I enjoyed reading this and could relate to your childhood. I grew up in NYC and never saw color either since I had friends from all over and it was just cool — my parents were from India, my best friends parents were from Pakistan, Colombia and Greece and then later in high school my best friend was Jewish. It was only when I left my bubble that I realize that for some people race is an issue.

I am very fortunate that I never dated a man who saw me as exotic. I think I weed people like that out from my life. Either you accept me as an individual or you don’t.

I think you are beautiful, BTW, from what I can see of your avatar.

And yes, people should be able to identify themselves as they like. Tiger Woods has sometimes pointed out that he is not just black, he is also Thai and that is also important to him. Of course your white heritage and your black heritage are both important to you and I hope you get a chance to visit where your mother is from.