"What are you?" Though not intentionally rude, the question is asked to people of multiracial identities with a puzzled look on the inquisitor's face. Caucasians do not get asked where their ancestors are from, why should people of mixed races? It's simple; we live in a society with a history of social genocide and one that still persists on white privilege and either-or categories.
Multiracial people are not test subjects. We are not experiments. Just like all of you, we were created by a sperm and an egg, and surprise, surprise, our sperm and eggs, whether you are African-American or Caucasian, look the same! Now, this doesn't mean you can't ask someone what their ethnic background is. Maintaining politeness and an open mind will do. A simple, "may I ask what is your ethnicity" is clear and specific. Assumption is ignorant. One time, I was at my workplace and an older Cuban regular came up to me and incoherently grumbled, "You Chinese?" Because I could not understand him, he continued in his quest to put a label to my face. Taking his fingers up to his face and pulling on his crow's feet, he mimicked the stereotypical small, Asian eyes, all with a grin on his face. My jaw dropped as I realized what he had just done. Not only do multiracial people face racism all the time or offensive behavior, we may also struggle in fitting in with our many cultures and religions.
For me, at least, I'm not fluent in the languages belonging to both of my parents. Growing up and knowing only French, I would respond to my family with "quoi?" After I had begun learning English, that transformed into "what?" Though I regained French fluency through middle and high school language classes, I never had the chance to get the hang of Mandarin Chinese. Being stronger in one of my parent's language gives a sense of partiality, and it is difficult to appeal to all sides of your family's diverse languages. With this being said, some multiracial people struggle with their identity.
It is a strange feeling to have to check off more than one box under ethnic background or to fill in "other" on applications. On paper or in real life, ethnic identity is categorized and labeled. When I visit family in Taiwan, I feel like the elephant when my relatives ask my mother if my hair color is natural. I can't speak or understand what they are saying most of the time, yet my cousins spoke some English as they were taught in school. On the other hand, when I go see my pre-dominantly blond, blue-eyed family in France, I'm uncharacteristic; with dark hair, dark eye color, and small "almond-shaped" eyes, I'm perceived as solely Asian in their eyes.
Though multiracial people make up 6.9% of the world's adult population as of 2016 and are growing "three times as fast as the population as a whole," awareness and conversation must be spread to the more remote, pre-dominantly white areas. Kip Fulbeck, an artist of mixed ethnic background, presented a book called The Hapa Project in 2001. This project focused on multiracial identity by having all of his subjects naked and directly head-on. Under each photograph is a statement. It's their hand-written response to the question, "What are you?" Fulbeck's reason for creating this "was to make the book I wish I owned when I was a kid. I never knew anyone else like me, going through things I went through, not fitting in, always having to choose sides..." By empowering this community, we can abolish specific ethnic background fetishes and "normal" expectations of race; we can enforce the notion that race and multiethnic identity is a fluid topic, changing from biological progression and the openness of perspectives.
There are so many parts that make up who we are — age, culture, nationality, religion, moral beliefs, biological sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and the list goes on. But, remember that there are no strict lines. Each category is not separate; it is absolutely normal to have them overlap and weave into the unique being you are today.
So, what are we? I'll give you an easy one to remember — human.
