Houston and Race
Being of both Japanese and Irish ancestry, I was drawn to your article on Houston.
People have often taken me to be Hispanic or Native American. This left me feeling like an outsider, a freak, a “half-breed” (as people have called me).
Some consider my ethnic background and appearance intriguing, others loathe it, and it was not until junior high school that I finally realized that being multiracial is not a curse.
Houston’s courage and drive to overcome racism and to promote multiracial understanding through the arts give me hope that people will not think of us as “half-breeds” but as fellow Americans who happen to be of mixed ancestry.
TARISA A. MATSUMOTO
Gardena
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