E.J.
I first met E.J. when he stopped me outside of my office at work and introduced himself. With a jolly confidence, E.J. said something along the lines of, “I just wanted to say what’s up based on the skin tone,” while he rubbed his index finger along his forearm. I immediately liked him. Often when mixed people encounter one another there is a recognition, a nod or a brief conversation about what your background consists of. E.J.’s direct address was unique, and as The PartBlack Project started gaining some momentum I invited E.J. to participate. He was reluctant at first, and admitted some insecurity about being photographed. I assured him that he was beautiful, and that we could produce some images that would make him proud. I showed up at his Hollywood apartment one Saturday morning and we walked around his neighborhood. We had so much fun bullshitting and capturing images that we forgot the one prop E.J. had been adamant about including — his motorcycle. So, we made plans for a second shoot about a week later, heading up to the Arclight rooftop at dusk to capture some more magic.
Q: Do you identify as Black? White? Mixed? Something else? Please describe your ethnic/cultural background.
A: I identify as Black & Louisiana Creole. I was born in New Orleans to two Louisiana Creole parents and I’ve got ancestors stretching from France to Martinique to places all across Southeast Louisiana…and yes, the recipes are all on fire.
Q: Who are some PartBlack people who have inspired you?
A: I’ve been inspired by a lot of the people in my big ass family — but also Jimi Hendrix, my 6th grade teacher Lenora Zimmerman, Lenny Kravitz, my 9th grade teacher Madeline Gex, Deacon John, my distant relative Marie Laveau, The Funky Meters, Debbie Allen, Bryant & Greg Gumble, Allen Toussaint, Beyoncé, Ice T, Sheila E, Lt. General Russel L. Honoré, Danny Bakewell, Barack Obama, and Morris E. Day
Q: Which public figure, of any ethnicity, has had the greatest influence on your life? (This can be an artist, scientist, musician, filmmaker, philosopher, athlete, politician, writer — anyone.)
A: Everybody who knows me knows this one – it’s Prince. From the music, to the visual style, to the work ethic, to the DIY attitude. As a kid, I gravitated toward Prince because just like my cool ass uncles – he played the guitar, rode a motorcycle, and looked like us. If somebody would’ve told me that Prince was our cousin, I would’ve believed that shit.
Q: Are there any fictional characters from film or literature that have influenced your life? How?
A: Captain Kirk & Captain Picard.
Captain Kirk ain’t care what you looked like — he was cool with everybody from every neighborhood. Captain Kirk had charisma and wasn’t a pushover, he knew how to fight, his number one ace was from Vulcan, and he wasn’t afraid to hook up with co-workers and aliens. I respect his bravery.
Captain Picard ain’t care about being bald headed or being friends with androids, and although he’s smart; whenever he needed to solve a major problem, he’d get all of his trusted crew members together and discuss the best thing to do. He was into the arts, sciences, and blowing up aliens as a last resort. I respect his wisdom.
Q: What countries have you traveled to, and how does your physical appearance influence how people treat you around the world?
A: I’ve been to France, Mexico, Jamaica, and The Bahamas. Each had their own distinctly non-American feeling. In France, I was walking around and saw someone else that was PartBlack, so I gave him “the nod”. Nothing. Blank stare. At first I was bewildered. Then it dawned on me that “the nod” is an acknowledgement of “hey man, I know your struggle and see you out here doing it”, a shared cultural experience that works with nearly every black person in America. Once you go beyond these shores, all that common bond shit goes out the window!
Q: Are there other PartBlack people in your life, and/or how do you feel when you meet another person who is PartBlack?
A: My immediate and extended family are full of PartBlack people. When I meet someone new that is PartBlack, I feel like I have an automatic common bond, like we have something in common. It’s deeply ingrained and hard to explain but it’s just a feeling, perhaps even an illusion. Why illusion? Life has a way of revealing that everybody ain’t on the same page or coming from the same place.
Q: What are your thoughts on descriptors like light-skinned, high yellow, Mulatto, etc?
A: Words like that bother me because Colorism is real, especially down south where I come from. I’ve been accused of “thinking I’m better than other people” solely because of my complexion and hair texture. Ain’t that a bitch? Couldn’t be further away from the truth, but such is the beast of generational brainwashing.
Q: What are your feelings on the N-Word? Do you use it?
A: I use the N word situationally, but just like smoking weed in public, I’ll make sure the coast is clear before lighting it up. I’ve got hard rules: I won’t say the N-word around anybody who I feel has no business using the N-word. There’ll be no sharing of the privilege, nor any granting of passes or temporary permission slips.
Q: Growing up, do you feel that you experienced unique challenges being PartBlack?
A: Yes. Being born brown in America means a higher likelihood of dealing with obstacles in your day to day interactions. However, I feel that being PartBlack brings about a unique set of challenges simply because the possibility exists to experience discrimination from people you may consider to be ‘your own people’.
Q: When was the first time someone referred to you as or directly called you a nigger?
A: Elementary School was my first time being told to “go back to Africa”. I can remember feeling confused…like I knew their intent was to be hurtful…but being a brainiac kid I overanalyzed the whole “go back” part — how am I gonna go back to someplace I’ve never been? First time being called “nigger” tho? Hard to remember it happening, not to my face at least. I’ve been called “nigger” plenty of times of XBOX Live but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count.
Q: Have you had negative or racist thoughts about people who share any of your ethnicities.
A: Not proud to admit it but, Yes. I grew up in the suburbs, in a mixed neighborhood, and for a time it was all good. Can’t tell you what year it was, but our city went through some sudden changes economically. Seemed like overnight, black families that were less well off moved into the neighborhood — and I noticed that many of our neighbors took on a different attitude.
First, the white families all left. If not all, 99.9% ghosted the block. Then, the black families that stayed started to talk shit about these people they never bothered to meet. They didn’t like the way they kept their house or cared for their grass. Little shit. Now I may not be able to tell you the first time someone called me “nigger”, but I’ll NEVER forget how uncomfortable I felt the first time I heard one of my friends refer to the new neighbors as “the niggas”. This was coming from other black people, and I remember not only discomfort but also confusion.
From there, I felt our group of friends morph into a clique, and none of the kids in our group wanted to play with the new kids because they were different, they were “the niggas”. We never welcomed those kids into any of our basketball games or bike rides. Sad to say it but I went right along with that bullshit. Looking back, I can acknowledge how deeply fucked up that was and it’s something I regret. However, there’s justice in this story — I definitely deserved it when one of them new muthafuckas stole my bike from in front of Donnie’s house. He got me, bruh.
Q: If there is anything that you would like to share that I have not asked, please feel free to write something here.
A: Yeah. I took one of those DNA ethnicity tests and it fucked me up for a minute. Know how you hear stories about people taking those things and being disappointed when they find out that they’ve been secretly black for years? I took that muthafucka and was disappointed when I found out that I wasn’t as black as I thought I was.