Reflection On Biculturalism

I am openly very proud of my biculturalism and take huge pride in it. I identify as Bajan Canadian which is a mix from Barbados and Canada, however, I wasn’t always this open with my race. Because of my appearance up until very recently, I faced a huge problem with figuring out how to culturally identify, I was essentially forced to deny my blackness out of ‘respect’ because I looked primarily white. Identifying as white allowed me to avoid a series of questions and accusations of claiming a culture that isn’t my own. Because of this i've faced a difficult struggle with cultural identification.

When I talk about my black heritage or culture as a whole I very often get shut down or laughed off with people telling me that “claiming to be partially black is rude and racist”, which I always found offensive considering I would never do or say that to anyone of any race. Because of this, growing up I usually just identified as a white Canadian and dined my other half. I lived this way for nearly 14 years of my life until one day while I was out with my dad, I took a street survey for coca cola when I was asked my race. I answered the same way I had for the past decade, caucasian. As I answered, I could see my fathers face go from happy to

When i interviewed my parents- who are both of english bajan culture as well- both of them spoke of facing a huge problem with cultural identification up until their late teens, with my mother going as far as to say “I always knew who and what i was; how i presented myself and identified was a completely different story.” and my dad saying “I was a lanky white kid. Well that's altealst what it seemed like when people looked at me. Nobody even cared to ask my race. They thought they had figured it out on their own.” During my interveiws with my parents i realized that culutral idenifcation probelms are an unspoken issue for mixed race