By TAZIA MACHL
On November 13th, Beloit College hosted a panel regarding the experience of its biracial students. Autumn Green ‘24, Charles Voith ‘27, and Jaida Wesley ‘24 discussed the impact that intersectionality has had on their life. Moderated by the Dean of Students, Cecil Youngblood, the panel led to an in-depth conversation regarding the complexity of the students’ identities.
Jaida Wesley, an art major, described how she felt separate and different throughout her childhood, struggling to define her racial identity. “There was a lot of paranoia on my end because I learned from history about how mixed people were isolated from both races. I wanted to be left alone from it because, at the end of the day, I’m just me.” Wesley said.
Other students, within the panel and audience, shared the same sentiment. The panelists, who were all biracial, spoke about confusion regarding their identity early on in life. Even Cecil Youngblood described a memory of his daughter, who is biracial, asking him, “Dad, what am I?”
Charles Voith, who is half Filipino and half white, noted that he often described himself as primarily white growing up. “White has always been the default. I don’t know if it benefitted my childhood, I did miss out on a lot of Filipino culture. I grew up really disconnected from that half of myself.”
All participants described moments of doubt regarding how they should identify.. When filling out forms, Green and Wesley struggled to choose between describing themselves as black or white, given no other option.
“As I grew up I just felt more isolated and more out of place with who I was and what my identity was supposed to be.” Wesley said. “I’ve now learned to not be afraid of taking up space.”
Conversations like these, Green said, are crucial to the development of student identities as well as their confidence.
“I’ve learned that you gotta just own that you’re biracial and never let anyone invalidate either half of you. You have to love both parts of yourself even if you haven’t been super connected to one side. You can really use your confidence and pride in your biraciality to do good in the world and encourage younger biracial people to accept themselves. I’m just loud and proud about it: I’m always telling people I’m mixed.”
“I feel like some part of me growing up really needed this conversation.” Wesley said. “Growing up I never really got the sense of what it meant to be black. This discussion for me is trying to get a better understanding of who I am now and who I want to be.”
This panel is one of many identity-based discussions that Beloit College is planning to host. Students are encouraged to reach out to Cecil Youngblood with ideas for future panels.
Featured Image Credit: Tazia Machl’27
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