Writing about my culture or race has always been a hard topic. I’m very prideful in my culture and who I am. My culture is a big part of my life and it makes me the person I am today. In elementary school, I moved from the south to Maryland, near D.C. It was a drastic change and throughout middle school, I struggled hard with my identity. People were so curious about my race, they couldn’t place me. I was a puzzle. White? White and Asian? Blasian? Biracial? Mixed. I’m American Indian. Both of my parents from Philadelphia, Mississippi. My family is apart of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. I struggled with my identity until my junior year of high school. It took me so long just to admit what my race/culture was. This made my writing very difficult when it came to writing personal narratives, which was a big part of my english experience. I often would try to make up things or write other people’s stories rather than my own. My freshman year of high school, I was featured on a three-part video series called “Ask a Native American Girl” for the very magazine, “Teen Vogue”. It is available to watch on youtube and still, to this day, people recognize me from the video. I was told some history teachers showed the video in class to prove the misconceptions of Native Americans. I relate so much to Kimberly’s twitter thread because some ignorant people still believe Native culture is a joke or something they believe is appropriate to make a costume out of. My rival high school my senior year was called the “Riverdale Warriors”, their cheerleaders wore headbands on their heads with a feather attached. At football games, their student section wore big headdresses with “war” paint on their faces. It’s racist and angers me. Now that I’m older and understand, appreciate my culture and embrace my culture and who I am.. I have no problem writing about how I identify.
