Mistaken for someone else: how racial misidentification shapes my life in Cardiff

Joshua Romain

I’m a mixed race teenager in Cardiff and people keep mistaking me for any other Black person.

Over the weekend I walked up to the bar in Hudo Lounge, Cardiff only to be refused service as I’d been “cut off”.

Puzzled as I’d only just arrived, I asked how? The barman explained that he was told to cut off “the mixed guy with a ‘fro” and was following orders. He repeated the same explanation and refused to engage further.

This was my friend’s 18th birthday and I was very aware that I was the only nonwhite boy/man there, as is the case in many social events or parties I attend.

I’m 17 and was asking for a fruit juice. I was sober. How could he be on about me?

Was I racially profiled?

Profiled as what?

Was I simply refused service because of my appearance? Well the barman had claimed that staff had taken a fake ID off of me earlier in the evening despite only turning up less than an hour before the incident and this being the first time I went up to order a drink.

I walked out, confused, uncomfortable, angry and reminded, once again, that I was being seen as different.

I found myself searching for an explanation – a reflex I’ve developed after years of racism. Almost looking for a justification, I asked my friends if Cai, the only other mixed race guy in that circle of friends, was at the party. As if I’d missed him or something, knowing fully well he wasn’t. Knowing fully well he is 18 and doesn’t have a large afro like me.

Cross-race misidentification

Cross-race misidentification is mistaken identity rooted in race, such as confusing two Black people for each other not because of resemblance but because of their race.

I’ve been hugged by a woman who thought she was my aunty, only to realise I was just a different mixed race boy at the Wrexham Eisteddfod last year. While this case is laughable, others such as being questioned by the police late at night in Cardiff Central train station are not.

That’s not me

Over the past year and forever I got mistaken for one of the other 5 or so mixed race boys who are Welsh speaking in Cardiff around my age. Not only Welsh speakers, anyone else who is mixed or Black. These incidents can happen anywhere, even in my own school.

We are not the same.

I am actively working and talking about anti-racism especially in Welsh language education settings. Through speaking to other young Black people I know this is a common issue for many of us.

In some extreme cases I know of young Black people who have been confused for someone Asian and vice versa showing this is an issue for all marginalised ethnicities.

The impact

While walking home from Hudo Lounge in disbelief I tried to figure out how I felt. Asking myself a series of questions:

Should I go back to confront the staff?

Was I right to walk out?

Should I have made a big scene and ‘ruined’ the party?

While most of my friends were at the party, who could I talk to about this? None of them are Black men, growing up in a white society, and I knew full well that none of them could truly begin to understand what that feels like. However, others could still sympathise, including my girlfriend, who I sent a voice message to.

Allies

Allies are vital for any community facing discrimination. In a society where power is still overwhelmingly white, expecting those most affected by racism to drive change alone is unrealistic.

I’m fed up and want to drive change, which is hard especially on a society-wide scale. I deliver workshops in schools and that can drive change but I think it’s needed on a bigger, wider scale.

We need allyship. I often ask people what’s the difference between not being racist and being an anti-racist. The answer is simple; action. It can not only be those who live the struggle who fight back against racism, it must be all of us, including you.

If racism is something you oppose, the question is simple: what are you prepared to do about it?