Category: I Am

Transcript
Janet Stickman re: Amerasian identity (Filipina and African American)
Interview by Rainjita Geesler
Date:
1 Disc, Track 1, 41:33

RAINJITA: Janet is a high school teacher in Richmond California and she’s a spoken-word artist and also an author who has just published her memoir ‘Crushing Soft Rubies.’ You present a deep part of yourself, your personal transformation around who you are. Being Filipina and African American you represent a lot of people who are mixed-race in America. What does this mean to be mixed-race in America?

JANET: It’s been great. It’s been a rocky one. I think the most popular question I get with regards to being biracial is ‘that must have been confusing.’ And I’d hate to think that us, as multi-racial, biracial people that were destined for this lifelong journey of confusion that in the end, I can’t say that, it’s still in process. I can say that I have learned so much about the complexity of race and race relations just by looking at how things operate on my mom’s side, the Filipino side and on my dad’s side, the black side, and where I fit in and where I didn’t fit in on both sides. It’s been a challenge but at the same time I’ve become comfortable with being both fully all the time every single day instead of at several times in my life, fragmented. I can only experience this side of myself when I’m in the presence of these folks, and vice versa. Read more...