by Kenya Mayfield

About the author: Kenya Mayfield is a freelance writer.

Not so long ago, life for most mixed-race individuals was a painful experience of second-guessing one’s “true” identity. In a society constructed of opposing sides in which one is either “one (of us)” or the “other,” it was virtually impossible to happily exist betwixt and between categories. Further, if G.W.F. Hegel is correct and one’s identity is determined by one’s interaction with others, it would seem very difficult for a “mixed” person to gain a secure sense of self when he or she is constantly forced to choose to identify with one race over another. By doing so, the mixed person is asked to deny his biological reality...