Hi, my name is Adia and I am 20 years old. I am not technically biracial- that is, I am not the product of an offical interracial union, but the race-mixing goes way back on both sides of my family. I have always related to the biracial community because I too am constantly bombarded with questions pertaining to my racial identity. My father's mother is Cape Verdean (African and Portuguese for those of you not familiar with Cape Verde) and his father was half black, half Sicilian. My mother's father was white British and her mother is half black, half Cherokee. While my father is dark brown in color with wavy black hair, my mother has ivory skin, hazel eyes, and light brown curls (she is often mistaken for Jewish). As a little girl I wondered how two such very different-looking people could both call themselves "black", but I accepted their identity and the "black" identity they imposed upon me without question. Imagine my confusion when people insisted that my caramel brown skin and dark curls meant that I must be Puerto Rican/Dominican/mulatto/East Indian/Middle Eastern/"from the islands" (whatever that means). It was always my understanding that "mixed" meant that your parents were distinctly different from each other. If my mom was "black" and my dad was "black", then how could I be "mixed"? When I don't feel like relating my entire family history to perfect strangers I will settle on Cape Verdean, since that is partly true and provides some explanation for my slightly ambiguous appearance. I am happy to know that a website such as this exists, and I hope that others who come from generations of race-mixing and have not always had their racial identities spelled out for them will be able to relate to my story.

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