Discovering What We Are
by Matt Swanseger
Contributed Photo
Brandon Wiley's eyes were first opened to his mixed racial identity during the sixth grade at Our Lady of Fatima School in Farrell, Pa. That's when he first heard the question, "What
are you?"
The little girl in the hallway genuinely meant no harm, but Wiley says her inquiry triggered "a domino effect." The question "What are you?" would surface again and again, to the point of madness. Sometimes he was called out for acting or dressing or talking "too Black." Other times, he was judged for acting or dressing or talking "too white." He fell into a spiral of depression and anxiety, slipping into suicidal thoughts. "I did not care to be here anymore," he admits.