What It Means To Be Biracial: ‘I identify As Human’ | TODAY
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- “What are you?” It’s a question biracial people are often asked by those who want to put them in a convenient box. We talk to 38 biracial people and find that no matter the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes or the texture of their hair, being biracial simply means being human.
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What It Means To Be Biracial: ‘I identify As Human’ | TODAY
I'm am so glad I found this because I thought I was alone. People think it's the best of both worlds but really instead of being a part of both worlds your not really a part of any. This hit me hard. It's really something that I have struggled with my whole life. I am half white and half hispanic. And I especially hate when people want to fight you: "What!? Your not Mexican!" or "Your too dark to be white"
Omg Ikr. But I'm spainard not Mexican.
Struggled with what? People just being genuinely curious in your heritage? "Someone guessed my race wrong, I'm a victim of racism! All aboard the pity parade!"
There's people in this word actually getting killed for being a ethnic minorities yet here you are pretending to be a victim. What a joke
@@thesavagetaxman846 struggled with not being accepted by anyone, just because someone doesn't die doesn't mean there can't be racism
@@moai4110 Nonsense. It's got nothing to do with being biracial, you're just lonely and need some friends. No one you meet cares if you are biracial and if they do care you are hanging around with the wrong people.
@@thesavagetaxman846 i wasn't talking about myself but alright
My brother was half black half spanish. He was my friend before he died. I feel these ppls pain. I am full black btw. I had to deal with alot of ugly shaming as a black man. It gets better ppl. I think i am beautiful. Stay strong my mixed family.
xoxo
You are beautiful, no matter how u look like 💘💘
Spanish is not a race it’s a language...
@@princessmajesty8676 it's also an ethnicity
Hispanic and Spanish isn't a race
1:08 he's the 1st person I've ever seen with truly GREEN eyes
ikr
YASSSSS. I am biracial and have had to deal with this question my entire life.
Jenny Rotten yes hunny its just a question, why get bothered by it. I say i am from everywhere and it makes the other person laugh
Jenny Rotten it's literally not that deep you're 2 races . big deal
ua-cam.com/video/etaBIe5T6TY/v-deo.html
Then just say you biracial🤦♂️
Jenny Rotten I'm biracial and feel like im stupid but... im okay now
Why as a biracial kid, am i just seeing this now? Love this
im biracial! my mom is white and dad is black!
Human is the only definition we need.
For many, "mostly" human is the only definition they need
Why?
I’m at very happy I found this video. My mom is Chinese, and my dad is Caucasian. I genuinely thought I was alone, and I’m happy that our voices can be heard. As early as grade 6, there was this girl that didn’t even believe I was Asian, at all. She took one look at me and told me I was white. Who are you, to tell me, my race?! I was furious but had a crush on her so I showed my reaction in an excited, involved way. I was just happy to interact with her, and didn’t know how to act with racism first hand, because it really was my first time. I’m in grade 8 now, and brought it up to her again one day, and she told me it was a joke. She obviously wasn’t a funny person. Like I said, I’m in grade 8 now, and I have dealt with a good (actually bad) amount of racism. And just because I am only half asian, doesn’t mean I’m not asian. That is half of me. 50%. No, I’m not 100% white, no, I’m not 100% Asian, I am half of both. And nobody, NOBODY, can tell me otherwise.
OMG SAME. my mom is fillipino and my dad is caucasian. im in 8th grade aswell and i get a bunch of questions like what i am or whatever and its so annoying lol. so happy to see someone almost like me haha. hope u have a good day/night 👍
@@atlasdude.
You don’t know what you are
If I’m being honest, I’m biracial but cannot really relate in any fashion.
It can vary from person to person. Also as you get older you tend to ask these things more
I’m half Asian and half white and I was always told by my dads girlfriends that I looked “exotic.” Like what does that even mean?
i get this too 💀
It means you don't look conventionally attractive but you are attractive regardless.
@@Not-Ap oh that’s good, always considered it as repulsively alien.
@@harrys1729 No not all. It's a compliment even if it doesn't always feel as such.
She's probably into you. Or she was just thinking that she could have a baby with your father that looks like you 😂
I myself, am biracial. My mother is black and my father white. As a teen, I have to deal with the odd looks when I’m with my father, or questions like, “it’s hard to believe your half black”. Now my mother, it’s clear to tell she is black. But she is on the lighter side, still darker than me though. I have the hair, The voice, the understanding and astonishment of the culture, but I have never felt fully black or white. I would try to tell people my struggles, and people would tell me it was amazing and cool because I got to be too races. But it didn’t feel like it. Was I acting ghetto if I relayed to other, and hung out with other black girls? At some point I realized I wasn’t white. So then forward, how can I be more black? It felt exhausting honestly.
