Thursday A Taste of Flava

How I Choose to Identify: A Japanese-German Girl

Last year during Pride Week, I helped hand out Pride pins and bracelets.

There were so many pins with different words and symbols. I had no idea what some of them meant, but it was interesting watching people look through the collection until they found the one that represented them.

Yes, I participated.

I handed out the pins.
I wore the different colors.
I made sure people had an opportunity to choose what represented them.

Then I announced:

“I want a pin that says, ‘I’m a girl!’”

😂

I wasn’t making fun of anybody. Everyone else was choosing something that described who they were, and I wanted something that described me.

A year later, I finally created my pin.

It is pink.
It is leopard print.
It has gold trim and a sunflower.

And it says:

I’M A JAPANESE-GERMAN GIRL

That is how I choose to identify.

I am Japanese and German. I am Eurasian. I am a person of color, even though many people look at me and assume I am white.

I am also a woman.

You can call me Susan.
You can call me ma’am.
You can call me Lady Flava.
And yes, you can call me a girl.

All of those names feel natural to me because they belong to my story.

I have spent my life around people from different cultures, backgrounds, lifestyles, and communities. My children grew up surrounded by people who were loved as family. I have never needed someone to look like me, live like me, or identify like me before I could care about them.

People should be free to live their truth and choose the words that represent them.

I simply believe that freedom belongs to me too.

I don’t need a long explanation, a list of options, or a symbol that I have to look up on the internet.

My pin says everything I need it to say:

I’m a Japanese-German Girl.

Pink. Leopard print. A sunflower.

That’s me. ❣️🐆🌻

From Flava in Her Tower 🌻

Real Talk. Real Life. My Flava.