To Those Who Are Biracial What Was Your Experience Like Growing Up?

[NotYourCinderella]

Did you encounter any kind of racism or exclusion or need to justify yourselves and your heritage? What was your home like? Were there different languages and customs shared and combined?
I'm born and raised in the UK my whole life I've lived here. My dad is half Zimbabwean so British-African and he has lived in the UK since he was 11 so nearly 40 years and my grandparents immigrated here with him all those years ago. My grandfather on dad's side is Zimbabwean of many generations and he married an English woman and had my father, hence my dad being British-African and them moving here but they are proudly Zimbabwean. My mother is English, Scottish and a little bit Itslian from her grandmother. She has dark blonde hair and blue eyes and fair skin and my dad is tan brown hair dark brown curly hair and then there's me and I have very fair skin. My natural hair is my profile photo but a lot of the time I do straighten it or wear it back in a braid or bun. As a kid, my grandmother had to teach my white mum how to treat and care for and style my hair type and if I went out to the shops or after school with my grandparents on either side people wouldn't think we were related at all. Mum's side is mostly very white and dad's side being dark skinned. As a child I often felt like it was necessary for me to justify myself and my background identity but as an adult I'm learning to mostly not feel needed to do that or prove anything. I have definitely seen and heard racism many times as I am too light to be acknowledged as a person with a coloured background and too dark for people to think I'm just white. You'll get ever so curious complete strangers asking me "So where are you REALLY from?" As a youth I'd be justifying my heritage to strangers but now I don't bother. I've grown up around Scotland and North England my whole life so I will cheekily say "Edinburgh" or "Northumberland" with a grin nowadays even though I know that's not what they wanted to hear lol.

[WhatTheHeckkkk]

I’m adopted, so I grew up with my adoptive parents who are both white. My adoptive mom has blond straight hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. My adoptive dad has olive skin, hazel eyes, and dark brown wavy hair. My mom was raised Christian, my dad was raised Jewish.


Obviously, my adoptive parents were all I knew, and when I was way younger, I didn’t think anything… I thought that I just looked more like my dad because I had brown curly hair and hazel eyes. My twin sister looked like my dad 100%. Olive skin, dark brown straight/wavy hair, and hazel eyes.


Growing up and looking at my extended family, I realized I looked different. I looked like NO ONE in my family. My sister did, she looked like my dad and my dads side of the family. So, I knew I was kinda the black sheep. My twin sister would joke around that I was adopted because I looked different, (yes, it was illogical because she was adopted too).


Later on, right when I was starting high school, I found out (well, confirmed my suspicions), that we were adopted. My parents didn’t tell me, so I did some digging. I dealt with a huge identity crisis, because not only did I look different, I felt different now. Like, who the hell am I? In high school, there were so many kids… My high school had a lot of diversity, but I even stood out in my high schools diverse setting. It was weird. It was a weird experience. There were racial/culture cliques in the school I went to. I didn’t fit in with any of them, and I still didn’t know myself well enough to fit in with the other cliques like the popular kids, stoner kids, or band kids, ya know? I did straighten my hair and put on a bunch of makeup to try and cover up that I looked different from anyone else. I used “I just like my hair straight,” or “I feel more confident with makeup” as an excuse to cover up my insecurities of looking like an outcast.


I got a DNA test later on, because at this point, I knew who my biological mother was, she looks just like me but a bit different, but I had no idea who my father was. I read the adoption files and birth certificates and it kept saying “possible hispanic male,” but it doesn’t really make sense to me because there was no father on record and what does “possible” mean? Anyways, I found my paternal aunt, my biological fathers sister. She is Japanese and Black. My DNA test came back saying that, in short, I am white, japanese, and black.


It was a surprise to me, but it didn’t really change my experience. I didn’t look part japanese or black, I always looked white but I had this massive curly hair that was not the norm for my town. Everyone else had pin straight hair, either blond or brown, or the old ladies had a perm. “White girl with curly hair” was how I was described, always. People thought it was exotic in my town. I didn’t know if people liked it or not, or if it was a compliment or insult. It could be taken either way.


My parents still raised me as usual, I grew up with southern American cultures… No other ethnic cultures were taught in my life because my adoptive parents wanted to raise me as their own. I don’t mind it, I’m kinda glad they raised me as their own, but I do think it would’ve been interesting to have different experiences with my ethnicities. Anyways, I still get seen as “exotic” or “unique” in my small town and I’ve accepted it lol.

[NotYourCinderella]

That would have been really, really hard to deal with. Thank you for sharing. Have you since been able to connect to your heritage and background more? Interesting heritage. I also relate to 'white girl with curly hair'.

[WhatTheHeckkkk]

Thank you, it was a bit confusing growing up, especially when I was 14-17, tough time for a girl wanting to fit in lol! But I think I just accepted my identity over time.

I have tried to meet up with my aunt (my dads sister), but it has been difficult with COVID, schedules, and availability. She lives a bit away, but I hope to meet her. I should note, both biological parents have passed, so I can’t meet them.

You have an interesting story, I enjoyed reading it 😊

[NotYourCinderella]

Hugs. ❤❤ Thank you for sharing yours.

[lofii]

It was confusing a bit.

As I grew I developed a superiority complex being biracial.

[NotYourCinderella]

Interesting take

[DaddyDiablo]

Not so bad til I moved to Washington

[NotYourCinderella]

What do you mean?

[DaddyDiablo]

Culture difference from the southwest and basically just the diversity there was from where I was from sorta originally from Texas but grew up in new Mexico like half my life basically