A Story of Cultural Duality and Belonging in America.
The Blackapino
“The Blackapino” (memoir by Michael Goodloe) is a nonfiction book that explores the author’s life and identity as a person of mixed Black and Filipino (“Blackapino”) heritage. It blends personal stories, cultural reflection, and social commentary on race, belonging, and family in the Washington, DC region.
The Story
What does it mean to live between identities in a world that demands clear definitions?
In The Blackapino, Michael Goodloe offers a powerful and deeply personal memoir about navigating life as both Black and Filipino in America. Through honest reflection and lived experience, he explores racial ambiguity, belonging, and the quiet tension of existing outside rigid cultural categories.
From childhood to adulthood, Goodloe examines family, culture, and the realities of a mixed race identity, revealing how perception shapes opportunity, relationships, and self-understanding. As a Black Filipino navigating predominantly white and Black spaces, he confronts the pressures of code switching, workplace identity, and the constant question of "what are you?" These moments-often subtle, sometimes confronting-form the emotional core of this memoir.
More than a personal story,
The Blackapino speaks to the broader Blasian experience and to anyone who has felt unseen, misidentified, or asked to choose between parts of themselves. This is a thoughtful, resonant exploration of identity, culture, and the courage it takes to belong without erasing who you are.
A glimpse inside the memoir
Dedication
Preface
Where are you fromReflections on Identity
Life in the borderlands
Growing up
Peer Pressure
The Silences that shaped me
Hair, Identity, and the struggle for acceptance
and more…
“I learned early that the world wanted me to choose a side,
but my life existed in the space between.”
