Malcolm X. Mosely,
Lorain, OH.
I started using “Other long ago when they first started putting it on an option and I could start filling out forms when I started entering college in the early 90’s and there after. The reason I have done this is because I am not only Black and White, I am also Native American. I hold on to all of my heritages because of two important reasons: The first is because I don’t believe I should let go because they are part of me and I love all of me but it took me a long time to figure that out.
The second reason is because I found out when I was young that I was not accepted by the (white population) even if I was smart I wasn’t good enough I was still “black”, I wasn’t black enough because without even opening my mouth I found myself in fights because someone black was accusing me of thinking I was better because I had good hair and I was light skinned. And I unfortunately never knew my grandmothers (Cherokee) tribe because she was taken when she was young then ran away with my grandfather to escape that person when she came North. I found myself isolated and being the child of two teachers I kept my head down and concentrated on school. But I didn’t make very many friends and there were very few people like me that were of visually mixed race in my area.
I got by but I was a loner. I still find that people still have some of those same stereotypes and still hold to the (house negro or light vs black) issues in our society and that has been a huge problem in the minority community. Overall, I look to just be happy in everything I do and hope for everyone to get along, I believe being Mixed or “Other” has given me a great perspective to look at things through out my brief history on this planet. Hopefully I can teach others this way of thinking from another perspective of looking at things from a third point of view.
