Mars
I met Mars while walking through the Hollywood Farmers Market. On a warm Sunday afternoon, I strolled among throngs of other Angelenos as they allowed the scents of food trucks pull them in every direction. I had met a few possible PartBlack participants, handing out my card to anyone who showed some interest, and was on my way out when I spotted Mars. Walking beside a friend, I politely introduced myself to Mars and asked him if he was mixed. There was a moment where he sort of smirked at me, and I got the sense that he must be an actor, or a musician, someone who was accustomed to people approaching them in public. Specifically, I thought he might be a cast member on Mixed-ish, a show that I had not seen but that had recently begun airing, and that the answer to my question was obvious. As Mars continued to walk past me, I could see that he was interested in what I had to say, so I back-peddled, matching his slow walk and pitching him the Project. Later that day, presumably after doing his own research, he texted me and told me he was down to be featured. We set a time to meet near Mars’ apartment in the Downtown L.A. Arts District, and with the sun setting rapidly shot until the sun and the lights and all my film were gone. [Ed: Interviews are only lightly edited for format. No changes are made to language or punctuation.]
Q: Do you identify as Black? White? Mixed? Something else? Please describe your ethnic/cultural background.
A: Ethnically My grandmother is half black and half white and my dad and mom are black but culturally I feel like Ive failed to understand what it means to identify as a black person with African American roots
Q: Who are some PartBlack people who have inspired you?
AI’ve been inspired by part black people like the Smith family and the Obama family other individuals like Dwayne Johnson, Richard Pryor, Dave chappelle, Zoe Zaldana, Raven Simone, Tessa Thompson and Neil Degrassi tyson
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: Will Smith as a public figure has been the biggest influence on me / (they filmed pursuit of happiness at my middle school and he came by with his son and spoke to the students and me)
Q: Are there any fictional characters from film or literature that have influenced your life? How?
A: Forest gump from the film adaptation of the novel forest gump really influenced me I’ve never been really smart and his character taught me being smart is not more important than being a good person
Q: What countries have you traveled to, and how does your physical appearance influence how people treat you around the world?
A: Ive been to over 20 countries. Mostly in Europe Asia and Africa Morocco Turkey Germany China. My physical appearance always influences how people treat me in other countries I think mainly because people are really unfamiliar or estranged towards black people and those that weren’t we’re very welcoming towards Americans
Q: Are there other PartBlack people in your life, and/or how do you feel when you meet another person who is PartBlack?
A: I have other part black people in my life who I’m good friends with and I’m always curious when I meet another partblack person about how they self identify
Q: Which part of your background do you identify with and/or who are you closest to in your family?
A: I still struggle with how I identify but I’m probably closest to my brother
Q: What are your thoughts on descriptors like light-skinned, high yellow, Mulatto, etc?
A: I think it’s okay for people label themselves whatever they want I don’t think it’s okay for people to label others
Q: What are your feelings on the N-Word? Do you use it?
A: I think it’s okay to say the n word but I don’t use it in conversation
Q: In your career, how has being PartBlack helped or hurt you?
A: It’s hard for me to say how being part black helps or hurts an actors career over all especially mine. I don’t get to go out for roles that I would like to play and a lot of the directors I want to work with don’t take on work with parts for poc but I also think that that’s changing in the industry and for me and I think being part black will be really helpful for me to portray characters in sci-fi and fantasy worlds which is my work direction
Q: Has ethnicity played a factor in your romantic relationships?
A: Ethnicity hasn’t played a factor in my romantic life outside of family background can influence how people communicate in relationships
Q: Growing up, do you feel that you experienced unique challenges being PartBlack?
A: I don’t think I faced unique challenges as a partblack person I was the only black person in my neighborhood and at a majority of my schools
Q: In general, are there benefits or challenges to being PartBlack?
A: In general I think being part black comes with a lot of privileges the challenges come with being a person of color
Q: Have you ever felt that your life would be easier if you were just one ethnicity?
A: I’ve never felt my life would be easier if I was one ethnicity
Q: When was the first time someone referred to you as or directly called you a nigger?
A: The first time someone called me a nigger to my face was last year when I was working in Budapest Hungary walking down the street
Q: Have you had negative or racist thoughts about people who share any of your ethnicities.
A: I don’t think I’ve had any racist thoughts or negative thoughts of any of my ethnicities or other ethnicities
Q: Can you discuss some ways friends or family have made your life more difficult?
A: My family and past friends have made it difficult for me in the sense that I don’t agree on the values and culture that they feel is important for me to adopt. They don’t respect me or how I feel about Myself
Q: Do you feel any obligation to any of the ethnicities or cultures in your background?
A: I don’t feel an obligation to any of my ethnicities but I do feel an obligation to all ethnicities
Q: Do you consider yourself political, and in what ways?
A: I don’t think I consider myself political I think I consider myself apolitical
Q: What do you think the world could learn from PartBlack people?
A: I think the world can learn anything from part black people
Q: What would you tell your 12-year-old self?
A: I would tell my 12 year old self to not be afraid to make friends
Q: What has been the most annoying or frustrating thing about being PartBlack?
A: The most annoying thing about being part black is keeping continuity in my skin tone through a movie shoot
Q: What is your funniest or fondest memory that involves your ethnicity?
A: My funniest memory is that in China people gave me money because they thought I was jaden Smith
Q: If there is anything that you would like to share that I have not asked, please feel free to write something here.
A: I know that this probably won’t help but i like biology a lot it’s my favorite subject it’s attached to almost every field of study like anthropology, I learned that biologically speaking there is no such thing as ethnicity (or race) physical attributes that account for differences in physical appearance according to genetics are referred to as clines, socially (and naturally) we use clines to distinguish people however clines are not a representation of ones identity or nationality.