Honestly, i tell people im mixed and they either treated it as a joke or they told me your black just accept it
They’re ignorant
Exactly. But on the other hand, I bet they don't treat you as authentic black person and many others still question what you are.
If I had a dollar for every time I got asked if I am adopted I'd be rich 🤣
You stay poor if i asked you anything.
As a mixed person who is frequently called mistakenly a “Mexican” or “Hispanic” I’m Nigerian and Swedish and this video was very
Wait- why is it bad to ask someone "what are you" I get asked this question all the time and I ask others as well. I ask this question to everybody, not just to people who are "ethnically ambiguous" (which I think is gorgeous) I am always curious about people's heritage. Even when someone looks "white" i'm still curious what they are: German/English/Irish/ etc?
I don't want to offend anyone with my question. I just don't understand why it's bad to ask that question 😯
It depends - when a stranger as you that question - it's rude. I have been asked what I am mixed with, and I am not mixed!
It is not wrong or bad when it’s out of curiosity, and wanting to understand. You are not in the wrong at all. Sometimes it’s people’s tone and arrogance, sometimes it’s because mixed people get tired of hearing it a lot. Even so, I’ve never seen a mixed person get particularly annoyed when they are asked this, at least I’m not mostly
I think it’s about the way they ask it. You can tell if someone is genuinely curious or is saying it in a derogatory way. Also, what are can come off easily as rude, since you can come off as acting like they are some sort of animal or alien. It’d be nicer to ask “ Hey, what is your ethnicity?”
I also love to know and I'm mixed. I'm always curious about people's ethnic and cultural backgrounds all beautiful like flowers in the garden of life
I’m german and black and I have never been asked this question “what are you?” I’ve been asked “what is your ethnic background?”
Okay??
No I am half German too and people ask me “woher bist du” “woher kommst du” “hä was biste jetzt?”
That's a little bit less offensive and more polite overall. I think that's the correct way to go about it. The other implies that your some kind of freak.
Don't they mean the same thing?
German is a ethnic identity. Not a racial identity
People always say that I’m African American cause of my curly hair. A lot of people do not believe me when I say I’m not black and that I have to at least have some black in me? It’s like they never seen a Mexican who mixed with Native American and Italian with curly hair. Cause I’m multiracial I have a lot of genetics in me and I have different traits of all of them in my dna. Not everyone is someone who they look like. Please don’t assume my race and judge me by what I look like.
There were and and are Black Indians. Native Americans are the result of the "Africans" "Black" ppl who were already here and the Mongolians who came after. They intermingled and those offspring are/were the Native American.
Mexican and native is literally not a race lol.
@@melechdomeyhwh what are you talking about
@@jessicay.7924 What do you mean?What i just said was what i was talking about!!!!
Black people can have straight hair and especially white people can have curly hair too
I love this conversation. My sister and I made a video about our mixed/black identities as well
So what.
I have also been asked this "What are you?" And I say, "Im mixed." sometimes i joke and say "Im a question mark." I never fully knew what to say, but just picking one race felt wrong. So honestly, I'm me, im mixed, and i dont have to pick a side.
3:09 omg she is ssoooo pretty
Being half Indian and half white A lot of people would say that I look “Mexican”. I remember one time when I was little of my siblings we were going to the grocery store with my mother who is an white woman and a lady came up to him and asked if you were all adopted
So what.what is your point?
I love this. I’m afakasi - half Samoan and half white. These are awkward conversations I have. “You don’t look very Samoan.” “You don’t really look white.” I’m both! And I look fine. Like... I’m fine.
Look pale
I believed i was white up until I actually looked into a mirror and went ‘oh I look like coffee cream’ so now I identify as a human
Lol human
As a biracial person I get allot of comments regarding my skin color like 'oh, but you're white?' .and I'm like 'dude, it doesn't matter what my skin color is.' For those reading this I am 1/3rd Polynesian and 2/3rds Caucasian. And I'm proud of my heritage.
Plus skin complexion has nothing to do with ethnicity.Albino Africans are a perfect example of this and they are still ethnically black.
