MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — As the national conversation about race in America continues FOX61 is keeping its promises to bring more voices, and we sat down with a group of young Connecticut people who have an interesting perspective we haven't heard a lot from and that’s being bi-racial.
At the Main Switch Beauty Salon in Middletown, Sonia Santavenere says she’s been having hard talks about race with kids in her chair.
“For Bi-racial kids that have both parents in the home, one white, one black it’s been a challenge for them,” said Santavenere.
For kids in her chair, they say the biggest challenge is viewing the constant video online of police violence.
Nahla Santavenere, who is just 8-years-old said, “I don’t know what to really expect from the police because George Floyd was killed and I didn’t know what they were talking about at first.”
Nahla and her father Steven, who live in Middletown, sat down, socially distanced with two other families, and got to a bit of the core on how watching the Black Lives Matter movement affected them.
“Sometimes when I’m sitting in my car, while I’m sitting and I see a cop drive by I bend down so they can’t see me,” said Nahla.
Across the room, 13-year-old Christian Mullins sat with his 16-year-old sister Nora and their father. The family comes from West Haven.
When speaking about how the Black Lives Matter movement affected him, Christian said, “I think that it’s horrible to see someone be killed for their race like its hard to watch.”
Nora, Christian’s sister, followed and said, “It’s really hard to be a black man or woman in today’s society because of either police brutality or racism.”
16-year-old Milaana Blackmon lives with her family in Rocky Hill, she attended the discussion with her mother.
Blackmon had a different type of worry, she said, ”I don’t fear for myself I fear for my family because I grew up with accepting whites like the accept me for being mixed.”
The teens present say being two different races, Black and White, is hard even before the protests started nearly two months ago.
Nora Mullins said, “I feel as though my skin being lighter people could presume me because I’m black and white that I’m not “Black enough” to speak on a topic like this but I think that I mean if you have black in you then your black enough and you can speak on whatever you want.”
Milaana Blackmon agreed and said, “So you get to be in both communities but at the same time, you can be half white hanging out with them— they, some of my friends are racist and so you have to kind of figure out who you want to associate with in that way and then I hang out with the black people at my school and some of them don’t accept because I’m too white.”
Parents who sat and listened say they believe their children can help bridge racial divides.
“I think that she has the opportunity to educate both sides of her family,” said Tara Brooks.
Steven Santavenere said, “I just kind of want her to be a leader on her own and like just lead by example.”
At the end of the day, the youth say it’s time for a change.
Milaana said, “My mom is White, and my dad is Black, and if two people can come together and make me than the rest of the country the rest of the world should be able to mix and intermingle with everybody without being treated differently.”
“And I hope in years to come that racism ends, and this doesn’t have to be a conversation anymore because honestly, I don’t think that should be a conversation that we should still be having,” said Nora.
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Now the conversation will continue of how the youth feel about the black lives matter movement right here in Connecticut and across the nation.
That event will be happening be a two-hour “pow-wow” at 390 Washington Street in Middletown CT, on July 25th at 3 PM. Contact Main Switch Beauty Salon for more details. Their number is (860) 346-7458