How can she be your mom
Laura Clarksville, MD Being Black we come in all shades. My mom is extremely fair-skin; my dad was very dark. I look like my dad....
Black mom. Blonde daughter. She yours?
Amber Duke, New Albany, IN. My bi-racial daughter has her father’s blond hair and fair skin. Soon after she was born, I was shocked when...
Don’t call me gringa; Soy Colombiana.
Eugenia Kristina Draper, Scottsdale, AZ I am 100% Colombian and grew up in a fully Spanish speaking family with both parents having immgigrated to the...
Black women will not become extinct
Sonja Williams, Bellwood, IL As a black woman I continue to see the not so subtle messaging in media and advertising often portraying black women...
Never Been Asked: “What Are You?”
Ella Harris, Columbia, MD I always felt disconnected from my African American identity. With my blonde hair, light green eyes, and fair skin, the world...
Fair-skinned Indian, should be lucky
Kalpana, Singapore Indians come in different languages, shapes, sizes and colours. We can look so different from each other and still be brothers and sisters....
Mommy, I want to be Vanilla.
Jasmin Marie Harpe, Burlington, NJ. It has been hard to fit in to both societies growing up as a biracial child, especially being in academia...
Hated sunburns, wished I was black.
Donna Cook, Roseville, MN. I have very fair skin, Fitzpatrick Scale I, and growing up in Los Angeles meant lots of unintended, fairly serious, and...
Speak Spanish? You don’t look “Mexican.”
Kristiane Valenza, Vicksburg, MS. After moving to rural Mississippi from New York to teach Spanish at the high school level, I’m frequently met with confusion...
You don’t look like a Mexican.
Edmundo de la Garza Seattle, WA I was born in Chicago to fair skinned parents, one with green eyes and the other with hazel eyes....
