two of them anyway. tonight i had the great pleasure of meeting ms. heidi durrow of lightskinnededgirl.typepad.com and the mixed chicks chat. wow! i have come away from this encounter so energized and optimistic and happy. the time flew by as we talked about everything biracial. we went over the things we’ve divulged in our respective mediums and the things we haven’t. we made plans for the future and, to me anyway, everything seemed possible. and still does. thanks, heidi!
mulatto diaries
creating a bye-racial world
mulatto diaries 
Isn’t she amazing? I came away from meeting Heidi and Fanshen last summer feeling like I had known them my entire life. I felt so reassured and motivated, and still do!
that’s wonderful Tiffany!
I’m so happy for you to have had this opportunity! It sounds as if you are inspired to continue to move forward. Can’t wait to see what’s in store. Great things, huh? Take care.
🙂
Tami
Hi Tiffany and friends. My name is Alan. I am biracial as well, black and white. I stumbled across Tiffany’s vlogs two weeks ago and had to watch each and every one and learned a lot about myself along the way. I’m sure we can all relate in one form or other. Before Tiffany’s coming out I’d never thought about how important ones identity is to who they are. It’s not something I normally think about. I’m not as well read about being mulatto as most of you are, but I do know that having a group identity and a sense of belonging is important. We all need to belong. After all isn’t that why we are here? It’s easy enough to
believe that race is an illusion, but the majority sees different. Are we tragic because We are both black and white but never truly considered either 100%? Are we tragic because our identity is lost and we are constant outsiders? Are we tragic at all? Aren’t we blessed with being natural racial diplomats, by walking in two different shoes at the same time or is this our curse? Do we need our own identity? Can we? Just some questions I’ve had viewing the vlogs.
I think the mixed demographic is one of the fastest growing populations, and over time will rival the white and black populations. We live in countries which are the richest in terms of genetic diversity, and like it or not, we are going to continue to mix. I’m sure it keeps the ‘purists’ up at night just thinking about it. I think we are evolution in action (God truly does love evolution,lol). I don’t think I am better than anyone else, just that I can see a future human race that has interlaced international genes, and we are just stepping stones to that human race. I’m not sure we mulattoes, biracial black and white are ‘a people’ quite yet, but one day we probably will be. Should that happen, I would hope that Tiffany is considered matriarch of our people, Mother Mulatto. 🙂
Alan
Alan. Wow, very powerful words especially at the end. I am “monoracial” — both of my parents are black. However, I support what Tiff and others are doing because I simply believe in the 1960s slogan “All Power To The People!!” It does not matter who you are; race, religion, gender, gay, straight, etc. It is so very important for one to, not only be aware of their own identity, but to also EMBRACE it. This includes every single aspect of YOU. Before coming across the Mulatto Diaries, I never thought about this as being an issue among biracial people. One of the problems here is that most biracial (black & white) do not even realize that they have this option of choosing to accept both sides of their families equally.Making each other more aware of the fact that they don’t have to settle for the “one-dropped” idea is just the first start. I believe this is why this particular movement is bound to be successful! 🙂
great picture. you two could be sisters. 🙂
Tami, I can not disagree with you at all. I am happy for her. She opened a door and walked through on a quest for self discovery. Some people will go their entire lives without a inspirational moment of truth.
You are right, this is only the beginning. Baby steps for now. Just talking about it is good.
so wonderful that you met! and did miss heidi leak truth that you’ll be coming to the festival? yay yay yay. I hope so..
on the sillier side, i applaud you both for having such happy curls mid-winter. i can’t get mine together through the akward stage..but it’s drier here. you both look beautiful!
thanks, martine! it’s the truth!!! might i look forward to meeting you there? i hope so 🙂
thanks, ri’chea!!
fantastic! are you planning to attend the festival this summer?
Wow, Alan! I am humbled and flattered by your kind words. On the “tragic” thing… in my opinion we are not tragic. The term was coined by white people back in the day (not that I think most modern day whites would feel differently) who could only imagine the pain and horror one would feel being “almost white, but not quite.” I think blacks adopted the phrase because they saw tragic disillusionment when they thought of us being under the impression that we could be anything other than “just another n***** to the illustrious whites. Now people mostly say we’re confused, but that’s because we confuse the long-held beliefs of the about these race issues. The magnitude of the impeding paradigm shift is huge. It makes them uncomfortable. So they try to shut us down. But I just can’t be silent, complacent, accommodating anymore. It does everyone a great disservice. Thanks again, Alan, for reinforcing the importance of my efforts and goals!
thanks tami!! i’m expecting great things. i think that’s the only way we get them 🙂
Cute picture. I’m glad you had a good time. It’s amazing how God sends us people to encourage us just at the right time.
I feel we are in good hands with you, the Mixed Chicks and others speaking for us. However, I think there is some elements of truth to the tragic Mulatto, not the stereotypical sad and suicidal Mulatto, but tragic from a more universal stand point. Perhaps tragic is not even the right word. And maybe we are no longer, as we now have identifiable voices. I am not sure whether your coming out, represents a declaration of independence or a declaration of interdependence, or both. I think Obama represents the essence of who we should be, great uniters, inclusive and leaders by example. Although I want to be in an identifiable group, I see the road ahead as being filled with dangers and pitfalls. We throw around words like, “us”, “we”, “them” and that kind of worries me. In 200 years from now, we could be the oppressors and suppressors. Are we going to cure racism once and for all or will it morph as it has done throughout time? In other words, we need to define who we are, what we stand for and who we want to be, so the mistakes from the past do not repeat.
Anyhow, I saw this article/ and I think it is worth the read. It is based upon a Canadian perspective on mixed race identity:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/mixedblessings/
Alan
Tiffany:
My name is Rosa, and I’ve been enjoying your v-log and now on written blog form. As always, wonderful commentary, and it’s always great to know what’s up with Fanshen and Heidi, the Mixed Chicks blog being one of my favorites. I agree with Alan (army2k08), and I couldn’t have said it better. I look forward to more Mulatto Diaries.
Firstly, I love your vlog and your writing,its so refreshing to be able to talk about being multicultural without offending another person. I read the article on HAPA, interesting. I like the notion of community, I like to notion of fluid identity but why is the focus always on one half or the other? Hapa, meaning half white? The as I flipped through his work, I noticed that some people did not meet the criteria although they shared white ancestry. As a multicultural, multi ethnic person, I want to celebrate all of who I am- henve my affinity for fluid ID. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this? Great post by the way, simply wonderful . .