“I had to buy my identity for $220 a pop.”

“Certain promoters would want to highlight that I was mixed race, and they’d want me to say that I was like, Southeast Asian, or not Black. Or one guy wanted me to not speak English. I was uncomfortable with a lot, obviously.

I was told I couldn’t have my hair natural. It’s not like I have the curliest of ‘fros. But they didn’t want me to have natural hair, so I would wear a hair weave because you couldn’t be a mixed Blasian if you didn’t have silky straight hair.

I had to buy my identity for $220 a pop.” —N’jaila Rhee

Esther Wang, “Let’s talk about sex (and race, and gender, and intersectionality),” Open City, March 23, 2015. http://opencitymag.aaww.org/lets-talk-njaila-rhee/.

Tags: , ,