Irish | Nigerian
I identify myself as mixed-race. My mum is from Dublin, Ireland and my dad is from Imo State, Nigeria. They met in a club called ‘Afro Spot’ in Dublin in the early 80’s. I was around 3 or 4 when I first understood I was from different cultural backgrounds. One of my earliest memories was moving out of our flat in Ireland. I could see an older woman sitting on a deck chair outside one of the flats with two younger men sitting either side of her. They were laughing and calling us names. I asked my uncle why they were laughing, and he said that they were just bad people. I found out a few years later that the two younger men were the sons of the woman in the deck chair. Under their mother’s instruction they had tried to set fire to our flat twice. It was too dangerous for us to be there, so we moved. I definitely think there are still stereotypes toward mixed-race people. When I lived in Ireland I was the only non-White child in my area so sometimes this helped me to make friends, but also isolated me from the ones who didn’t want to play with someone ‘different’. When I came to London I was exposed to so many different cultures and it was a bit of a shock as I hadn’t really thought about race in a conscious way. There were so many different races it actually became more important to define what my race was and this confused so many people. If I had the opportunity to be born again I wouldn’t change my current identity. I think being mixed-race has helped me to see things from a few different perspectives/cultures so whatever background I had I would want that! The future of people of a mixed-race background is positive overall. I think it will continue to get better as society becomes more open, aware and global. It’s a population that is only getting bigger. I think the notion of ‘culture’ is something to also be aware of because in my opinion some people really put a lot of value in upholding all the laws of their original culture. I think it is really important for mixed-race kids and ALL kids to know their value as an individual first and the culture, race, mix, can come after. It’s an important part of us but it doesn’t define us.
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