Same, instead of being 1/3 Polynesian I’m 1/3 Vietnamese and 2/3 White. It’s a struggle I’m not apart of any boat really
my mother is from Honduras with Indigenous ancestry and my father is from the US with European genes. i was raised around multiple races of people but was only ever asked “what are you” and “where are you from” by white people. i always felt ashamed that i’m only fluent in English (although now i recognize that this is a privilege) when there are more languages i could be speaking with others in. now i am at peace since the only reason that my mom didn’t recognize the value in speaking to me in spanish because she wanted her and her children to belong and (unfortunately) feel safe in our small, conservative, aggressively religious town. it has taken me years to heal wounds of inadequacy and loneliness but i now i know i am beautiful belonging to multiple races and “an outsider.” all of my ancestry makes me differently whole and i will always belong to me.
i see all of the humans in this video as beautiful (i’m biased but even more beautiful than monoracial) with multicolored threads running through them. we are a mosaic, a tapestry. a collection lives and is being built inside of us. as so many of us have maybe similarly felt that we’ve had no ties or roots to any one culture or heritage, we were created to create and foster our own. we are humanS Being. simple as that
Stop puting people into a Box!
That would be ideal as it seems so many folks have their motivations for doing so and it's obviously not always good or worst yet, some won't feel comfortable with you unless they can do so.
I‘m Swiss-Irish-Korean-Japanese
Back then I was 😩, Now I‘m 😇
Always love yourself 🙏 All the best to all biracials
I grew up biracial, half bolivian, half italian and I went to a school where most kids were half English half French decent, so mostly blonde. If I go to the city people think I'm white, but in my high school people said I had Asian eyes and told me I look Chinese. I was friends with all the other kids who didn't racially fit into the homogeneous white that existed. People who grew up in the city think I had it easy but they don't know that you're defined by your environment, if I went to the same school my cousin's went to I'd be the whitest kid in there but in my school I was not invited to any parties, I didn't have anything in common with kids who hunted or fished, I didn't play football and baseball like most the other kids, so culturally I had nothing in common with them. You can't judge everyone by the color of their skin, were a product of our parents, so until you meet someone's family you don't know where they're coming from. Our skin color can be the most deceiving thing and if anyone disagrees, just look at Blake Griffin and tell me if he's ginger, white, black? Can you label him. Growing up biracial I think Blake is a really good basketball player and that's all I really think about him, I acknowledge he's probably been stereotyped for both his ginger hair color and black appearance but nobody truly knows what it's like to grow up mixed like him unless you're his brother or somehow have parents of similar culture to his. Nobody knows your story until they talk to you and learn about you, stop putting people in boxes please.
growing up as a biracial kid isn' the best of both worlds at all. (i'm half chinese half european). I've been told that i'm 'lying that I'm half chinese,' or 'no offence but you just look white' or 'you don't look chinese at all' or 'you only have european features, you don't have any chinese features' it sucks being biracial sometimes because being judged for your race/s or how you look hurts. when I was little, someone asked my mum if she adopted me, because it seemed crazy to them that a chinese lady could have a white looking baby.
I identify as white mixed race, I don't know my history
I'm half Mexican and have light skin so I think the worst thing is when I tell people and they don't believe me or think I'm lying.
RELATABLE!!! I have skin issues so the sun causes me to get rashes on my skin, and I'm actually pale af. I'm also half Filipino, but for some reason that makes people say I look japanese???
Why are you offended by what are you? It’s a normal question. What a bunch of snowflakes !
It's a rude question - especially from strangers.
i’m half filipino and half caucasian. everyone asks what i am cause they don’t know. it gets annoying sometimes cause they can’t tell what i am lol
imagine a whole population like that: that's Brazil
Not quite
They aren’t all mixed
Half white/half Salvadoran and although my facial structure is Latino, my skin is pale, my hair is dark blonde and my eyes are green. My whole life I would always tell people I was white cause it was so much easier than explaining. I always felt very disconnected from my culture because of this. Even to this day I feel like an outsider when I’m around my Salvadoran family.
Yes, I think someone's appearance can compound the problem of identity. For example, even if you want to claim a certain ethnicity or race, you may feel rejected anyway because you do not look the part to what others are brainwashed to expect.
This is why another reason I can't stand Biracials, You people are Liars, and promote Deception, it's not even just looks, even 0.1 of impurity counts
I from an Island where everyone are mixed. We speack french and kreol. We don't use the word "race" to label someone because we know that there is only one race, the human race and this race got different tones, it's a pity to see that those tones are used by few people for wars and dominations. Mixed people are the FUTUR, we are the FUTUR. Thanks for this video ! Love from Reunion Island
So you live in a bubble.oh how nice. Please.
@@deloresdavis4378 Get some help, darling.
Good message
Worst part of being Biracial is not knowing what prison gang to join.
I kid, I love being biracial
growing up biracial is so difficult, i feel either "too desi" or "too white"
I’m half German half Colombian, but since I grew up in Germany I thought as a kid I was German. Meanwhile other kids told me I’m an immigrant, because of that I wished that I had blue eyes and blonde hair. I also must say Colombians are mixed people there can look so different, meanwhile my fathers parents had ancestors from different cultures of Europe. I think there are much more mixed people than we see, since you don’t have to be dark skinned to be mixed….
