Written by Lauren Hutfield; IG: @beingmixxed
My Mixed Heritage Experience
“Being of mixed heritage is such a beautiful and amazing thing. Like people say, you really do get ‘the best of both worlds’. However, what people often fail to recognise is that those two worlds form one world - which is me. Constantly being viewed as half of something is damaging, because you’ll never see yourself as whole, and see that you are only half relatable to identities. Whilst this is true, as I can’t fully relate to both my parents’ identities, this has led to me chasing acceptance from my separate sides to ‘fit in’. I would straighten my natural hair to seek acceptance from my white friends and similarly would hide certain parts of my white identity from my black friends.
Through years of chasing acceptance, without even knowing I was doing it, I became lost within my identities and didn’t know if I truly belonged anywhere. I always saw my identities as separate and never saw the bigger picture that both of them are me together. As I grew up I realised that being mixed race is its own race, and I shouldn’t have to compromise or be ashamed of any part of my identity. Because although I may be ‘half relatable’ to my identities, I am 100% unapologetically me and do not have to chase acceptance from anyone
but myself.
I am proud to be of mixed parentage and will not hide any part of my identity because that would be hiding me and being untrue to myself. Within me there may be half black and half white identities, but they cannot be separated as they have been mixed and molded together to form a whole which is me, and so you can’t have one without the other. This means that if people don’t like another part of my identity then they don’t like me, and that’s okay because
you can’t please everyone.
This is something that I’m still learning to be confident with but it feels amazing
to know that I am my own unique solid person with beautiful mixes all molded within me. ”