Proud to Be In Between Why Identity is a Superpower
[Music]
so most little kids
are scared of monsters under their beds
but as a biracial kid the scariest thing
for me
was this i mean seriously i cannot tell
you the amount of fear i faced
trying to figure out what box to mark it
was scary for me having to decide
what box i fit in and speaking of boxes
there was another box that i didn’t
quite fit in
and that was a crayon box
i mean seriously do you know how hard it
was trying to match my skin tone
mixing brown and white crayons together
every single time
i had to color myself see as a child i
was limited
because most of the time crayola only
had eight colors to choose from
and i quickly realized i didn’t fit into
that box
but then the first time i saw the
24 account now that’s when i thought
this is it
this right here is my box
but i was disappointed
yet again but then something happened
that made me go absolutely crazy
crayola came out with the 64 count box
and by this time i was sure to find my
skin color
inside the crayon box that the star is
somehow aligned so i could finally color
myself
well guys i was disappointed once more
i mean clearly my life in elementary
school was extremely stressful
but with more research i’m happy to
report that my skin tone is
actually light almond yeah
go figure right for those of you who do
not know
thanks to crayola’s colors of the world
skin tone box
i am happy to report
that my light almond crayon is truly
my crayon
and yes light almond is really the name
of that crayon
you see my life has always been
surrounded around choosing
and figuring out where i fit
and for the longest time i felt like an
outsider
not really knowing where i belonged not
really knowing
what box i fit in always feeling like i
lived somewhere
in between
and growing up i always encountered
comments and questions such as
wow you speak really well you’ve got to
be mixed with white
or of course you can jump high
you’re black or the infamous
can i touch your hair question
now believe me each of those comments
and questions
can be their own ted talk but what i’m
focusing on
is why i felt like an outsider
why didn’t my presence make sense to
anyone
why did i have to choose based off their
expectations
and as i began growing up i realized
that i’m not an outsider
or some anomaly to society or some type
of exotic
animal in fact
i am proud to be in between
and as i started to embrace my
multicultural identity something inside
me
grew a passion and burning desire to
want to help children
who are facing the same hardships i
experienced when i was growing up
whether it was the search for your crea
excuse me whether it was a search for
your
color in the crayon box or whether it’s
figuring out where you fit in
i experienced an immovable feeling of
wanting to lift up the voices
of every child who is at the crossroads
within their own identity
this is when i realized i had a story to
tell
this is why i wrote a children’s book
called proud to be in between
now the goal of this children’s book is
to help children
embrace their multicultural identity
along
with helping parents engage in the
challenging conversations such as race
and ethnicity and throughout the process
of writing this children’s book i
learned that each page
was a trip down memory lane it made me
reminisce how small
and forgotten i felt in a world where my
presence didn’t quite make sense to
people outside my family
it uncovered insecurities i had as a kid
that i didn’t even know i had
but most importantly it taught me that
it’s okay to create your own box one
that is so uniquely you
that only you understand
and i learned that we all have a voice
and every kid
needs to find a way to amplify it for
the entire world
to hear i want my story to help children
living in between fell heard
i want them to understand that in
between is
such a powerful place to be
now hear me out i believe
being biracial is a superpower
yes i said a superpower now
maybe it’s not as cool as being able to
fly like superman or turn big and green
when you’re angry like the hulk
or even shoot lightning out of your
hands like thor
but it does give you the ability to see
the world from many angles you see
being in between has given me a powerful
perspective that encourages both
empathy and individuality
rather than focusing on stereotypes it
has allowed me to see what beyond
beyond what meets the eye because i know
i am more than that
but most of all it provides a level of
empathy that bridges the gaps between
learning and teaching but more
importantly it gave me the ability
to bridge the gaps between both cultures
for example i love that i was able to
listen at the hana music and make them
always with my grandparents
while also being able to watch march
madness and identify with black athletes
but the funny thing is is i didn’t
realize that i was using the
superpower even when i was a kid
you see when i was little i used to
pretend i was
batman and clearly the only way you can
tell the difference
is that i had a 1986 isuzu pup as my
batmobile
i mean i loved how bruce wayne would use
a ton of gadgets to get himself out of
trouble
but my superpower wasn’t a set of cool
gadgets no
in fact it was my ability to code switch
you see i always felt like i had to
switch between being black and
being hispanic a lot like how
bruce wayne felt more comfortable
wearing a mask
and now when i look back at my vigilante
days as a youth i also remember
being much more comfortable wearing a
mask
i had a mask for when i was black and i
had a master when i was hispanic but
in reality it was never about the mask
or even the ability to code switch
instead it’s really the ability to
empathize and share insight to both
cultures
you see empathy and perspective is where
the superpower really lies
when i was little i didn’t have to
choose between the two because i could
navigate
between both my multicultural identity
has given me the ability to be my own
superhero now i can honestly say in
front of you guys that it took me some
time
it did but i am proud
to be in between and throughout the
process i realized that we all search
for belonging and are all probably
in between some sort of identities
ourselves
see being in between is not just about
race
it’s about finding yourself seeing the
bigger picture
learning the larger lessons life has to
offer
it’s about the intersections we all face
when we all explore our
own personal and unique identity
we are all in between and we’re all
trying to make sense of it together
you see for me it is race
but for you it may be something
completely different
you see i don’t have to choose being
black or hispanic and i don’t have to
mark a certain box
living in between gives me the ability
to be myself
realized that i don’t need a crayon to
make sense of who i
am we’re all living in between and that
is what’s special
my book helps kids see themselves
represented in a world where it often
feels like there’s limits
it shows them that each page is theirs
to write in whatever damn color crayon
they want
but honestly the truth is guys
it’s not about the box people try to
place you in
it’s about what you have to offer this
world
and in the end being in between is
my superpower and i will continue to use
my light almond colored crayon to
scratch a line through every single box
that isn’t me thank you
you