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Although somewhat superficial, the following link gave me a little something to think about; something my children grew up with given their mixed ethnicities:
As my children grew, I often heard things like, "They have a rare beauty," which is nice to hear about one's daughters. But later in life, I also heard my daughters say how, as children, some family members would ask them which ethnic side they identified with the most.
To this day, most people tend to have a difficult time deciphering my children's ethnic composition.
I'm a white woman with blonde/red hair, blue-green eyes.... (natural blonde, I have it dyed a reddish tint). No one ever mistakes me as anything but white.
My father had a small amount of Delaware Indian ancestry. My parents and brothers and sisters have/had pale skin. My skin turns very dark in the sun. I have been asked questions all my life such as "what are you anyway?".
Back in the Ban de' Soleil days of DARK tans, I was always mistaken for being 'mixed' race of Indian (Hindi). I am Cuban-American and Irish decent...light green eyes, olive complexion and (was) raven haired back then (now auburn).
Most people guess I am German, Dutch, or Scandinavian. Actually, my ancestry is mostly British with a sprinkling of Germans and Dutch, but not more recent than 4 generations back. I have yet to find a non-British ancestor of my father's and I can go back to at least the 18th century on every line. Mom has the German and Dutch, but it is totally overwhelmed by British ancestors.
I'm slightly taller than average, pale skin, light to medium blue eyes, and blonde.
What is curious is that eurogene calculations estimate my closest genetic matches to natives of the Netherlands and Northern and Western Germany. Southwest and Southeast England then Danish are next. I guess I cannot fault people for getting it wrong.
I read the better part of this thread, and co-sign with all the black people who occasionally get asked if they are mixed-race, or even worse, "spanish" (a wildly mis-used term here in the U.S) and various other nationalities. It's bizarre to me, because I'm not used to these kinds of questions I get here in NYC. I'm originally from the DC/MD/VA area and never once received a question about my race/ethnicity or national origin.
I resolved that it's not me. Everybody else is crazy, and doesn't know what they're talking about. I am not the slightest bit racially ambiguous - I look like all the regular black people I grew up around.
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