Who Am I?

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Aside from being excluded, like Obama, whenever I was being included into one ethnicity, I was expected to reject the other. When Arabs notice me getting offended over something offensive they had said about ‘Filipino housemaids’ they’re almost immediate reaction is “Why are you getting so heated about this? You’re Arab.” I was upset as this was not only a denial of the other half of my identity, but by then I have grown into a human being that does not accept any of racism of any kind. “But your father is Arab and you have a Bahraini passport, so you are mostly Arab.” Although to them this makes sense, to me this is a simplification of identity, making it only about parentage and a legal document. Moreover, being a certain race does not give anyone the privilege of offending the other races. Even though this was an attempt to include me, I felt more alienated.

Growing up, similar to Obama, this had both negative and positive effects on me. The negatives are that as I went through my middle school years, I started creating a distance between myself and everyone else around me just because I knew deep down I would never fit in no matter where I was. At some point I started hating myself for being what I am; I just wanted to fit in and not have any comments about me being one thing or another. It may seem to be a trivial concern or struggle; it’s not like I am experiencing extreme or systematic discrimination. Simply put, I am not accepted for who I am, at least not by general society. Multiracial people are either excluded, or if they are included, they need to ‘choose sides’. Thus multiracial people do in fact experience prejudice, especially through microaggressions, and this reality needs to be altered, as the world grows more multiracial and multicultural.

However in other ways as I grew up, I started understanding why people acted the way they did towards me and people who were just like me, and in time I started loving myself for who I am all over again and thanked God for what he has given me; a loving family from two completely different backgrounds who understand each other and love one another. I have the best of both worlds. Nonetheless, although it is inherent, I make an effort to do everything I can in order to preserve my heritages in both countries. I sang Arabic folk songs at my school festival and at the same time I represented the Philippines on our school’s international day. I tried showing people the pride I felt being a part of two amazing countries. What may come naturally to others, I needed make an effort to do as if to prove to society (and myself) that I belong to both these cultures.

In conclusion, Barack Obama’s personal experiences with being biracial as well as my own story suggest that there is a “bi/multi-racial issue” in this big world. Even though we are becoming globalized many people still do not approve of interracial relationships or accept the offspring of such a situation. I argue that biracial/multiracial people face an internal struggle to fit into a society that does not accept them for who they are, which is triggered by microaggressions and social expectations. Therefore, a step towards a solution would be to invite people to read the experiences of multi-racial people so that they may ponder how they treat multi-racial people. Whether positive or negative, this treatment reflects modern society’s judgment of mankind, wherein it is important what type human a person is. By appreciating people of all racial backgrounds, we will lead to much more positive environments than those established through discrimination, thus progressing as a human race.