Kalilah brought up the topic of racism in her journal entry dated Sept 14, 06. It started me thinking; when it comes to mix race parentage what race does one choose? Are you what you look like, or what you feel like on the inside? Of the three best friends I had in Belize I could tell you without much thought that the first was Garinagu and the next was Hispanic. The third however is a bit harder to classify. She could be Hispanic because she lived in Cayo and speaks Spanish. But she could also be a Mayan after all she had the hair and skin colour. Then again she could be East Indian. If I had to guess I would say Hispanic. Because that is what she looked like to me. But how much of us is what we look like to others? We know how others determine our classification. But how do we choose where we classify ourselves?

A case in point. I consider myself to be Creole. Take just a cursory look at me and it is immediately apparent. But I have a sister who lives in New York and people quite often speak to her in Spanish assuming she is from the Dominican Republic. In fact, a friend of hers is Puerto Rican and some people think they are sisters. My mother is Hispanic, and my father Creole, and my sister and I are something in between. But what? Are we Creole Hispanic, or in my sister's case Hispanic Creole? Perhaps we should take on a new label: Crispanic, or Hisreole.

I suppose at this point you are asking yourself why does it even matter. You are who you are: white, brown, pink, yellow, blue, that's you and no one can take that away. But is that entirely true? Ins't it more accurate to say that people classify us even before we have the insight to nudge ourselves into secure pigeonholes where being unique means trying to appear different from the very people we are trying to be more like? After all why would we choose in the first place? If Kalilah looked more like her mother would her self classification be different? And given the way the Mayan people are currently being treated in Belize would my friend admit to being one?