the topic of this talk was birthed out
of a conversation I had with my pops you
see my pops asked me a question that
would forever change my life he asked me
how are you gonna raise your kids 23
years old
the last thing I’m thinking about is
kids matter of fact the last time I
thought about kids
there’s about ways to avoid having kids
but let me start off by asking you a
question have you ever had I ever had a
piece of mail and on that piece of mail
your name was so butchered I mean how
could they put those vowels and
constants together and form a name see
something like that happened to me I got
my SAT booklet and they said hey this is
the most important day of your life
you’re gonna remember this for the rest
of your life got that booklet I looked
on the back I saw my name it was correct
but in a box right underneath that box
we all seen so much the box was checked
Caucasian do I look white do as a
mixed-race kid growing up in Sierra
Vista Arizona I didn’t see myself
anywhere you see my siblings all took
after my lighter-skinned Olive
complected father I took after my cocoa
queen of a mother my parents raised us
well you see my mom would take us to
community events like Juneteenth and
Black History Month for you guys who
don’t know what Juneteenth is Juneteenth
is when the slaves actually found out
they were free and so I was like after
they did all the labor so around you
19th we celebrate as a community you see
my dad he’s that crazy Puerto Rican at
the end of the street he would wake up
at 6:00 a.m.
we would hear his music at 6:00 a.m. all
the way to when the Sun went down that’s
my dad and he took us to Puerto Rico so
we can meet his family in which I
learned the phrase Bodhi guac on with a
mo for you guys who don’t know what
Bodhi Kakuma Thommo means that means
the first time I ever had to make the
distinction between being black and
Puerto Rican besides having two check
boxes that didn’t necessarily fit me I
was on the back of a soccer bus and my
teammates thought it would be funny to
put on a McDonald’s bag and emulate the
KKK you see this is what propelled me to
study diversity in college at the
University of Arizona
you see mixed-race kids are more likely
to have problems with identification
issues and marginalization
marginalization occurs when you have two
check boxes that don’t necessarily
pertain to you that’s me do I check
black do I check Latino and Hispanic but
I can’t be back black if I check Latino
and Hispanic and if I choose black I
can’t choose Hispanic or Latino do I
choose that box that says two or more
races two or more ambiguous races do I
look ambiguous while studying that I
decided to call my pops
you see I called Pop’s for everything
cuz he’s my best friend he’s kind of
like Puerto Rican Santa and mr. clean
cuz he’s got this really shiny bald head
and he’s got this big ol white beard and
that’s when my dad asked me the question
he said how are you gonna raise your kid
you see my wife is the cream to my
coffee and one day our kids are gonna
have to answer that question are they
towards the end of this conversation my
dad said something that would forever
changed my life
he said mijo
I didn’t raise you to see yourself as
half of anything you see because it
takes two human beings to create one
human being you are a hundred percent
black and you are a hundred percent
Puerto Rican I was 19 years old in
college that was stupid to me it didn’t
make sense it’s not what I needed to put
in that piece of paper at the time so
then I went to my second best friend I
went to Google so um when I started
searching Google I found Donna Jackson
akazawa you see Donna Jackson akazawa
wrote the guide to raising multicultural
kids in this guide she talks about how
mixed-race kids exist in a world in
which they don’t really exist unless you
comment on their looks they’re forced to
check boxes that don’t necessarily
pertain to them that was me I was the
black kid who has curly hair so he could
be Puerto Rican so let’s take a second
let’s take a deep breath because talking
about race identity and culture can get
a little tough
matter of fact backstage I to give
myself a pep talk and a week ago I told
my wife that I don’t know if I should do
this but talking about race and identity
and culture isn’t something that should
be discouraged I was able to find my
200% identity by my community rallying
behind me in teaching me that it’s okay
to find myself race identity and culture
is something that someone should not
deny judge and so I’m asking my
community to help me find help me help
people find their 200 percent identity thank you