated, we, white

Mary LaCour Clark
Shreveport, LA

Will we ever get past racism?

Blacks and whites are not opposite

June 26, 2013 1974, Black, Creole, French, Houston, Linda Starry, Mexican, opposite, TX, white

Linda Starry
Houston, TX

I have been a teacher since 1974. My first year teaching was the first year of forced busing in Houston. My first class was mostly Black and Mexican. There were two white kids, and one Creole child whose parents said he was French. The children thought I was Mexican, because I speak Spanish. When I told them I was not, they asked what I was. I told them I didn’t know what to say, because I hated that people were called Black and White. First of all, people are not black like tar or white like a piece of paper. But mostly, I hate it because it makes it sound like black people are the opposite of white people, which is silly and devisive. We have much more in common than we have that is different.

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