The world is not black and white, and neither is the Guilford College community.

A new student group, the Guilford Multiracial and Multiethnic Group, has emerged to tackle the question of what it means to be multiracial and to provide a safe space where multicultural students can express themselves.

“I am proud to be (multiracial),” said junior Olivia Holmes, founder of GMMG. “When I started the group I realized that … nobody talks about (being multiracial). They are proud of it, but nobody talks about it.”

Holmes created GMMG to end the long silence surrounding multiracial identity at Guilford. The group meets every week to discuss issues, concerns, joys, beliefs and thoughts about being multiethnic. They explore numerous topics that many people never even think about — questions about where multiracial couples belong, what race multiracial people most identify with and how society perceives multiracial identity.

None of these are easy questions to answer, but they are vital to the understanding of what it means to be multiracial on every level from personal identity to society’s many conceptions.

“‘What are you?’ is one of the biggest issues we talk about,” said Holmes. “It comes up again and again. Personal experiences and interracial relationships have come up a lot … Terminology, that is one that we’re still grappling with.”

The question of multiracial identity is a tough one to undertake, but this group is assuredly finding out what their experiences are and how to articulate them.

“Where we are at the moment, we can’t really express our experience,” said junior Nigel Espey. “Everywhere I live, it’s really complicated and people don’t exactly see me as who I actually am. It’s mostly frustrating, and over time I just learn to ignore it.”

GMMG is actively trying to help multiracial Guilford community members find a voice for their experiences and to help the greater community understand their experiences.

“My main intention for starting the group was that I wanted that safe place … for people who are multiracial or multiethnic to talk about these things,” said Holmes. “(I wanted) to bring it further to the outside community and talk in an open discussion about what it means to be multiracial, especially at Guilford, and to let them know that we are here.”

The creation of this safe place reflects a greater cultural shift in the United States, as reported by the New York Times. Many people, students in particular, are stepping out of the box and identifying as bi- or multiracial instead of just marking themselves as one race or another. People do not fit into predetermined, limiting groups, and that is why GMMG is so important.

“I noticed when I was interviewing people that they had similar issues (to mine),” said Holmes. “If they came together, they would be like ‘Finally, someone understands me.'”

Multiracial students are happy that they finally have this space where they can grapple with issues and simply find others that they can relate to.

“It’s really nice to have a place to talk about it,” said sophomore Samantha Derr. “It’s really nice to have a place where I can talk about those issues and I can relate to other people.”