I WANT TO BREATHE: A CROSS-CULTURAL MULTIRACIAL MOTHER’S VIEW OF BLACKNESS. by Paulette Bethel
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n 1985, I gave birth to our “pogi” baby boy while stationed overseas in the Philippines.Pogi means “handsome” in Filipino Tagalog (locals would see our son and say “Pogi, pogi, pogi”). I still vividly recall the moment our newest Third Culture Kid (TCK) was shown to us. I rejoiced in the magnificence of his birth
Summer 2020 | www.CultursMag.com
and the hope and responsibility that comes with bringing a new life into the world. In those precious moments, the one thing that we did not give thought to was the prospect of ugliness that might await him in his future, especially while living in the protective cocoon of an overseas, military community. As I reflect upon what it still means to be black, or aperson of color in the United States of America (U.S.), I think about the sleepless nights I have experienced being concerned for my black and multiracial children (especially after we returned from living overseas). When we lived outside the U.S., our TCKs were mostly seen as from the U.S. Even though
