LesliThis site is very interesting and though I wasn't sure if I fit the bill at first -- I don't think that I look "white" -- after reading everyone else stories, I see that just appearing other than what you really are is qualification enough.
So here are the not-so-gory details. I am a 23-year-old black/white mixture of a person. Because it seems that racial judgements are based entirely on appearance, I will tell you that I am fair-skinned (been called red-boned, high-yellow,etc...) woman, with a small broad nose (from my German-ancestored mother), full-lips, almond shaped eyes, and "good" curly hair (although having to tame it every morning, I don't call it good). I have been mistaken for every dark ethnic group you can think of (Puerto Rican, Indian, Native American, Middle Eastern, French...) by EVERYBODY -- black, white, Latinos. Which can be good to some extent because I fit in with everyone, but then again...
Growing up in rural Ohio, I was aware that my mother was white and that my father was black -- but all of my cousins on my father's side looked like me -- in fact we have an entire branch that "passes" in daily life, but still attend the black family reunions. So, it is evident by how we look that my father's family has been mixing for generations. It is a community where there are alot of black/white mixtures running around -- but not alot of other ethnic groups. In my high school I was THE BLACK GIRL and I just thought all black people looked somewhat like me or knew someone who did.
All that changed when I went off to college in Virginia. I was really happy to see more black people -- I thought "Hey these are my people, finally a community that will accept me unconditionally." I soon realized that there were distinct color lines drawn WITHIN the black community. Black women especially thought that I was uppity or snobby. The black community as a whole was not as accepting as I thought. I don't know if they thought that I was Latino (I get that alot now that I am older), or if it was just the high yellow thing.
I did fall in with a group of friends who tended to either be racially mixed or who had attended predominantly white high schools and who had a sense of "the white world" and who were also coming to grips with a black identity.
So now I find myself graduated from college, working in a white ad-firm in the south, and virtually alienated from any black people on a day to day basis. I am going to blame it on the city I live in "the capital of the south" which is still racially stratified. I get "black looks" from black women all the time.
To summarize -- this is really long -- I am still searching for a single, united identity within myself, which is how I found you guys. If you can help... It just seems in my case that white people consider me "other,"