Recently, I came across a lengthy post on Facebook where a parent, Kevin L. Brown, was expressing his outrage concerning his son, Kaden, who fell victim to a verbal insult by a teacher at his middle school. Kaden, who is biracial, was asked by said teacher if he was a "mutt." "This is my beautiful, smart, joyful 11-year-old biracial son Kaden.....on October 12, 2016, at Wolfe Middle School in Center Line, Michigan his teacher (a white middle age woman), his educator look at his beautiful curly hair and asked my son, 'Are You A Mutt?'" says Brown. For those who are not too familiar, that is a derogatory term that can be used to reference an individual of mixed racial descent. Also, it is used to describe a dog as an "inferior, mixed breed."
Sadly, this incident caused Kaden to feel ashamed of his African American heritage, which left his parents devastated. The racial slur made towards Kaden by his educator was unacceptable, and should not be tolerated. Kaden's parents are fighting for the teacher guilty of insulting their little boy, Ms. Desmet, to be disciplined, more specifically, terminated from her position. They have started a movement called, "#Support4Kaden," and ask that their supporters take a photograph similar to the one above with the same written message in order to get Kaden's story heard.
This story hit home for me, personally, because I am of mixed racial descent, also. My mother is Caucasian, and my father is African American. I, myself, have never been insulted by a teacher concerning my racial identity, but I have had to deal with peers mocking my appearance and my background. My little brother has even had to face some harassment due to the color of his skin, too. Since he is fair-skinned, when his friends first saw our father, they commented, "He can't be your dad. He is too dark, and you look white."
I have gone shopping with my father and seen people staring us down as if he has kidnapped me because in their eyes it does not appear as if I belong to him. Just because we are not the same color, it does not mean he is not my father. It disgusts me that just because I do not resemble one or the other, I have to constantly be asked, "what are you?" I am a human-being, that is what I am.
Society has made it hard for us "mixed" individuals to embrace every race we belong to. It is almost as if one has to pick a "side" and stay there. I, for one, have always felt as if I had to identify with one over the other. For example, I would go to my mother's side of the family's gatherings and feel like a total outcast, and vice versa. It sucks, honestly. I would be looked at as if I'm "too white" for my black side, and "too black" for my white side. It doesn't help that people are extremely judgmental, which means they will assume one thing about you, and there is no changing their minds, either.
Why can't I just wear both heritages with pride? Why must I choose only one?
In my opinion, I have the best of both worlds. I am able to experience two completely different cultures. Let's stop being embarrassed to say we identify with more than one race, and embrace the fact that we are unique. The mixed race is becoming more and more popular due to interracial relationships, so it is about time people stop looking at us as if we are aliens.
Just like Kaden, I am not a mutt, either. I am a biracial young woman, and I am proud to say it. Take that, Ms. Desmet.
