Reunion Island | French

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I identify as biracial; Caucasian & Black, I am a believer & heterosexual. My Mother is from Reunion Island. My Dad was born in France but grew up in Algeria (his Dad fought against his own country for the independence of Algeria, so Algeria authorized them to stay on). When he was 14, he moved to Reunion Island with his family. They met in high school. My Father told us that he fell in love with her as soon as he saw her for the first time. Apparently, it took a little longer for my Mom to fall under his charm. My Dad is one year younger, so they were not in the same class. My Dad always jokes saying that my Mom retook a year to be able to be in the same class than him. My Mom always tells us that if she retook a year it was because of his bad influence.

I am from Reunion Island, an island where all races and ethnicities are living together in peace and harmony. I believe my Dad impregnated a lot of the Reunion Island/Creole culture. He was playing soccer for one of the best teams in Reunion Island and adapted really fast thanks to sports. He learnt Creole and speaks it fluently. He visited the island and wanted to know as much as possible about it, he fell in love with Creole food. For him, his home is Reunion Island. So I would say that we grew up mainly with the Creole culture. My Mom would cook French food sometimes on Sunday and my whole family loves good French food as well. Our favourite meals are a mix of French and Creole food. My Father also transmitted us his love of Arabic food because it is a big part of his identity. 

We grew up in a bilingual home. My parents would switch back and force between French and Creole. However, my Grandmother didn’t want us to speak Creole at home when we were younger because she was scared that it would affect our grades at school. For this reason, I understand Creole, but I am not very comfortable speaking it. My parents were able to build my Mother’s family tree and we were able to find the name of our first ancestor in Reunion Island; a slave named Colette who came from Madagascar. 

We have visited France a couple of times but never really visited my Father’s family. We were just there to ski and visit some of his friends. France is 10,000 km away from Reunion Island, so the trip is not cheap for a family. However, my sisters and I all studied in France because the Reunion Island’s university does not offer every program. Now my sisters are both living in France because of lack of opportunities for young adults with no experience in Reunion Island. I feel like my Dad does not really relate to the French culture as he did not spend a lot of time there when he was young. The only thing we really kept from the culture is the food. A country I would like to visit with my Dad in the future is Algeria. I know that he would love to go back there, and I would love to go with him so he can show us around and try Algerian food together.

I am very open minded and do not take into consideration details like race, religion, etc. I choose my partner more on personality and how I connect with them. I’ve never hidden part of my identity, but I am White passing so very often my skin colour hid it for me. I am very proud of my Black side and wish people would notice it more easily. Because of the fact that I can pass for White, I found myself in very uncomfortable situations where people would be openly racist around me. It is very frustrating for me sometimes because people often say things without realizing that they are attacking a part of me.

In Reunion Island, interracial relationships have been considered normal for a very long time now. We are one of the most mixed populations in the world. Our population is made mainly of Chinese, Indian, African, Arabic and White. At home you can find families who practice 2 religions at the same time. However, I know that my parents had some issues when they went to study in France. My Mother faced racism and the people were not as open to interracial relationships there than in Reunion Island. 

I am White passing and my boyfriend is Black. People do not look at us the same way, depending on where we are. Some areas are more accepting/open minded when others are not. I think that interracial relationships in United States were probably much harder and I am glad my parents had the chance to live their love story in peace in Reunion Island.

I think that the fact that I am mixed permits me to adapt faster to new cultures and to relate to both races more easily. But on the other hand, I never felt completely accepted by both races. When I was in France, many people asked me where I was from because I seemed a little ‘exotic’. Being in the middle was and still is in a way very confusing for me. I am very attached to my Black side as I have been surrounded by my Creole family my whole life and spent more time with them. 

I spent two years in a practice centre/boarding school in Nancy, France when I was 15 years old. As I am White passing I would have people be openly racist around me. It led to many arguments with roommates and classmates, but it was always very important for me to defend others. In Reunion Island many classmates were mixed like me. I would receive some hurtful comments sometimes, but it was not often enough to really affect me much. 

I am now living in Miami, Florida and being confronted with the reality of the Black community in the United States was a wakeup call for me. I realized that growing up in Reunion Island made me innocent and because of this, I needed to educate myself a lot. Since the protests started, I started reading books, watching documentaries, etc. A documentary that particularly shocked me was ‘13th’, I realized that the system was built to be against the Black community. I want a change; I want everybody to be able to live in a peaceful environment like Reunion Island where everybody feels at home. In the US everything is very White vs. Black and my point of view on race is very different. People tend to hang out with people who look like them, and I often found myself stuck in the middle. I am now reading a lot and started to follow mixed influencers/life coaches in order to develop my outlook and learn to find my true identity and accept myself fully. I hope that by doing that, it will help me change my outlook to a more positive one in the future. 

I am not working at the moment. I was a student/athlete for 4 years and now I am a graduate assistant/assistant coach. Some accepted me the way I am and were careful to take into consideration all part of me when others didn’t. 

If I had the opportunity to be reborn I would like to come back to Reunion Island at the same time that my parents were young. They always tell us stories about how the island used to be. The island has changed a lot, more buildings were built, and the French culture is more present now. I would do everything I could to live in Reunion Island before all of these changes happened.

During the pandemic I decided to focus on myself and work on all the projects I had in mind for a long time. I always used the excuse ‘I am too busy’ but being in lockdown and having so much time on my hands to focus on myself felt great.