Multiethnic Inclusion and Diversity Club (MIxD) hosted a screening of its new documentary, “Mixed Up,” in Mudd Library May 23. The production highlighted the experiences of four seniors from several ethnic backgrounds, featuring Executive Editor Alex Dinh ’25, Sarah Parmet ’25, Maya Ray ’25 and Mason Walline ’25. MIxD led a discussion following the screening where students further shared their experiences as people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
MIxD leader Micah Parr ’25 said the event was the club’s first step in sharing the multiethnic perspective with the broader community.
“The multiracial ethnicity is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups ever,” Parr said. “We’ve begun to overcome our racial divide and prioritize love over hate, which has created more multiracial youth. Our narrative is becoming more important to discuss everywhere. Of course, we’re starting with the Harvard-Westlake community, but this is a topic that needs to be discussed across the nation.”
Parr said he feels a deeper connection to his background because of the hardship his ancestors overcame.
“I am double mixed,” Parr said. “My dad is white and Japanese, and my mom is Afro-Indian. It is very interesting to balance four different cultures, especially when they’re all equally rich. I wouldn’t just characterize myself as a Japanese person, I would characterize myself as a person coming from a great-grandmother who was in the Japanese internment camps and faced that adversity. I wouldn’t just characterize myself as a Black man but as a man who descends from enslaved ancestors who went through extreme adversity and somehow overcame it. Once you understand where you come from and what that means, you experience a new sense of pride, power and identity.”
In the documentary, Ray said people from several racial backgrounds must work to address each part of their identity.
“Everyone has their own struggles, but mixed people go through the world with an added assumption that when you walk into a room, people will question who you are,” Ray said. “The classic question is always, ‘What are you?’ It’s a weird thing to ask someone. For people who are not mixed, they should try to understand that mixed people are dealing with not only the struggles of one ethnic group, but the struggles of two, three, four or even more.”
Dinh said people from several ethnicities can completely identify with each part of their background.
“I’m a mixed person, but I’m still Asian,” Dinh said. “It’s important to recognize someone who’s mixed as a member of [an ethnicity] because it’s a part of their identity just as much as someone who’s fully that ethnicity.”
Parmet said she admires her parents’ relationship as a multiracial couple.
“My parents are just two people who happened to find each other and be of different races,” Parment said. “They’re in love, and I’m proud of that.”