I really hope that someday there will be DNA changing technology that can help we change our DNA so we can choose our eye colour, bone structure, skin colour and everything
Triracial here, it's so hard to identify myself and I don't see any people that look like me.
I see people who look like me maybe once or twice a year. It's very alienating
Why am I crying? Like I’m really crying...
Don't cry.
Ok but what would u call someone who has parents that are from way more backgrounds. Like, let’s say a person had a Mom who was half Japanese, half French, while the Dad was half Moroccan, half Nigerian. Wtf would u call that person??
A Multiracial Abomination
I'm also biracial. I'm korean japanese salvadorian and Honduran. Most people would be like what are you? I would always ask myselfe.......who am I? Most people thought I was Chinese and latina when I would tell the I was latina and asian but I'm korean and japanese. Be yourself. Love Yourself.
Also, when I would tell them what I was they would be like, WHAT your not latina and asian your to asian to be latina or your not white enough to ba an asian.
And here I am still confused wether I'm mix-raced or not 😂😂😂
How?
Mariᄉsa Ariny OMG 😭
ME TOO
If ur parents r different races ur mixed raced
It is so astonishing to realise that we humans still put heads in so much trivial matters
My dad refused to go to my moms Catholic Church with us. He looked on me as a half breed Catholic.
Catholicism isn't a nationality. Anyone can b er Catholic once you are baptized.
Yes I’m biracial I love thiss
A lot of people don't think before they speak. I call it ignorance. In High School I was in a choir which was a combo of all the public schools and parochial in the city. During our last concert. I wanted to know a few people's classification. I asked a girl, "What are you?" She responded, "Korean" in my head I was like... What the heck?????? and I burst out laughing? The reason is classification was the topic of discussion. I said I am talking about your classification. What grade are you in? Then she started laughing too. I had the discussion with my sister about her response. I would NEVER ask someone, What are you? That is soooooooooo ignorant !!!!!
Being half Filipino and half Irish means sometimes you put up with ignorant comments. One time my family was at the airport and there was this lady asking my dad whether he was with us because he is white and we were ordering food. He looked different in her eyes, even though he was clearly standing next to us? My friends sometimes liked playing guessing games to what my ethnicity was and there is always that comment, 'don't worry you look more asian,' or 'you look more white.' Throughout my life there are comments such as, 'you're pale' or 'look you're so white,' like it's a compliment. I didn't give these comments much thought, but looking back they were offensive. It is racism to think that being white or asian or another ethnicity is better than the other, basically erasing my identity. It made me anxious that people will just assume my ethnicity rather than just see me for myself and not treat me differently. Can anyone relate?
i identify as a bad science experiment and people need to stop this frankescience, my parents were wrong for that b.s.
very true
lol I got Asked if adopted all the time 😂
Why?
Love this!
Personally as a multiracial person the greater conflict is social and cultural identity. I am not fluent enough in any language but English to pass and I never feel like I belong in any community.
They are all beautiful and amazing in each and their own individual ways :)
Do people really ask you where your from??wtf America's a different planet
I’m Biracial And I Can Improve. I’m Black And Hispanic
" bi-racial" is not a dirty word, ok.
Theres got to be a part two.
I find it extremely rude when people ask what are you? Like what do you think I am ? A freak from outerspace? An alien from jupiter? NO! a human
Really does make you feel you aren’t enough growing up bi racial
love this but also I have an identity crisis every three business days lmao
same fr
When they ask you what are you, where are you from? Look them straight in the eye and tell them I am human from a place called earth! Have you heard of it?? !
in many countries is much more common whte dad and black mom see in portugal,france,spain,all african countries ,all latin contries,all carribean countries white dad and black mom is much more common
LOGIC IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
2:05 so freaking nice
normal day in brazil ( i am brazilian)
I’m having a baby and my boyfriend is 1/2 white 1/2 black and I’m white and I worry about my child dealing with these difficult issues of not being enough of anything. I see my boyfriend go through it and I can see how difficult it is.
Just teach them to love themselves and their spirit. I was born in 84 and am black and white and grew up in a small town, I saw and heard a lot but my parents instilled in me that I was me and there's nothing wrong with me. Have a great day and congrats
Well if you are white and your boyfriend is half white that makes you baby 75%white right?so the other 25%should not worry you you chicks are a joke you are so afred now of what.you knew the history of black men by your men so why would you have a baby with this man. Please lady.
