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cherylwav's review
4.0
This book is so important because it shows how being biracial is not being half of anything, it is an own complex identity and only you decide on how much of your mixed races define you. I am biracial myself, German and Mauritian (white, black, Indian) and I could relate to a lot of these stories. To the identity crisis one has to face as a mixed child, to racism and discrimination from both parts of your family and society, but it also highlights some positive aspects, like speaking mutlitple languages, benefiting from experiencing different cultures and forming an open-mind to connect with different people. What I also liked was that there were many different ethnicities and not only black and white biracials, so this book speaks to a broader range of mixed race people.
Two things that I thought weren't fitting in here or a bit "too" much was one essay of a thirteen-year old which was cute but not really fitting to the topic in my opinion and the fact that there were quiet a lot essays from white mothers with mixed race children / family. It's interesting to read from their perspective as well, but I couldn't help but notice how many there were.
Two things that I thought weren't fitting in here or a bit "too" much was one essay of a thirteen-year old which was cute but not really fitting to the topic in my opinion and the fact that there were quiet a lot essays from white mothers with mixed race children / family. It's interesting to read from their perspective as well, but I couldn't help but notice how many there were.
alysonimagines's review
5.0
For editors/authors Sarah Ratliff and Bryony Sutherland, the topic of mixed race identity is very personal: Ratliff has a complex multiracial identity and Sutherland is raising a biracial family. Together, the two have midwifed a godsend in Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide, a collection of essays written by people who have a personal connection to the mixed race experience: either they are of mixed race heritage themselves, are in a mixed race relationship, or are raising children of mixed race.
Even though—or maybe because—I’m biracial, I haven’t felt comfortable talking about race for most of my life. The more I read about the experiences of other people of mixed race, including those in this essay collection, I am beginning to understand my discomfort. It’s the feeling of not fitting in or belonging anywhere—a struggle almost every human encounters at some or many points in their life—yet compounded by the struggle to understand not only who I am, but also what I am. Am I white or am I Asian? The simultaneously complex and simple answer is yes. And bound up in this mixed identity are often mixed feelings and confusion about which people or nation or ethnicity I should identify with, which side I should take in current and historical political conflicts, and which race/identity issues I have the right to talk about. (I’ve finally realized I have the right to identify with all parts of my heritage and to talk about any and all of the issues that touch on my personal experience.) I’ve struggled with not feeling white enough or Asian enough, and it wasn’t until recently that I even dared to identify as a person of color. For most of my life I thought my mixed heritage didn’t count.
Reading Being Biracial was like finding my people for the first time. I kept nodding in understanding and highlighting many passages that articulate exactly what I have been trying to articulate about my own experience for most of my life. Ratliff shares a deeply intimate account of struggling to reconcile her African American, Japanese, German, Dutch, and Irish heritage against the backdrop of equally complex family and political histories, which makes my own identity struggles seem easy in comparison. Sutherland writes about her mostly positive experience as a white woman married to a Caribbean black man and raising mixed race children in England, which made me thankful that I also had a relatively positive upbringing in a biracial family, although I wish we’d talked more as a family about biracial issues. I especially appreciated the essays by people who have been confused for practically every ethnic identity but their own, which made me feel better about my own Asian heritage being apparently invisible to most untrained eyes. Even if I don’t “look” Asian, I’ve come to realize all that matters is I am Asian and I know it. The essays by mothers who hope for a future in which their mixed race children will be appreciated also touched my heart. My favorite piece is “An Open Letter to My Daughter” by a mother to her English, German, Korean, and Puerto Rican child who is starting kindergarten. She writes, “I know from my own experience that the world is not color blind; I hope your experience can be one in a world that is color appreciative.”
Whether you have mixed race heritage, or know someone who does, or simply want to understand the mixed race experience, this book is a great start in becoming more “color appreciative.” It has helped me be more appreciative of my own mixed colors and inspires me to wear them proudly.
Even though—or maybe because—I’m biracial, I haven’t felt comfortable talking about race for most of my life. The more I read about the experiences of other people of mixed race, including those in this essay collection, I am beginning to understand my discomfort. It’s the feeling of not fitting in or belonging anywhere—a struggle almost every human encounters at some or many points in their life—yet compounded by the struggle to understand not only who I am, but also what I am. Am I white or am I Asian? The simultaneously complex and simple answer is yes. And bound up in this mixed identity are often mixed feelings and confusion about which people or nation or ethnicity I should identify with, which side I should take in current and historical political conflicts, and which race/identity issues I have the right to talk about. (I’ve finally realized I have the right to identify with all parts of my heritage and to talk about any and all of the issues that touch on my personal experience.) I’ve struggled with not feeling white enough or Asian enough, and it wasn’t until recently that I even dared to identify as a person of color. For most of my life I thought my mixed heritage didn’t count.
Reading Being Biracial was like finding my people for the first time. I kept nodding in understanding and highlighting many passages that articulate exactly what I have been trying to articulate about my own experience for most of my life. Ratliff shares a deeply intimate account of struggling to reconcile her African American, Japanese, German, Dutch, and Irish heritage against the backdrop of equally complex family and political histories, which makes my own identity struggles seem easy in comparison. Sutherland writes about her mostly positive experience as a white woman married to a Caribbean black man and raising mixed race children in England, which made me thankful that I also had a relatively positive upbringing in a biracial family, although I wish we’d talked more as a family about biracial issues. I especially appreciated the essays by people who have been confused for practically every ethnic identity but their own, which made me feel better about my own Asian heritage being apparently invisible to most untrained eyes. Even if I don’t “look” Asian, I’ve come to realize all that matters is I am Asian and I know it. The essays by mothers who hope for a future in which their mixed race children will be appreciated also touched my heart. My favorite piece is “An Open Letter to My Daughter” by a mother to her English, German, Korean, and Puerto Rican child who is starting kindergarten. She writes, “I know from my own experience that the world is not color blind; I hope your experience can be one in a world that is color appreciative.”
Whether you have mixed race heritage, or know someone who does, or simply want to understand the mixed race experience, this book is a great start in becoming more “color appreciative.” It has helped me be more appreciative of my own mixed colors and inspires me to wear them proudly.
tuscareads's review
5.0
I genuinely loved this book. It was an anthology of essays based around bi-racial experiences from all over the world with all types of people. It was very healing to read stories of people who had similar experiences as I have in life and it made me feel considerably less lonely in my feelings towards my own identity. For some people, they identified with one race over the other or identified with all aspects of their identity. Some didn't strongly identify with any part of their race and instead chose a different route of identifying themselves. This book showcased the roles of children and their parents from both sides.
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