Biracial People to Define Selves, Issues at Forum

Published June 18, 2007 (Chicago Tribune)

Michelle Hughes has brown, curly hair that's fine in texture. Depending on the season, her skin color ranges from a light olive brown to a creamier hue. When she meets someone new, that person often finds a way to ask: "What are you?" (which sounds rude, right?) or "Where are you from?" (which is sort of the same).

She admits she can be a bit of a chameleon, capable of "blending" into several racial or ethnic groups, depending on the neighborhood.

When she's on Chicago's South Side, she said, people assume she's a fair-skinned African-American. In Little Village or Pilsen, she might be considered a Latina. In Little Italy, she could pull off Italian.

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