Po Po would always tell me stories about Guangzhou growing up and about her Buddhist beliefs, even though my mom and dad are both Christian. She and Mom even taught me how to make a few recipes, which I loved, but I’ve always felt more comfortable with my Black half than my Chinese half. I’m not ashamed of it by any means, but I guess I just don’t know how to embrace it fully. Maybe it’s because I look more Black or maybe it’s because the kids at school were always quicker to accept me as Black—or assume I was Hispanic—than as Chinese or even as mixed race. So, learning another language was
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