My Life as a Mixed Race Person While Supporting the BLM Movement Pt. 2

The BLM Movement protests have died down, but the Movement itself is still going. The thing is, has it helped or hurt things? We now have lynchings, more pronounced racism, more pronounced prejudice, more hate. On the other end, statues of known racists and oppressors like Robert E Lee and Christopher Columbus have been taken down. Reforming of the police system is going on in multiple states. But the neutral side of things is that we still have a racist government running things. History is being erased, once again, and in a very skewed and feared way, be that for better or worse. And the open conversation about racism has become completely skewed as well. It’s a white on black discussion and anything outside of that, especially when trying to discuss things with black people, is something to attack.

As a multiracial person in this current society, I hoped to finally find my place, since this current struggle was supposed to help connect people. And that place is that of the outsider, still. I’ve always felt like an outsider due to my not fitting the social norm of associating myself as black or multiracial when I’m not white passing. I have had more abuse and prejudice thrown at me from black people than anyone else. And it’s a constant issue, since I was a 4yr old child to now in my 30s. Then we have the Black Lives Matter Movement and I thought maybe now we multiracial/mixed race people can finally also be accepted as, in the BLM mission statement on their website, states “We acknowledge, respect, and celebrate differences and commonalities.” Yet more and more, I have seen anything but that. Instead I am seeing more hate, segregation and discrimination, and not from white people as much as you’d think, but by black people. They don’t want to hear about the struggle other races have or are having. And if you try, they say we/they don’t matter, only black live matter. So why should anyone else care if our lives do not?

It’s very frustrating that the “All Lives Matter” hashtag has been hijacked by white supremacists and their ignorant supporters. That’s the downside to this hashtag. The thing is, all lives can and should matter! ALL of them, no matter the race. That is the issue here. Whatever you are and identify as, your life matters. We are separating more than connecting lately. It is a shame that black people have been oppressed, but look at the history books (no, not the high school ones) and you’ll see that most races who have come to America have been oppressed at some point. The Chinese when they came here were forced into Chinatowns because others, yes even black people, did not want to associate with them. The Chinese men were killed, abused, mistreated and pretty much forced into slavery by working the train lines. The women were forced into prostitution or being mistresses, and if they fought this, they were either raped, killed or sent back to China pretty much shamed. There was even a law that prohibited them from marrying anyone not-Chinese up into the early 1900s! The Japanese-Americans living in America during World War II were put in internment camps like the Nazis were doing the Jewish In Europe. Only difference was America wasn’t outright killing them in the camps. Instead the Japanese people lost everything. Their businesses, homes, rights as Americans. They had nothing once the war ended and had a hard time getting back on their feet due to racism aimed their way. I live right by the Santa Anita Racetrack in the San Gabriel Valley, CA. While that place has always been a death trap for horses, as horse racing is a terrible sport no better than dog fighting, at the start of the war, Japanese Americans were sent to live there, in the stables! Some died while there due to mistreatment and how unhealthy living there was. Yet our history books want to all but whip out these hateful acts. Jewish people here up until the 1980s had a hard time as they were socially segregated. Technically they look white to the average eye, but the moment someone found out they were Jewish, they were beaten, sometimes killed, called racist slurs, lost jobs and told they weren’t wanted where they lived. Hispanics right now are still being held in cages on US soil, being raped, killed, sold into child slavery. Yet nothing is being done. And even now Asian people are being attacked because of President Trump’s racist comments like “The Kung Flu/Chinese Virus”, which only fuels things, and yes, every race has added to the racist jokes. But we’re supposed to only care about black lives, when all lives need to be respected for things to change.

More and more racist monuments are getting torn down. But the real stories behind them are not fully being taught. Then there are odd things being attacked such as food brands like Uncle Ben’s, band/artist names like Dixie Chicks, architecture titles like “plantation style”. Things are going too extreme. No surprise since that usually is what happens with these social movements in the last decade. One big controversy was the changes to Disney’s Splash Mountain. In case people don’t know, Splash Mountain is based around the cartoon parts of the 1930s movie, “Song of the South”. The movie is supposedly racist, but for anyone who has actually watched, it is very clearly not. It is black stories being told to white kids. The black lead, Uncle Remus is actually depicted to be a better father figure than the white father, and the father even admits that. So, where is the racism? That it’s set in the reformed South on a plantation? That’s it? With that type of mindset every slavery set film, show and book is racist. But besides that, the ride itself is just the story of the bunny really. Either way, it’s left a lot of controversy as to whether it should change or not. One argument is that by removing it, it is taking away from black history. Another is saying by keeping it’s keeping racist history around. And amusing enough every race has an opinion going either way! Personally, I love the movie, but the ride is old and dull, even after the update several years ago. The planned change will be to base the new ride around the Disney Princess Tiana and her movie, “The Princess and the Frog”. It makes sense really since the ride, at Disneyland at least, borders New Orleans Square, so extending that area is a logical step. And it’s still a black lead character, and a female lead at that! So, for me, seeing the rage over all this, it’s not so much about the theme of the ride but just another excuse to argue.

