This post is basically about mixed race celebrities that girls and boys look up to. I guess, in a way this post is to show how great being mixed race can be and to celebrate it by showing celebrities that are great role models for mixed race people today.
Barack ObamaThe News Statesman named him as one of ten men who could change the world and now he is on his way to the White House.The son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, Barack Hussein Obama was born on the 4th August 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
His parents were both students at the University of Hawaii and when his father left for Harvard, Obama who was too young to choose for himself stayed with his mother. His father eventually returned to Kenya and became a government economist.
As we all known Barack Obama is one of the most influential people in the world considering he is the President of the United States and is one of the best role models I think of the modern day.
Halle Berry
'They didn’t like me because I was black. That was the beginning of my trying to be what I thought people wanted me to be'.Oscar winner Halle Berry has been pouring her heart out to the tabloids lately. The thirty-four-year old who plays Jinx in the James Bond film Die Another Day can now claim to be one of the world’s biggest stars.Halle recently told Lesley O’Toole how her White Liverpudlian mother Judith met her Black GI father Jerome, when he was stationed in England. She moved to America to marry him and they settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially, Berry’s parents lived in a black neighbourhood until Halle was four. However around this time they separated and Halle’s mother moved her and her sister Heidi to a white neighbourhood.
'When we lived in the black neighbourhood, we weren’t liked because my mother was white. In the white neighbourhood, they didn’t like me because I was black. That was the beginning of my trying to be what I thought people wanted to be.'
I think we can agree that Halle Berry is a very beautiful woman and after having roles in films such as James Bond and Cat Woman she is also one of the most succesful femle actress' of our time.
Alesha Dixon
'We like to think we live in an equal society but a lot of the younger generation who are black and mixed-race may still think that life will be a bit more challenging for them.'
Born in 1978 to a British mother and Jamaican father, Alesha Anjanette Dixon is the only child of her mother and father's relationship. Her parents split up when she was just four years old and her father moved away leaving her mum a single parent.
Alesha had considerable success with RnB group mis-teeq and her versatile voice appealed to many. When the band separated in 2005, Alesha went solo, only to be dropped from record label Polydoor after her first two releases didn’t reach the top ten.
In 2007 she took part in Strictly Come Dancing and it was to re-launch her career when she beat all the other contestants to win. The success renewed interest in her musical abilities and Alesha was signed to a new record label. This time her album went platinum.
In 2007 she took part in Strictly Come Dancing and it was to re-launch her career when she beat all the other contestants to win. The success renewed interest in her musical abilities and Alesha was signed to a new record label. This time her album went platinum.
A couple of years later, Alesha was invited back to Strictly Come Dancing as a judge to replace Arlene Phillips, which caused a media stir. She was criticised for her lack of dance knowledge and her leniency, but Alesha took it all in her stride and battled on to become a respected judge on the programme. 'A lot of negativity got thrown towards me, and it’s never nice to read nasty things about yourself,' she says.
Alesha is also a patron of the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust, a charity that encourages black and mixed-race people to join the bone marrow register and recently climbed Mount Kilamanjaro to raise money for comic relief.
She says she was never encouraged by her Jamaican father to pursue her music career, 'his view was there weren't many black British musicians who were overly successful.' I said, 'Dad, I can't base my decision on what people haven't done'.
Her father now lives in Thailand and although Alesha has contact with him she feels it is important to let people know what it’s like to grow up in a single parent household. She recently produced a documentary called Who’s The Daddy for the BBC to highlight what its like only growing up with one parent 'I can’t imagine not knowing where 50 per cent of me comes from,' says Alesha, 'or not knowing if I’ve got other brothers and sisters out there,'
So what's next for Alesha? 'I'm thinking about doing a documentary on mixed-race, in light of [US President] Barak Obama It will be great to have a documentary that documents race through the years.' Alesha has been really motivated and inspired by Obama. 'Being mixed-race means he understands both cultures. We like to think we live in an equal society but a lot of the younger generation who are black and mixed-race may still think that life will be a bit more challenging for them.'
'Now, a lot of people will think there’s nothing they can't achieve. What can be better than that?'
I knew Alesha Dixon when she was in Mis-teeq but I feel that she didn't truly come into her own until Strictly Come Dancing. She blew the judges away which lead to her relaunching herself back into music. Now Alesha is making music that's better than any songs she performed with Mis-teeq, with collaborations with Jay Sean and Roll Deep. She has also featured in documentaries for BBC investigating what it's like for children who grow up with separated parents. After seeing her live and talking to her I can say that she is truly inspirational.
