Interview #1

Interview #1

This interview was conducted over the phone on June 26, 2011 by Airrellia Thompson. LaShawn Jarice Perryman was interviewed and asked a series of questions regarding race and being a mixed woman who identified herself as being black, as well as education and sexuality.

Q: What is your name?

A: LaShawn Jarice Perryman.

Q: Where were you born?

A: Kansas City, Missouri in May 1973

Q: What were your parent’s names and occupation?

A: Ida Matthews and Willie Perryman. My mother was a school teacher and my dad worked on the    railroads.

Q: Were both of your parents black?

A: No, my mother was black and my dad was bi-racial. His mother was black and his father was Irish.

Q: Do you have any siblings?

A: Yes, a brother and a half-sister.

Q: What was your life like growing up as a black/mixed raced girl in Kansas City?

A: Life was good there, it was simple and education was a main priority within my parents household especially since my mother was a school teacher.

Q: Where did you attend college?

A: Central Missouri State University and Holmes Community College.

Q: What do you think about people dating outside their race?

A: It is fine. Life is about finding love no matter what the race is. Love has no color.

Q: How do you feel about black men dating other black men?

A: Once again, it is all about who you find love with. I have a brother who is gay and if he decides to date a white man as long as that man treats him with respect, it is fine with me.

Q: Have you been given any special privileges or feel like other women have had some sort of hatred towards you because of the way you look?

A: When I was younger because I had long wavy hair or what some would call “good hair” and I was light skinned other girls did not want to be my friends because they assumed I was stuck up or mean. I really wasn’t and spent a large amount of my younger years hanging around boys because they were not as judgmental at the time.

Q: You have decided to identify yourself as a black woman, even though your skin color could allow you to pass for a different race, why? And in your opinion what do you think can hold the black race of females together?

A: I was raised by a strong black woman and my family was full of other strong black women and that is what I had to look up to. This is what I knew from a child until now and I’m very proud to say that although I am mixed with several different nationalities, I am a black woman. Black women have always had it rough and as long as they can stick together through obstacles instead of tearing each other down the race itself could rise in triumph.

*** This interview was described what it was like to be a woman who mixed or bi-racial but identified herself as being black. It was not because of stereotypes, but tradition and up bringing that helped her decide just who she was and what she should be. LaShawn Perryman explained that even though she was not completely black she could identify with the problems and racism that black women faced as she was growing up.