I am an American, born and raised but my parents came from the Caribbean. My mother is from the island Antigua and my father is from Haiti. At first there never was a problem with being a Antiguan- Haitian it made me different. I felt pride in being different, an only child between my mother and father I was the only half Antiguan half Haitian in my family and as my sister liked to joke, the only one in the world. But as I grew up something changed that love of my culture, made me suppress it to the point where I would openly deny it and this was cultural stereotypes.

Everyone stereotypes other people ; black people like fried chicken, white people like mayo, Asian people can't drive, etc. Its something your taught not to do but do it anyways as a joke. It's fun to be on the delivering side of these stereotypes but not so much for the receiving party, especially if it was within your own community. I lived in a predominantly Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn and went to school with other children with parents who came from the West Indies, so it sounded great to be around people like me except for the fact that it wasn't. Haitians had a bad name, we are often seen as people who do voodoo,can't match, and steal. Being called Haitian was seen as bad thing because no one wanted to be a Zoe or have Haitian friends because their parents told them "harmless" stereotypes about Haitian people.

These "harmless" stereotypes are part of the reason why I didn't accept being Haitian growing up. I can remember all the times people would find out I was Haitian, mainly because my last name is French, and I remember the opinions that came along with it. "Omg you're Haitian, do you do voodoo ? Does your family do voodoo? ". That was the main stereotype we were associated with, killing animals and worshiping demonic entities , even after the hurricane people were saying things like "well that's what happens when you do voodoo". They became ruthless, "don't upset Brianna, she'll do voodoo on you", I often lived in the shadow of the ugly Haitian their parents told them about. It doesn't sound like much but when you're 8 years old trying to make friends it's really sad when you're ostracized because of your nationality. That being said I stopped telling people I was Haitian as far as anyone was concerned I was just Antiguan. When they'd hear my last name I would shrug and say it's French but never go into deeper detail. When I was confronted about being Haitian i would tell everyone I did not claim it. No one ever asked for the reason even though it was as simple as "your stereotypes taught me not to".

I didn't begin to identify as Haitian until recently, until it became okay to be a Haitian because we were pretty and we matched and "Zoes were cool". People seemed to forget what their parents told them about Haitian people, but still make low blows at us when the chance arises. When something is missing, someone "Zoed"( a term derived from the term Zoe which Haitians identify as) it or the first person suspected is the Haitian. I guess my people have learned to look past all the rude comments and the false stereotypes associated with us, but we can't all say it hasn't affected us, I'm a prime example of how it has. As the reader if there's anything you take away from this it should be : stop stereotyping people it can have long term effects.