In my last year or so with Sisterlocks (four years now and counting) I get more questions about my ethnicity then ever. I am African American, but given my coloring, it's obvious that there has been at least "some" ancestral mixing going on. But my parents are African American. My grandparents are West Indian American (Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad). However, as my locks have gotten longer, I've had a few people assume that one of my parents is white or that I wasn't even Black at all. (????????) Dominican perhaps? It's as if my African Americanness is not immediately obvious. I was disturbed by this at first, but now have become more curious. It is amazing how other people see you in ways that you cannot or do not see yourself.
11/16/2005
SL's & Questions of Ethnicity
In my last year or so with Sisterlocks (four years now and counting) I get more questions about my ethnicity then ever. I am African American, but given my coloring, it's obvious that there has been at least "some" ancestral mixing going on. But my parents are African American. My grandparents are West Indian American (Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad). However, as my locks have gotten longer, I've had a few people assume that one of my parents is white or that I wasn't even Black at all. (????????) Dominican perhaps? It's as if my African Americanness is not immediately obvious. I was disturbed by this at first, but now have become more curious. It is amazing how other people see you in ways that you cannot or do not see yourself.
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1 comment:
I love your blog and your hair. You look incredible. This happens to me all the time also. I have light skin, but I always had shorter hair, so I would occassionally get those questions. Now that my hair is longer I get them really frequently. I'm not mixed (directly) either.
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