(CNN) -- I was born in Ethiopia, raised in Oklahoma and Colorado, and ended up in Brooklyn, New York. Coming to America from Ethiopia, a place where black and white were only colors that had little to do with race, I had to learn English, and also the language of identity. In America, I was black. So when some online commenters questioned whether Boston Marathon winner and Eritrean-American Meb Keflezighi is truly "American," it reminded me of my own experience as an immigrant who became a naturalized American citizen and embraced a new identity. My parents, two brothers and I had an incredible life in Ethiopia.
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Some have said Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi is not truly American
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Haimy Assefa writes that she faced similar questions of her identity when she arrived from Ethiopia
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"I am black. I am Ethiopian. I am American," author writes
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Of course, @placeholder was not perfect, but it was all that I knew.
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By the time my family moved to Colorado, the outsized expectations of @placeholder were a distant memory.
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I felt I had a better grasp of @placeholder culture and my new black identity.
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This made me embrace my "blackness" more passionately, and I began to identify more as "black" than @placeholder.
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I wasn't quite @placeholder enough for some of my Ethiopian friends who were convinced moving to the U.S. at such a young age caused me to lose some legitimacy.
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My vivid memories of @placeholder and ability to speak my native language didn't cement my "Ethiopian-ness" to some.
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My vivid memories of Ethiopia and ability to speak my native language didn't cement my "@placeholder-ness" to some.
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When I moved to @placeholder, I felt at home, and met people with a similar understanding of black identity -- one that was varied and nuanced.