‘Everybody’s looking for a place to belong’
THE FOUNDERS OF ONLINE PLATFORM EVERYDAY RACISM, Natalie SISTERS AND Naomi Evans, TELL ELLA DOVE ABOUT THEIR NEW BOOK, THE MIXED-RACE EXPERIENCE
The Mixed-race Experience is a collection of reflections and revelations on multiracial identity – why does now feel like the right time for this book?
Naomi (right): The inspiration came when we were talking to a friend about how he navigates having mixed-race children when he’s not mixed race himself. We realised we hadn’t seen any books that were about what it’s like to have a multiracial identity – and for us, growing up mixed race in a small, white-majority seaside town, that was something we would have really benefitted from as young people. When we spoke to our own mum, she said that was the book she’d needed, too.
Natalie (left): The mixed-race population is the fastestgrowing population, with almost half of under-16-yearolds in England and Wales identifying as mixed race. One in 10 couples identifies as intercultural and the mixed-race population is due to rise 30% by the end of the century, so there’s a huge demographic who would benefit from a book that helps them navigate their identity.
What do you think are the main challenges that mixed-race people face today when it comes to navigating and understanding their identity?
Natalie: One of the main challenges is around the narrative that there are two sides – this feeling that when you think about being mixed race, you have one white parent and one Black parent, and then deciding are you more white or more Black? We really want to get the message out that the mixed-race experience is much more diverse than that and it looks different for everyone. Another challenge is the imposter syndrome that comes with not knowing quite where you fit. For me growing up, I was never Black enough to be in the Black community, but equally I was never racialised as white. That sense of confusion when it comes to your identity is really tough.
Naomi: We interviewed more than 30 people for the book and one theme that came up a lot was how sometimes you feel like you have to behave differently around different people to be accepted. Essentially, what we learned is that everybody’s looking for a place to belong.
Who were the people you interviewed that inspired you most?
Naomi: It felt really special to interview the artist Tracey Emin because we grew up in Margate, where she’s from. People don’t often talk about the fact that Tracey is mixed heritage – her great-grandfather was Sudanese, her father was Turkish Cypriot and her mother was white. She shared with us what that experience was like for her and how proud she feels of her roots.
Natalie: For me, it was a young woman we call Yasmin in the book. She’s of mixed heritage, but she’s white passing, so everyone thinks that she’s white. Her brother has darker skin than her and people often don’t believe he’s her brother and assume ridiculous things such as they’re dating. I was quite tearful afterwards, because I could see how much she loves the
Black side of her heritage, but it always gets challenged or shut down, leaving her feeling lost in her identity.
How have the challenges manifested themselves for you personally?
Natalie: Secondary school was quite significant for me. There was one other Black girl in my year. She was darker-skinned than me, but everyone thought we were twins, which felt very weird even then. People said I looked like Scary Spice and I remember being told I had to take my braids out because they were distracting. It was a lot of micro-aggressions, rather than overt racism, but it’s only in the last 10 years that I realised just how problematic it was; that it was having an effect on my mental health.
Naomi: We’ve had very different journeys. Natalie lent into her Jamaican heritage a lot more than I did and she lived there for a while, whereas I did the opposite and kept that side at arm’s length. I coped by leaning in to what I thought would help me – and that was being as close to whiteness as possible. A lot of the time, the messages I got growing up were if you’re white, then you have a better chance of being successful. I’ve had to unlearn a lot of that.