I work globally. Mostly I travel to the African Continent. In doing this travel, I pass through airports in Europe and Africa. In these airports, I am usually not perceived as an American — because we all know what Americans look like. Walking through these airports, I have been directed toward airlines that send me where those doing the directing believe I belong. They automatically point toward, South African Airways. It is as though South Africa is the only place on the Continent I could belong.
This global work has caused me to think about so many things, including where I belong and my identity. The question for me is what does race, color and ethnicity have to do with belonging and how our identities are formed.
Until January of 2013, I didn’t have these questions, I clearly identified as an African American women. Yes, my skin is light, yet my dad and uncles pictured with me above know very well that light skin doesn’t make you any less part of the community. We learn early about the one drop rule — more about that later.
Now while I ask the question, I want to be clear. I know that I am a woman shaped and formed by the Black community in the United States of America. I have lived the reality of what it means to be a Black women in this place. I belong to the Black American community; and the Black American community belongs to me. Yet, perceptions are different depending on where you stand.
Some say, “perception is everything;” what I have learned is that skin color has meaning all over the globe and so I am using this platform to talk about race, color and ethnicity. Particularly, I will talk about what it means to be ‘beige.’ Beige in the dictionary is defined as “very light brown, as of undyed wool; light gray with a brownish tinge.”
On this site, you will hear of my lived experience as I have grown up and as I travel. Many of the reflections come from working in Africa with this skin color. And yet there are other experiences, so, I hope to invite members of my family and friends to write about their experiences around race and what being ‘beige’ means for them.
So join me, join us, as we talk about race and color and ruminate “On Being Beige”!
On Being Beige 