Dorian N.
Spokane, WA.

I am mulatto. I have a black father and white mother. I love being bi-racial, I take pride in it and feel very lucky to have heritage that stems from two completely different directions, but it took many years to achieve this level of confidence, because when strangers, family and friends come at you repeatedly with comments such as “You act very white,” “You don’t seem black.“ “You date too many white guys” or “You wear your hair too straight” back to “Why don’t you straighten your hair?” And “You don’t talk black” I mean the list goes on and on. I’ve experienced a lot of self-doubt and lacked the ability to identity with how I feel inside in comparison to how others feel I should look like and act like. It has been a struggle, but at the end of it all I ended up realizing that racial identity has been made complicated when in reality it doesn’t have to be. So what is complicated about being mulatto isn’t being mulatto itself, it is complicated because society makes it so. Society hasn’t always been satisfied with me being half-and-half; it demands that I identify with just one, but I refuse to do that. I style myself how I want, date who I want, and treat everyone of all colors and cultures with respect. I’m black AND white, and that is just the way it is. I owe no apology, nor do I need to repress either side.