Being Biracial is More Than Just Being an “Other”
by Ashley Haines

Lumpia or soul food? Basketball or academics? Hip-hop or violin music? For the greater part of my life, I have been torn between these cultural stereotypes. I am black and Asian.

Embracing both of my races is something I like to do, but doesn’t seem socially acceptable. Where does that put me? In the “Other” category?

I have ethnic features and traits, which contradict my two racial communities, thus making me an immediate outcast within them. I’m too skinny and my hair’s too long to be your “average” black girl, and my lips are too full and complexion too dark to be what most consider Asian. I am an “Other” because I can’t relate to the stereotypes our society has grown to know and grasp so tightly to.

I am an “Other” because multiple-choice-testing sheets and other surveys try to label me so. What some may call shading in a bubble to indicate your race an unthought-of task, doing so has become quite the challenge for me. (more…)