Multiple times I have tried to bring up issues like these, but because I don’t “fit the narrative” black people tend to shot down the entire discussion, saying my “privilege is showing”. And then white people will be fearful to comment out of fear of looking racist. It’s a slippery slope. Especially since, once again, I don’t feel accepted by the people that make up part of my genetics and that technically society will claim I look like aka black people. So why would I support them? Why should I? Because it’s still the right thing to do. But I’ve realized that, while I strongly support the Movement, I cannot support the Black Lives Matter organization. And I will explain why: I went back to college in my late 20s. In 2017, 200 or so students and their respected professors came together to hear a guest speaker from the LA Charter of BLM was brought in as a part of what was to be a joint project between several classes in different departments. I don’t remember her name, and looking on the website, I don’t see anything on her so I’m assuming she’s no longer with the organization. Right away the speaker said for the black people to come forward, since ‘society always wants us to step back!” Ok, not a good way to start things. For the rest of us brown people who clearly didn’t feel comfortable, we stayed back, sitting with friends. She eyed us all for that. She goes into the, what she likely would say was a “powerful speech”, but really it was very racially biased. Finally, about 40mins into the what was supposed to be a 1hr 30min presentation, she opens things for questions. I raised my hand and she said “Yes stand my black sister!” “Actually, ma’am, I’m multiracial…” I don’t even get to ask my question before she glares at me and puts her hand up to stay stop. “Excuse YOU, woman! Oh hell no, sit back down with that mess!” I’m frozen for a moment, livid. I didn’t say a word, only raised my eyebrow, grabbed my bag and walked out. My professor followed as I heard the speaker saying I wasn’t wanted there anyway. My professor asked if I was ok, said that what the woman said wasn’t right and I didn’t have to do the project. But as she said this, a bunch of people started walking out with the speaker screaming at them! Next class period my professor said the project was terminated as multiple students said they were not comfortable doing it anymore. The black people in my class after that incident made it very clear how they felt, and it was not nice in any way. In defending myself, I was shown some of the worst discrimination I’d had, to my face (outside of keyboard warriors), in years. This was how I got introduced to the BLM, and the memory that has stuck with me for 3 years.

I want change, positive change, but the BLM is very biased and agenda driven. Look at their social media, especially their Instagram, and it’s very clear they are strongly PC Cancel Culture, which I am extremely opposed it as it doesn’t help as much as people think. The Movement of black people mattering, on the other hand, deserves support for trying to connect everyone and is bringing some positive change. Except right now it’s only black lives (on average), ignore the rest (on average), and especially hate/cancel on anyone who does not fit the agenda. Do some deserve to be canceled, like the ones saying they want to hurt people, or are supporting the people who are hurting others? Yes, because they are not helping anything. But is it ok to attack/harass/cancel people for being a social deviant and simply “don’t fit what I agree with”? Absolutely not. And especially so for mixed/multiracial people who don’t identify as black or are “passing”. Or people who others feel are easy targets. I personally had this with a group of PC people who thought that they could bully me because I would not back down to their ignorant and totally incorrect mindset. So where to do we fit social misfits fit now? Some have given into to the social narrative and are pushing “black power” while they are mixed, which is fine. But some then expect the rest of us to do the same. And then there are white knights thinking they can pass judgement on us mixed people because we “aren’t black”. I guess I/we fit the “multiracial” box, whether we like it or not. And from what I’ve seen in Facebook groups, Instagram stories and posts, I’m not alone in us multiracial people banding together, because that seems to be our only choice.

Realizing that I, and so many other multiracial people, seem to be reminders that people can be more than one thing, seems like some sort of personal attack on monoracial people’s mindsets. A lot of the time the hate is coming from their own hate or even self-hate. But that is no reason for them to attack us when we were born how we are. And many of us born because our parents saw color and loved and accepted the differences. This mindset that our parents had is needed for things to change, really change for the better. We need to unite as one people, or this Movement will be for nothing.