Indian | Mexican/French...

Photo credit: provided by subject

…/Germanic/Creole

I am a multi-ethnic individual of Indian (India Subcontinent), Mexican, French, Germanic and Creole ancestry. In addition, I am a believer of the Christian faith, but I am also respectful to all other religions as the unifying teaching of all is love. Furthermore, I am a humanitarian at heart who seeks to impact people's life in a positive way. In addition, I am well-travelled and realized from my travels that we are not so different after all, and our humanity is best shown when we are tolerant and accepting of each other’s differences. 

My Mom and Dad are both children of migrants and are both of mixed-race. My Mother is Belizean and the daughter of an Indian Mother (from the Indian subcontinent: Bombay modern day Mumbai region) and her Father a Mexican national with Spanish ancestry from Spain. (2.) My Father is a Belizean whose Father is originally from Mexico and his Mother is of French, Germanic, creole descent.

My parents met on an Island named St. George's Caye, which is located off the mainland of the country of Belize. At the time my Mom was working at her Father's St. George's Caye hotel and my Dad was on vacation at his Aunt’s house which was located near my Mom's location. Glances at each other turned into long dreamy admiration with transition into long conversations and it was all magic. That’s my parents love story in a nutshell.

One of the main facets or mediums they have used to mesh their culture so beautifully and harmoniously is through the medium of food. My Mom teaches my Dad how to make spicy curry chicken, samosas and him making her become a lover of his creole rice and beans cooking. The unified factor that brought them both together was that they both had some Mexican Spanish roots which was expressed in their tamales, empanadas, chimole, and taco dishes. Both being multi-racial gave them the opportunity to always have cultural exchanges and teaching lessons in different genres of music, dressing styles, languages etc. It was a beautiful household with each day being a different cultural experience.

Me being multi-racial and coming from parents who are multi-racial themselves makes me a strong supporter of inter-racial dating and marriage. In addition, I would embrace a wife from any cultural or ethnic background, what is most important is her values, morals and outlook on life. I want to have mixed children in the future, as ‘us mixed individuals make the box of crayons in the human population more colourful’. The world needs more colourful drawings.

I have always tried to embrace all ethnicities I am made up of, because if I consciously choose to only associate with select ethnicities that I am genetically made up of I would be doing myself a disincentive, because I am all of my races, that is what makes me uniquely me.

My view is that as times changes each generation is becoming more and more tolerant and accepting to interracial relationships as compared to older generations, who were more believers that dating and marriages should be kept within ones racial group. As for me I am an avid believer and follower of interracial relationships as it gives me a tangible way of expressing to the world that we are not so different and everyday can be a beautiful cultural dreamy exchange in an interracial relationship and union.

The positives I have faced from my identity is that it gives me an opportunity to tangibly be a cultural ambassador in my community and to show that race mixing is a beautiful progressive reality that is shaping our world one mixed person at a time. One challenge I have faced from my identity is that some individuals who are homogeneous or of one race never truly accept me even though I have a portion of their race in my racial makeup. E.g. Mexicans never fully accept me even though I have ancestry from Mexico or Indians not fully accepting me even though I'm part Indian.

Every nation needs to make it a priority to educate its citizens about the importance of cultural sensitivity and through this educational process individuals will gain tolerance and this tolerance will fruition into everyone becoming global citizens, which will gradually eradicate all inequalities that stemmed because of racial differences.

Unfortunately, I have not visited all my native countries as yet, only Mexico. I have had the chance to visit from my ancestral/ native country of origin male up, but I have made it a lifelong goal to visit each of my native countries within my lifetime. My experience in Mexico was very pleasant and congruent to that which my Mom and Dad showed and taught me culturally within the home, where family is important, tacos, empanadas are a staple, it was like experiencing on a larger scale what I was taught at home by my parents about my Mexican heritage. It has remained the same. I embrace being mixed-race as it gives me a chance to be a little of everything, like a very well plated meal with many components. 

As I get older my love of being mixed-race will grow stronger, as I aspire to have mixed-race children of my own. I will forever be a steward and supporter of interracial relationships as it makes us great cultural ambassadors within our community to help eradicate racial inequality and to foster greater tolerance. 

I think as time progresses, we are seeing more mixed-race individuals holding higher positions within society and in the workforce. In the past in my country, it was more of a Creole race or Hispanic race dominance within the workforce and leadership within the workforce.

If I would be given the opportunity to be reborn I would still come back as me, I love my mixed-race makeup I learn from myself each day as each racial component I am comprised of comes out at different times through my fashion choice, my music choice and food choice to name a few. Mixed people are beautiful. We are like the spices in a great tasting meal. Mixed-race people add color to the world and we are a tangible representation that we are not so different and diversity is a beautiful thing to embrace.

I have used this time during the pandemic as an opportunity to reflect and see how I as an individual, by doing my small part can make a change in this world for the better.