The sun was hot and the sky a bright Mediterranean blue, but when I reached the US Citizenship and Immigration Services building it was grey and flat, and seemed to absorb the metallic light.

Behind the counter an older Asian woman filled in a form for my ‘biometrics appointment’, she glanced at me and circled ‘Asian’ as my ethnicity. Officials usually choose ‘white’ while I choose, or write in, ‘mixed’. I imagined the scenario – my application delayed because my ethnicity suddenly changed half way through the process. San Francisco is truly a town of transformation, you can change your gender, your sexuality and even your football team, but your ethnicity? I don’t think so.

I ask her to circle ‘white’. She did so and erased ‘Asian’. I explained I’d like both categories and she said ‘No, you have to choose one’… ain’t that the truth! I smiled and asked, ‘what would you do if Barack came in?’ gesturing towards the President’s photograph on the wall behind her. She remained unsmiling and I remembered the ‘birthers’ thinking maybe it wasn’t such a good question after all.–Clare

“No Colour Bar” Dance – London 1955
I’m carrying out research for my novel about Caribbean and Irish immigrants to London, England (like my parents). I came across some interesting videos including this Pathe report from 1955. It features a dance in London where the Mayor of Lambeth (one of the London Boroughs) invited 180 “English” people and 180 “West Indians” to a dance, in order to improve relations between the existing population and the newer immigrants from the British Caribbean.–Clare