About
Motsabi Rooper
So what is my story?
I grew up as ‘mixed-race’ in the 1990s in the UK and as the only person of colour in a blended family. My parents took a ‘colour blind’ approach to raising me which meant I navigated experiences of race and racism on my own. I spent much of my childhood believing there was something wrong with me and suffering from generalised anxiety and low levels of self-esteem. My parents were largely unaware of the experiences I encountered and unable to really prepare or support me in the way I needed.
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As I went into adulthood, I started therapy and began studying mixedness and blackness in context through history. This led me on to research the phenomena of race, racialisation, racism, critical theory and now psychology, child development and the emerging literature on mixedness.
Un-doing the anti-black programming I internalised as a child.
In doing this, I was able to un-do the anti-black programming I internalised as a child and reconstruct my sense of self-esteem, belonging and most importantly a positive racial identity. What I realised in doing this research, is that I would have hugely benefited from finding this information earlier - as would have my mum. I genuinely believe it would have saved us from a whole lot of unnecessary pain!
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This is why I am now incredibly passionate about sharing this research and the accompanying tools I have developed, with families going through parallel & similar experiences. I found growing up mixed in a white-majority context to be an isolating experience and the truth is that it doesn’t need to be!
Helping mixed families navigate common experiences
There are now so many amazing books, studies and resources out there to help adults and children of mixed families navigate the common experiences. And that parents can use to cultivate belonging, healthy self-esteem and racial identity in their children from the start.
I am on a mission to help more families confidently achieve this!