The Other Box free essay sample

â€Å"Oh, so you’re what they would consider a Milano right?† This statement usually comes from an ignorant person who confuses the word â€Å"Mulatto† with a popular Pepperidge Farm cookie. Hey, I’d rather be called a cookie than to be called a â€Å"half-breed† or a â€Å"Mutt†. Things like this are no big deal to me though, I love being biracial and I’m not ashamed of it. I come from a white mother of Portuguese and Italian decent and an African American Father. I’m black and white, simple. I get the typical â€Å"You don’t look black.†, and the â€Å"I can’t believe your mom is white!† People act like I’m a rare and unusual scientific experiment. I don’t understand though, I feel like the amount of mixed families has increased tremendously over the years. I feel like I meet other multi-racial people all the time, so what’s the big deal? I’ve learned to embrace it, no matter what people think about my mixed background. We will write a custom essay sample on The Other Box or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I no longer care about fitting into a racial group, because in reality, I never will. Half of the time I’m not â€Å"black enough† and the other half I’m not â€Å"white enough† When people go by my looks alone I usually pass for Hispanic or sometimes Middle Eastern. Strangers speak Spanish to me all of the time; once my broken â€Å"Spanglish† begins they usually catch on though. I used to feel the need to pick a side and identify myself as only Black; I would check the African American box when I filled out surveys and questionnaires. As I got older I started to ask myself â€Å"why?† I wasn’t ashamed of my mother at all so why should I hide a part of me just to fit in somewhere in society? I love my thick curly hair just as much as I love my olive complexion skin. I love my â€Å"White† mother just as much as I love my â€Å"Black† father. These things make me who I am, and quite frankly, I love who I am. I refuse to downplay any part of me just to fit in somewhere. Now that I’m older and much more mature, I check the â€Å"Other† box on surveys, and I embrace every part of me.