Living in two worlds – Native Navajo & White Mormon

by navajo

I am trying to live in two worlds.

I was born in Utah. My white father descended from the Mormon pioneers. His grandparents were polygamists. My full-blood Navajo mother — who was taken from her family at age five to be assimilated into white culture at the Tuba City Boarding School — joined the Mormon church in her 20s.

Mom had the typical boarding school experience. Overwhelming homesickness, having her mouth washed out with soap for accidentally speaking forbidden Navajo, witnessing others endure severe punishment for being incorrigible in some Navajo way and a constant curriculum of You Need to Become White Now. My mom was smart, she learned fast to conform, to survive. She excelled at the school and even skipped grades.

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Source: www.dailykos.com

Mixed American Life Flickr set

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MixedAmericanLife, a set on Flickr.

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 52,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 19 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

confessions

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1) This one’s a confession of sorts because since the Adam Lambert debacle I have not really watched any reality contestant type t.v.  And by “really” I mean never seen a full episode.  One can’t a…

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Put These Combat Boots Away | Damali Ayo

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“I was taught early on that whiteness, inside or outside of me, was dangerous.
…
That pain came not only from the presence of racism, but from my personal investment in it.
…
since I had stopped looking for racism around every corner, I hadn’t experienced any.
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As a woman who had been trained to be racially paranoid before I could read, it was a freedom I had never felt.

Accepting myself as multiracial requires a great deal of forgiveness, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a well of forgiveness within me ready to tap. The truth does that, it opens up stores of forgiveness that cannot be accessed when it is being repressed. I found myself forgiving my family, forgiving myself, forgiving both white and black people, and forgiving of all of my ancestors. Talking to a friend I heard myself say, “One group of my ancestors (English) enslaved another group of my ancestors (Africans) and murdered another group (Native American). (As far as I am aware the Italians are in the clear). I am ready to be at peace with that.”

This blew me away.

I am ready to be at peace.

I have to be at peace. I spent too many years in the angst of a deception, staring at my truth in the mirror and obscuring it through the tools of anger, paranoia, and fear, trying to prove to everyone else that I exist within their parameters. Now I choose to look in the mirror and see a miracle of history, the dissonance and conflict that led to who I am can exist in a happy person, and maybe one day, in a happy culture.”

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If You See Someone Without A Smile …: Jun 13, 2011

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Photos from Mixed Roots 2011
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Founder of Mixed American Life – Glenn Robinson – Interviewed on Mixed Race Radio

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Wednesday, 2012-10-24, 16:00Z (12:00 EDT, 09:00 PDT, 17:00 BST)

 

Celebration and Promotion of Pluralism

 

We curate and share photos, articles and videos on the topics of mixed culture, mixed heritage and mixed identity; whether mixed by proximity, relationships, or adoption.

This blends with our mission of reducing xenophobia and racism which we blog about at Community Village where we also monitor and expose the oppression and hate that is opposing the multicultural and pluralist movements. 

To see all our projects (and promoted sites) visit CommunityVillage.us

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100% Mixed Show – Phil Koo

 

 

Phil Koo talks about his heritage and travel experiences.

growing up Latino | Abagond

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“The following is based mainly on Dr Beverly Tatum’s excellent book, “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” (1997). She talks only about Spanish-speaking Latinos who grow up in America (the U.S.):

Being Latino is not a matter of nation or race. It is a matter of culture, of belonging to a Latin American culture. After all, you can be black or white or Indian or mixed and still be Latino. You can be Mexican or Cuban or American and still be Latino.

Three stages that Latinos (and other people of colour) go through growing up in America:

1. unexamined ethnic identity – your ethnic identity is not a big deal, you barely think about it.
2. ethnic identity search – it becomes a big deal, mainly because of experiences at school. You come to terms with what it means for you to be a member of your ethnic group. This can take years.
3. achieved ethnic identity – you have a clear, positive sense of your ethnic identity.”

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Aquile (Black/White) [American]

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Known as: Singer-Songwriter & Musician (Current contestant on the third season of “The Voice”; Member of the band “The Orbit Group”)

 

Live Performances: The Voice: “Your Song”, Sure Thing, Typical (w/ The Orbit Group), Fall For Your Type

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