mixed identity

My identity felt fluid and contextual. Depending on where I was or who I was with, a different aspect of my identity would come forward. When people ask about my name, Aviva, I am Jewish. When people ask about my parents, I am Indian and white. When people ask where I’m from, I say San Francisco.

If you too are facing a disconnection with your identity and belonging in your culture, below is a list of ways to combat these difficult emotions.

We talk about a school-to-prison pipeline and we learn about racist motives of neoliberalism. But the campus seems to not act against its anti-Blackness or its colorism. 

All of my mixed friends can relate in one way or another to this pressure to choose — the pressure to act or present themselves a certain way when with certain groups or this general sense of nonbelonging.