When you’re a kid, the questions you get asked are easy.
“Do you want to take a nap?”
“No. I want ice cream. Let’s play outside!”
“What’s your favorite color?”
“All of them at once!”
As soon as you’re old enough to comprehend the importance of establishing an identity, the questions get harder. People stop asking who your best friend is, and start asking what you want to be when you grow up. And if you’re not a cookie cutter, fit-into-a-box kind of person, the pressure to identify yourself can be twice as hard. In addition to the usual questions, (like “What’s your major?” or “Where are you originally from?”) you might be forced to answer a plethora of increasingly invasive questions. And even though high school can be a period for many of us to find out who we are and build an identity that we feel suits us, you’re not out of the woods when you leave. Curious people will continue to ask questions, because this is how we’ve learned to categorize each other, to make it easier to deal with the world around us. No one tells you that the answers can change over the course of your lifetime.
This is why The Mixed Space was created. We’re here to hold space and process questions of identity together. This is a judgment-free zone to learn and grow and take pride in your mixed self. It’s our hope that we can move beyond just calling the obvious Black mixed with white biracial experience ‘mixed’, and celebrate mixedness in all of its unique forms. So, this is the space for you if any of the following apply
- You’re biracial/multiracial, or the family of a multiracial child; a transracial adoptee, or the family of a transracial adoptee; in an interracial relationship; the child of mixed parents.
- You’re multi-ethnic, multicultural, bi/multilingual; in a household where your parents speak different languages from each other; you had more than one language spoken in the house growing up; raised around a culture that you are not native to; currently living or working amongst a culture that is not native to you.
- In a mixed-orientation relationship/partnership; of a different sexual orientation from your partner.
- You don’t have a binary (cis) gender identity; transgender; gender fluid; gender queer; intersex; two spirited; bi gender or gender non conforming.
- Your parents practice different religions; you were raised with the religion of the colonizer and not the religion of your indigenous ancestors; a part of your identity is at odds with your religious practice.
Or maybe you can’t personally relate to any of those things. That’s ok. This is still a space for you. Especially if you’re interested in unlearning the so called truths of the dominant culture and growing into the truth of YOU. Especially if your soul is a traveler and wants to explore more about other people in this world and their experiences. Especially if you want to make a difference and help those in need.
Empathy is the single most crucial component of healthy relationships. And building that bridge is what we believe in. We’re here to build bridges between you and the rest of the world.