You ruined your bloodline. Congrats.
You sound delusional what do mean not enough of anything that child is practically white
Hey my dad is half and half and my mum is white. You should teach them that they are mixed race, and that is true no matter if people believe or see it it or not 🖤🤍
I get this all the time when I was dark hair people thought I was Italian
They are all so beautiful.
Some not all.and they are prejudice.that comes from there white half.
Just recently I had someone recognize I was mixed race before I mentioned it... I identify as me...
I’m biracial myself and I’ll go to my grave before ever telling anyone where I’m from
esse vídeo definiu minha vida
I agree as Brazilian Luso-Italo-Indo-greco-palestinian
This makes me cry oh god
I’m half Ukrainian and half Kazakh, a native Russians speaker. It confuses people a lot. Biracial brothers and sisters we have a lot in common despite being from different cultures.
Yes I’m biracial, I’m white and black
She blaa
@@ddgslegs2606 I would say I was black and look like her. Then my color gets lighter in the winter and now I’m white lol. This is why I say I’m mixed because I’ll always be told I am who the by someone even if I’m black to others.
Im half white half polynesian. I always check white on everything since I wasnt raised in the Polynesian culture however I identify as American ☺
I can pass for Italian. My brother looks German . My mother was white . Dad Spanish. always felt alone. In the south in late 70's , my mom said tell them you are white nothing else. Time to be unique and proud!
Im a human being i was born in the planet earth
I FEEL everyone of your pain. You don't even feel human. You travel the world alone because a BOX is what Others want you to call home🙄😔.
I pray that people that are racist can see that it's so ridiculous to hate someone because of the way a person looks. Were all the Human Race at the End of the day 💪🏼🙏🏼
Thankfully I’m black
Until the cops pull you over.
It was hard when I was young cz I was the only one in school, but as an adult there is more awareness and the world is smaller, people are more informed, any form of ignorance is just absurd today. that said I am great at math and sports, great credit score and a huge... basically superhuman. Guys mix. life is more interesting
I love the i identify as human, because folks that is what we are.
Tell a lot of people that who hate blacks and tell these little racist mixed people's that.and my point is half black and half white they are more the focus ones. No others need respond.
Idk why their complaining so much. I’m biracial and I love it. I’ve learned a lot from both cultures in my family. I’m blk and white and love everybody but am pro blk because that half of me and my family are oppressed and have been harmed for so long. I do what I can for my people and am much more familiar with my blk side
Oppressed by who?
You live in fantasy land ..
I'm thought it supposed to be mixed not biricial is when you white in black
i am biracial, i have native heritage too and i'm latino, i'm black and white, media constantly shoves the pure paleness of white people and the pure darkness of black people and i feel so outcasted, i want to embrace my blackness but i'm scared i'm not black enough, i don't feel i can embrace whiteness either
You don’t even know who or what you are ?
I feel for you man
Am from Africa and I have blue eyes and white skin and every one that I meet be like your from Africa but why are you white
You're from the north
What is biracial?
It doesn't exist it's a made up term for confused people
When one or your parents is from a different country, Example, in my case I'm half Italian (dad) and half Nigerian (mom).
Mixture of two different ethnic groups and color.
I'm biracial (italian and spainard) and I'm pale as heck. And thats okay. 😊
So your white ?
@@nativeamerican4563 in the area I'm from ppl tell me I'm not but I consider myself a biracial white person.
@@destinyjourdan8945 oh ok got it that's good know who u are 🙂
@@nativeamerican4563 thank you, you too.
Those are two European ethnicities you are not biracial.Biracial would be if you were half Italian or Spanish and half African or Asian.
Biracial people are beautiful and unique. I always get attracted to biracial looking people. Especially asian+white omg so charming.
What about triracial people like me
@@elini9218 also unique. Of course. Mixed blood people are attractive.
This is weird. You should just love all the parts that make us up if that’s the case. To just like mixed people and not be mixed yourself. It’s fetishy.
Who. Cares.
The dude with green eyes is the most interesting looking dude iv ever seen, and I’m a mixed race Jamaican and Swedish boy
This had made me realize I can’t just assume I know what somebody is just from first glance
All of the American continent is a mix of races, why hang up so much on the biracial concept we all have more than one in our gens
Not really.We know who is mixed white afro american.
Do you know what mix is?We have some pure breds
Dices biracial y punto!! Joder, qué manía con dramatizarlo todo macho
You can wasly tell who is mixed with asian. I can see orhers being asked that question "what are you"?
From Singapore
This ain’t it
🌱 I'm Happily Multiracial 🍃
OK all these people are beautiful humans.
All of them look like people from my country