Black and Latino

This mini-documentary, assigned in the Mixed Race Experiences course at Arizona State University, speaks to being mixed Black/Latino in America.  Actors, singers, and journalists share their story on topics of language, skin tone, hair, and familial pressures (i.e. Laz Alonso, Tatyana Ali, Gina Torres, Judy Reyes, Christina Milian, Soledad O’Brien and more).  They also speak about difficulties they have had in being cast due to their mixed heritage.

Black and Latino

http://www.mun2.tv/watch/shorts/black-and-latino

 


Aaron Samuels: Yarmulkes & Fitted Caps

from amazon.com

from amazon.com

Aaron is another performer that we got to meet at the 2012 Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival. His spoken word piece left the audience mesmerized. We are certain that this collection of poetry will have the same powerful impact on you.

From the Amazon website: Aaron Samuels, raised in Providence, Rhode Island by a Jewish mother and a Black father, is a Cave Canem Fellow and a nationally acclaimed performer. In this ground-breaking collection of poems, Samuels examines the beauty and contradictions of his own mixed identity with gut-wrenching narratives, humor, and passionate verve.

Here’s the Amazon link to purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/Yarmulkes-Fitted-Caps-Aaron-Samuels/dp/1938912381


Sister, Sister!

Tia & Tamera, from the 90s TV show Sister, Sister have a blog that “is an online community…that focuses on family, motherhood, health, beauty and style.”

http://tiaandtameraofficial.com/

Tamera often posts and shares her life story by posting updates about her husband and son.  Tamara is in an interracial marriage and has a mixed race son

Check out her recent family photos!



Mixed Latinos Identifying with Their Roots

photo from the New York Times

Although I don’t love the term ‘Hispanics,’ I connected with this article on many levels. I’m very interested in how people identify themselves on the census (much of my solo show explores the ever-changing ‘racial’ categories on the U.S. census). I also had the wonderful opportunity to play a Nahuatl woman (an indigenous culture mostly located in Central Mexico) in a performance at Cal State LA during my MFA program.  Also as an ESL teacher, I’ve had a lot of Mexican students who are proud of their indigenous roots. I always encourage them to both learn to be fluent in ESL, and also to hold strong to the cultures and traditions from which they came – this article gives me hope that that is, in fact, what is happening!

New York Times article link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/nyregion/more-hispanics-in-us-calling-themselves-indian.html?_r=1

Thanks to Glenn Robinson (mixedamericanlife.wordpress.com) for this comment and edit to the post: Nahuatl is the language spoken by the Nahua people. They are more commonly referred to as Aztecs.


MusingMomma

Blogging Momma, Ellie, has done an amazing job providing discussion and resources. Her Multiracial Family Resources Page is a great resource for parents of multiracial kids. She also provides parenting tips and stories of other multiracial families. Most recently she has written about “Supporting Health Identity in Our Mixed Kids.”  This is such an important topic for parents to be talking about.  Parents have great influence on the life stories their children are creating.

This is a blog to share with all the parents you know!  http://www.musingmomma.com/

 

 




Amon. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

Jennifer Teege

 

 

Here is a story that crosses race, culture, history and all knowing of who we think we are.

 

Jennifer Teege grew up in a foster home as a child.  As an adult she begins to explore the history of where she comes from…her biological parents background.  Not talking about her family story created internal turmoil that led to depression.

“You think that if you don’t talk about something, then it won’t have any impact on you. But in my case the silence had a destructive effect,” she said.

She begins to explore her story as she writes this book, and finds that storytelling can be healing.

“Your origin is decisive in your own identity, and every person needs to feel their own identity,” Teege said. So far she has focused on her German family history but in the future she wants to get to know Africa and travel to Nigeria – the home of her biological father.

http://www.dw.de/my-grandfather-would-have-shot-me/a-17109468

“I am not a reflection of this part of my family story but I am still very connected to it. I try to find a way to integrate it into my life.

It is a story that is very unique and very unusual, and a story that has a deeper meaning. It is more about the universal question of how to deal with the weight of the past on the present – and it should show that it is possible to gain personal freedom from the past.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24347798

Living a life of multiplicity often presents the finding of ‘skeletons in the closet.’ Teege provides some guidance on how to gracefully put our past in its rightful place and not let it overshadow our life.

Check out the above links to more information about her story!