Personal Narrative: I Am A Muslim Palestinian

One’s identity has the ability to play a central role in one’s schooling experience and in return, affect the way they perceive the world around them. Growing up in an Asian household located in a predominately Asian American neighborhood located in the San Gabriel Valley, I always identified myself strongly to my race and took pride in being a first generation Asian American child. Race has definitely affected my schooling experience in many different ways, both positively and negatively. In addition, there were a variety of other aspects such as stereotypical gender roles and socioeconomic class status which factored into the way I learned in the U.S. education system. In this paper, I will examine how race, class, and gender played a big role throughout my schooling experience.

There was absolutely nothing that could set me apart from the sea of designer purses, overly expensive shoes, and cherry flavored lip glosses. In high school, it seems if you weren’t marginalized into a group or follow the status quo you were seen as the misfit. One day, I experienced an epiphany in the back of my Government class, I wasn’t content with the illusion of the perfect teen. I had acceptable grades, I was well liked by most of my student body; however, I couldn’t come to the terms that I neglected what really mattered to me. At home my family would describe me with words such as: “eclectic, unique and remarkable.”, but at school I conformed into a person with a lackluster personality. I reckon that college is a place where each student is not the same and has the ability to be their true selves without being judged. This being, another reason why I respect your institution on the importance of accepting different cultures and

Since coming to America, I have moved to an ample amount of places because my father’s job concerns. I changed school frequently and in each new school I was never greeted with a warm welcome. With one glance my classmates saw I was different from them. I was often bullied and teased because of my racial difference from my classmates, from these experiences I became a quiet and docile girl. This way I thought I would not get in anyone’s way. I had closed up in the world in front of me; I never expressed my own opinions and always agreed with the majority. However secretly inside of me, I was frustrated not being able to express myself and yet I was unable to change. I craved to be what I was in the inside to be on the outside. Still by

our loud booms echo throughout the stone house. “Open the door!” a man would yell. Five kids and the parents quickly run over to the door. The father opens the door while the kids and the wife peek over his shoulder and legs. An intimidating IDF soldier roars, “We are taking over your house and you must leave within the night. If you refuse you will be jailed and/or your house will be demolished with you in it or not.” The family is forced to leave within the night in the fear that their lives would end. This is common in Palestine: Israeli soldiers taking occupied land. Palestinians that experience this take their ID’s and official documents with them. Barely anytime is left to the family to pack their belongings. I am a Palestinian, and even though I haven’t dealt with this firsthand, my parents and grandparents have dealt with this.

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

It was not until tenth grade when I realized that I don’t need to fit the stereotypes or expectations that others may imply on me. This decision to take a stand and become my own person first started with how I dressed. Having my own style, whether it was wearing what I wanted or following new trends that not everyone liked, I felt like I was becoming my own person. Along with my development of my style I also started to voice my opinions about topics that mattered to me. My views on the world have earned me the title of an extreme liberal among my

Before I begin this assignment, let me clarify, I am not Jewish in any way.

As a middle-class Somali-American, I have an identity that very few individuals in the United States have. As a result, I have never fit into a particular group of people. I had not realized this until college because I had always gone to small schools throughout my academic career. From elementary school to high school, I never belonged to a particular group; instead, I associated marginally with all of them due to the small class size. I had created a superficial sense of belonging with a large amount of acquaintances; however, college’s different environment exposed this superficiality immediately.

I grew up in a family where my father was a doctor and my mother a homemaker, both immigrants from Pakistan hoping to achieve the American dream. Growing up in a white-dominant community and attending a high school with predominantly, white students and teachers, I was restricted in my growth and freedom. I was treated differently by my friends, peers and faculty members as I tried to acclimate to the American culture. My low social status, identity as a student in my high school was due to my race and gender. My race, defined by my phenotypic traits, compelled my peers and teachers to treat me differently, because of association with an inferior race. Despite being born in America, my foreign looks and association with another country, led me to be captured by the chains of racial profiling. My family, my low-social status in a White-dominated institution and my membership in primary groups were all pivotal aspects that have allowed me to attend UC Davis, where I plan to combat the low expectations of my Pakistani race.

I totally agree with the assertion of A. Blemenfeld that those identification aspects that capture my attention are the targets of others people’s attention that is reflected back to me (Blumenfeld, 2010). Even though, I was always open-minded and had a friendly relationship with almost anybody, I felt that my racial identity was a part of a problem. As I was the only student of color, I felt alienated sometimes.

Our education system is perhaps one of the most complex institutions in the United States. Students are taught to be their most authentic selves but yet are told to think a certain way. In reality, students really don’t have the freedom to be their genuine identity. Our society tells us that a typical student speaks the language, excels in all areas of study, and loves to read. Children who do not fit this mold are often at a disadvantage and do not attain the same acceptance. In the essay, “Achievement of Desire” Richard Rodriguez was a first generation immigrant from Mexico. His parents spoke little English, and had no education. Automatically, his family is an outcast. Throughout Rodriguez’s schooling career he learned to fit the perfect mold of the “typical” American student. He finds himself to be in an internal struggle between social versus family isolation, authenticity and finding his place in the American society.

Throughout my life, certain identities have remained consist. And these identities have come to shape my perspectives and my needs and wants within American culture. Typically, my social

How you do in school, your social ability, and your awareness of others are all guided by how you identify. Identification in one’s gender, race, religion, social class, and ethnicity are all driving forces behind your future self. Identity is a crucial part of who you are, and in recent studies and experimentation researchers have been trying to identify new, untested factors that influence behavior in people. Although, in the past there hasn’t been a strong focus on the positive and negative effects of race and ethnicity, the conversation is now shifting to align itself with the current times. With America becoming increasingly more ethnically and racially diverse, we must take the time to see how certain factors, specifically race and ethnicity, impact a person’s development and behavior.

Speaking of late 1980, Iran had just hard time, it was right after war with Iraq. struggling with economic problems, there had not been many options when it came to have fun especially for children.

“Our views and behavior depend to some degree on our social location in society—our gender, race, social class, religion, and so forth.”(Barkan, 2013). As I have grown up and my perspective of the world has broadened I have realized how narrow my views were. I grew up in Germany, Italy, and Hungary before moving to the USA, but because I was so sheltered I really didn’t know what was really happening in society. As I grew older I have come to realize the socialization process did help me develop my values, beliefs, morals, my religious outlook, my political affiliations and what not.