First Time on Tumblr

Hi Coyote,

Please forgive me in advance for a) not following etiquitte b) posting in the wrong place or c) all of the above; I just signed up and this is my first post. But I found your blog yesterday and have been reading through the posts, and felt inspired to communicate because a) I’m mixed and have many feelings, 2) a deep part of my emotional self needs to engage with a community of like-spirited folks, and 3) you and I share the same name.

Look forward to figuring out how this whole thing works. Feel free to move or delete this posting if a) or b) above applies.

-c.

Hey friend! I’m glad the blog resonates with you! Ngl, we been lowkey uhhh not quite half-dead, but quarter-dead at least for Reasons™ but just in case it wasn’t clear, I’m not the only one running the blog! I just happen to answer a lot of the asks all at one time so a bunch of them get pushed out with my name on them at once

Hopefully we can help you find some sense of community here! Feel free to hit me up on my personal blog as well at @otahkoapisiakii which won’t let me tag myself for some reason pff

–Coyote

Anonymous asked: what if you take a DNA test and learn that you're actually mixed even though you were raised white, I'm asking bc im adopted and it's never been clear whether I'm Mexican or not, but my mom has always leaned towards thinking I probably am bc of something my biological grandmother told her (sorry this is really specific and weird)

Tbh that may not even tell you anything either. I’ve spoken before about genetic testing for ancestry is iffy at the best of times. It’s still relatively new and at this point what we’re working with is borderline almost entirely pop science

We’re trying to do brain surgery with a steak knife here. Not as unwieldy as a chainsaw, but not precise or skilled either

Anyway, there are definitely white people from Mexico. If you got a DNA test to confirm/deny “Mexican Ancestry” it would be attempting to pick up for Indigenous Ancestry mostly and Iberean Península

I’m on mobile so I can’t fetch links rn but if you go back over even just recently from what’s been posted there should be an article or two about genetic testing and how imprecise and sometimes flat inaccurate it can be

If you are also on mobile and can’t search; Google Dr Kim TallBear. She’s a professor at UAlberta specializing in racial politics and she’s written and spoken a ton about this

I mean. Outside that; what you choose to do with information regarding your heritage is up to you. Everyone’s entitled to the legacy of their Ancestors imo

Adoption can often add a frustrating layer to the mix when it comes to genealogy nevermind a potential whole identity shift

But, even so, I can’t give you the kind of concrete answer you’re looking for because it’s not a question with only one answer or even a best answer; certainly not one given by someone who isn’t you

—Coyote

Anonymous asked: I'm the last anon about conditionally white passing. Sorry for being confusing. I wasn't talking about a post but asking about a good way for me to make a distinction when I'm talking about my privilege without implying that I try to pass as white on purpose. Every time I see that phrase I think about how that's what it meant in history, people passing as white on purpose, and I can't separate that from the modern context.

Ohhh I gotcha, thank you for clarifying. Honestly, these days, White-passing hardly means you’re doing it on purpose in the context of discussion on racial dynamics and privilege. Now, it can obviously depend on the context but usually if someone drops the “White” in it, they’re implying intent like: “Sarah is White-passing and she passes whenever she’s in the South” is two different thins. The first half of the sentence is just a fact, Sarah is White passing. The second half is implied intent, She passes in the South because it’s dangerous to be non-White 

It’s more of a contextual linguistic quirk than anything that really has a different definition tbh. Usually, if you’re talking about passing intentionally for whatever reason, that’ll be clear in the discussion but any materials written prior to maybe 1980 the assumption should be the other way around unless context clues tell you otherwise

I know that’s super unhelpful for easy differentiation in modern use, but I genuinely don’t know of any other specific term for intentionally passing as White 
–Coyote

Anonymous asked: How do you say you’re conditionally white passing while not implying that you try to pass as white on purpose? I know it’s not that serious but I can’t help but think of how people used to try pretend they’re white for the benefits of white supremacy, and how it hurt black people who can't pass as white historically and still today. And I feel weird about using the term because my non-black mom altered my appearance to make me pass when I was a child, marking that I was white on forms and stuff.

Can you point to a specific post or who you’re talking about? I’m confused as to what and who you’re referring to 
–Coyote

Anonymous asked: my white mom, whenever race is brought up, eventually says something along the lines of "you look native" or "if you went out into the sun you'd get super dark" because i'm micmac and somehow it irks me? i can't really explain it but i feel really weird when she says stuff like that. is it exoticism? i just don't know. :/

I feel you. It’s definitely lowkey exoticism, like a microaggression; a “positive” racist comment is still a racist comment and it’s annoying af. It’s tough when it’s family, especially parents, cause a lot of the time they tend to want to argue with you about your heritage that they don’t share. I wish I had a solution for you, maybe someone else has some tips but I feel you
–Coyote

Anonymous asked: I'd rather be discriminated for something I am than being called "interesting" for something I'm not. I was born in the UK, raised in the UK, I've never been to Ghana and I don't speak the language! Call me white trash please because that's what I am - even though I don't look like it! Just don't call me African because I literally have NOTHING to do with my dad's culture. You can call me racist for saying that but it's just about my identity. I can't "be proud of my culture", it's not MINE!

Yikes

You know, I was just gonna delete this cause this feels like trolling for Discourse, but I’m gonna publish it because people really think like this. White supremacy got us so twisted up we’ll actively reject our heritage(s) if not our culture(s) as well

No one can make you identify how you don’t want to but being actively antagonistic towards your non-White heritage is not the wave. It’s sad. Incredibly sad and my heart goes out to you for the pain caused to you to make you wanna feel this way. Especially because even if you’re mixed with White, White people aren’t gonna see you as One Of Them which leaves you where? 

Feeling that kind of untethered is so lonely even around other people who think like that. My heart really goes out to you and anyone who feels like this. I hope there comes a time, and soon, where you find peace–however that may manifest to you–and that even if you don’t want to come Home, metaphorically speaking, you won’t feel like you have to assert that you don’t know the people who live there, if you catch my meaning 
–Coyote

mylangbox:

BIG NEWS

Anonymous asked: So at my new job my (white) co worker asked me what ethnicity I am (asian, white, Polynesian) and I told her. She then said that I ‘didnt Look Chinese’ (I am not Chinese) and then mentioned that she had a mixed son and then that she didn’t consider me mixed, that she only considers black and white mixed to be mixed. Like wtf. Just bc she has a mixed son doesn’t mean she knows better than an actual person of mixed race or that she can speak on it bc she can’t.

White people who have mixed relatives really outchea thinking they’re the arbiters of who’s mixed. It’s annoying af

Like, okay Susan, I didn’t know you were an expert on other people’s family trees or that your White ass knows what every combination of mixed person looks like? 

Originally posted by humorinrecovery

–Coyote

Anonymous asked: I think that anon's family meant that black ppl might be prejudiced against their japanese half and say they're not, I don't think they meant being racist against their black half or being jerks bc they're light. Idk though, @ that anon is that what you meant?

Either way, the answer is the same tbh
–Coyote