Italian | Sierra Leonean

Photo credit: Provided by subject

I’m mixed race; Black and White. Black people tend to see me as Black and White people too, but I consider myself mixed. I’m agnostic and straight. My Dad is Italian while my Mom was Sierra Leonian. My Mom moved to Italy when she was fourteen and there she met my Dad. As my Mom died when I was one I don’t have memories of her and as most of my Mom’s family lives in Africa, I was raised by my Dad’s family. My Dad likes Africa very much so he liked to learn more from my Mother’s culture. I think my Italian family never fully accepted my Mom because they are more traditional. We talk about the union of two different continents, more than twenty years ago. However I think that at the end they would have become less strict.

My Mom was one of the first Africans coming to Italy, so my parents, as interracial couple have experienced a bit of racism from the environment. Still today in Italy most Italians are White, so if you have another skin colour people think you are an immigrant. There are definitely more immigrants but still not many interracial couples, most people marry between their ethnicity. 

I travelled a lot and I have friends from all over the world but I tend to be attracted by men that have a culture not too far from mine. Being mixed made me more curious about the world, I started traveling when I was fourteen and from then I’ve never stopped. I’ve been to three different continents, I’ve learnt two foreign languages and discovered many different cultures. I find this positive because it opened up my mind and it made me an adventurous person. 

When I was a child I was bullied because of my skin colour and my Afro hair. As I was the only non-White person in the class, I remember half of the boys being mean to me, justifying their actions with White supremacism. Sometimes they were saying bad things to me, sometimes throwing my stuff in the trash been, sometimes even breaking my stuff or pulling me. As the teachers did almost nothing, I remember ending up with an excessive fear for people and racism.

Culturally I consider myself Italian but I have a strong curiosity for African cultures and mostly for the Sierra Leonean ones. I’ve never been to my Mom’s country but I really would like to go one day. I saw pictures of wonderful beaches, tropical forests, colourful clothes, funny monkeys, happy people...

Unfortunately a few years ago they had a cruel civil war which left a higher criminality rate.  They also have some bad illnesses spread around. The water and the food can be not very clean, the streets are not safe and the tides can be extremely dangerous. 

When I was a child I suffered for being different from all the other children. I was raised in a small town in the North of Italy where no one looked like me. My first makeup products were very White foundations and I used chemical strengthens for hair for years. Today I like my skin colour, I feel unique, whether it is winter or summer and I wear my hair natural. Most of all I know that our looks don’t necessarily speak about our cultures, who we are inside doesn’t have to be connected to our physical features.

If I were to be born again I would be the same person I am, just a bit more conscious of its worth as a human being.