I was born in Trinidad and Tobago
which is a Caribbean country off the coast of Venezuela. I lived there with my
family for a couple of years before I moved to the United States – I was really
young when I left. Trinidad is an interesting place because it is extremely
diverse due to its history of colonization and slavery. There you will find a
blend of Spanish, African, European, Indian, and indigenous influences and
culture that all come together to create the island vibe that is Trinidad and
Tobago today. Despite my mixture of Indian, Danish, Polish, and French, my
nationality is West Indian (or Trinidadian to be exact).
Although I have lived in the United
States the majority of my life, I mostly associate myself with my nationality.
Reflecting on it now, I believe this is done as a reflex; throughout my entire
life I’ve had to deal with the “what are you?” and “where are you from?”
questions. This prompt is interesting to me because when people ask where I’m
from and I say Virginia, the second question that usually follows is “No, where
are you FROM?” because clearly, being
the brown skinned Virginian automatically makes me a target for those kinds of
questions :) I don’t mind it at all, in fact, I love those questions! I’m very
proud of where I’m from and Trinidad is a pretty small island so many people
aren’t very familiar with my country - it’s a great way to exchange culture and
learn about people. I would rather tell you what I am than for you to assume what
I’m not. And I’m not Mexican, Puerto Rican, or mixed (who are also equally cool and amazing!).
What does bother me is when I tell
people where I’m from and they don’t believe me because I’m not black! Excuse me.....what? Unless
you have done extensive research on T&B's racial demographics followed by a dissertation on the current racial background of Trinidad and Tobago (or any nationality for that matter), I
think it’s rather ignorant and lazy to base your findings on perception or what you think something is. That’s why I loved the exercise that we did in
class the other day because I learned something new about perception and was
relieved of my own ignorance of what I
thought people could or couldn’t be for that matter. Knowledge is power!
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