Jobi McAnuff
'People tend to see me as black, but there's a big difference between black and mixed-race.'
Crystal Palace winger Jobi McAnuff grew up in north London with his Jamaican father and English mother. Jobi celebrates his fluid identity, but he admits that in football there are racial cliques. 'From my experience I get seen as one of the ‘brothers’. You walk into the canteen and there's a table of black boys and the white boys are up the other end, but I don't see it as a negative. I'd like to think it's easier for me to cross between groups, but my white friends at Palace still see me as black. People only see skin deep and society says I look more black than white.''My mum's side of the family are from Portsmouth. But I don't think many of the lads at football can imagine me sat round eating a traditional English roast dinner with my white uncles and aunts. People tend to see me as black, but there's a big difference between black and mixed-race. I can identify with Tiger Woods on that.'
Jobi says he feels strongly about the use of the derogatory term half-caste. 'It's something mixed-race people have been labelled as for years,' he says. 'If you polled a cross-section of society I bet the majority of people would say half-caste. I don't like the word, but then you get people who are so used to it they are blind to its offensiveness.' He agrees the term is common in football. 'All the clubs I'v
e been at I've been called half-caste. It's routine. I make a point of asking people not to call me it, though.'
Jobi also acknowledges that the media is a vital tool in changing how people with mixed racial heritage are described. 'I don't think people realise saying mixed-race would make such a big difference to mixed-race players like us. The media is powerful. Imagine if they started using it in the newspapers and on Match of the Day. It would educate people. I think it's something we could look at.'
Jobi also acknowledges that the media is a vital tool in changing how people with mixed racial heritage are described. 'I don't think people realise saying mixed-race would make such a big difference to mixed-race players like us. The media is powerful. Imagine if they started using it in the newspapers and on Match of the Day. It would educate people. I think it's something we could look at.'
We agree Jobi and thanks for being one of the first to speak up. If you'd like to learn more about Jobi Mcanuff click here for his official website.
I know that my cousin and brother are big fans of Jobi McAnuff and I also believe that is a very positive role model not only for Mixed Raced boys but for all boys, especially in the way he talks about how he respects his mum and how he makes a point about how he doesn't like to we called 'half-caste'.
Nicole Scherzinger
'A lot of people didn’t understand what my nationality was or what race I was. So, they were a little confused on how to cast me or what my place was.'
Born Nicole Prescoiva Elikolani Valiente in 1978, Nicole Scherzinger as she is now known is the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls, who before having a recording career were actually a burlesque group.
Nicole was born in Hawaii, her father is Filipino and her mother is Hawaiian and Russian but Nicole has had many people confuse her racial identity. 'I’m Filipino-Russian-Hawaiian,' she says, 'but people think I’m from Pakistan.'
Her mother was just 18 when Nicole was born and split with Nicole’s father when she was just a baby. When she was six Nicole and her mother moved to Kentucky with her sister and her step father was who German American and gave Nicole the surname Scherzinger.
Although she has grown up mainly in Kentucky Nicole is well aware of her Hawaiian roots 'My mother, growing up, would dance the hula and Tahitian with her family. My mother taught me hula when I was really young. I can’t dance it like my cousins [laughs].'
She also didn't refuse when she was contacted by her biological father whom she had not seen for many years when he wanted to reconnect. 'I didn't hold any grudges towards him, because I knew the situation around my birth and how young both my parents had been. What was quite amazing to me was how much like him I look. I'd grown up not looking much like anyone I knew. He also had a lot of my spirit. We keep in touch and that's good. I think things may have been different if in my early days I hadn't had such a lot of love from my mother and my stepfather, who I still consider to be my dad.'She may be a household name now but Nicole remembers how difficult it was as a mixed-race girl when she was first entering the entertainment industry. 'A lot of people didn’t understand what my nationality was or what race I was. So, they were a little confused on how to cast me or what my place was. It was really confusing at first because people wanted me to be like the Puerto Rican girl, the sidekick, the Puerto Rican best friend. I’m like, I’m not Puerto Rican.'
Nicole has had an on and off relationship with formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton for about 2 years and although there have been rumours that the two have split because of their careers, there have also been rumours that the two are now engaged. Meanwhile Nicole's career continues to thrive.
Nicole Scherzinger is not only beautiful but she is also very talented when it comes to dance and music. I admit that I didn't know what her race was until one of my friends told me and although she has many different nationalities within her they seem to have created a beautiful woman. She is a prime example of how bi-racial women can be sexual. She has an amazing ability of using her looks to empower herself and other women rather than to objectify them.
