I’ve been debating on how I wanted to go about writing this post.  After a talk I had a few days ago with a regular customer at work, I can’t seem to get it out of my mind.  I also can’t seem to get out of my mind how I grew up, combined with the current presidential candidates and talk about political correctness and race.  Now I see more and more kids who are mixed, or multiple races and can only think of my experiences, and how they must feel.

As a person who is a combination of different races, there is always an idea that you don’t truly “belong”.  This idea starts at an early age, that when you’re at school playing with your friends.  You begin to notice differences between your peers, and your sense of self begins to develop.

I personally grew up in two households, on two very different sides of town, that had people with very different experiences.  Primarily it became the tale of “why do you act (insert x race here)?”  This attention to the differences I had from my peers was a place of misfit.  Understanding that I wasn’t light enough to be “white-passing”, but I wasn’t dark enough either to be pigeonholed into a particular category.

Naturally, I asked my mother “What am I?”  She ever so lovingly replied to me “You are Alex.”  So there was my answer, I am Alex.  My mother didn’t allow me as a child, to pigeonhole myself into a certain category, which has promoted myself in not allowing others to do the same.

Which brings me to the concept of being racially ambiguous.  Many people are initially curious about my hair, wanting to know if its mine, real, why its curly, and many times they feel very inclined to touch.  As a common question, even to this day is, “What are you?”  Followed by variations of, “Where are you from?” “What’s your background?” “What’s your ethnicity?” All of these questions used to bother me, until I began to understand that most people were, and are genuinely curious.

So I’ll answer all the questions they have.  Curiosity is something as humans we all have, and If someone has a question about who I am, or what goes into making the outward appearance of me, I would like to be the one who educates them.  There is obviously more to this topic than simply this conversation.  However, in keeping an alignment with empowering ourselves, no matter who you are whether it be tall, short, black, white, cisgender, transgender, LGBTQ – You are you.  Before any of the things that can describe your identity, you are a soul who has many things to offer other than the description or label that can be given.

Alex Pircer