the race card project.

I gotta ask- what ARE you?

I get this question all the time. I guess people don't like looking at me and not being able to know where I'm from. And I don't see why that's a problem. It's a question that literally comes up eventually in nearly every friendship I have. Most people think I'm Latina or Mexican because I have darker skin and darker hair and darker eyes. Freshmen year in high school at my homecoming football game, I actually had a very large samoan security guard tell me that I was Mexican and I shouldn't be ashamed to admit it and even though I kept telling him no, no I'm not Mexican I promise, he kept pushing it. It's interesting how people seemingly need to look at someone and see and understand right on the surface level. They can't look at me or others and be confused. Our culture is obsessed with race. You're white. You're black. You're asian. You're mexican. You're something. What ARE you? My race doesn't define me. And I don't think race should define anybody.
And I'm Indonesian, by the way. I've got darker skin and darker hair because I'm Indonesian.