Racial Identity Development

The next stage in the R/CID model is Introspection. The individual begins to discover that this deep seeded hatred of the dominate group is psychologically draining. Moreover, the energy used to hate the dominate group is not conducive to their understanding neither themselves nor their own racial-cultural group. The resistance and immersion stage tends to be a reaction against the dominant culture and is not proactive in allowing the individual to use all energies to discover who or what he or she is. The minority shows concerns for the basis of the self-appreciation. Self-definition in the previous stage tends to be reactive (against White racism), and a need for positive self-definition in a proactive sense emerges.

In 1971, William E. Cross, Jr., Ph.D., a Black psychologist and prominent researcher (specializing in Black psychology) developed a framework for assessing how black Americans come to understand what it means to be Black. Dr. Cross introduced his ideologies as the “Nigrescence Model of Racial Identity Development“. He asserts that every black American must undergo a series of identity stages to develop a healthy and balanced understanding of the Black experience and become well-rounded in our global society. This model encompasses five stages of identity development, which Dr. Cross emphasizes, must be performed in order to successfully accomplish this goal.

“Culture is fluid. Culture is smoke. You breathe it. You eat it. You cant help but hearing it… I am in favor of assimilation. I am not in favor of assimilation. I recognize assimilation” (Rodriguez 143). All in all, I am accepting of the labels society may put on me, for now. I'm growing up in a community that values peoples differences and accepts that we are all American in our own way. Being racially identified is not important to me, I don’t believe it makes me, or anybody else, who there are today.

When I was young I didn’t really realize the impact of being African-American until high school. I went to a predominately white school for elementary and middle school. I was just like any other youth. I had my group of friends who were white; I was active in school activities and clubs. I was a student athlete and I got along well with my teachers. Everyone saw me as an upbeat person with a bubbly personality. Surprisingly, race was never brought up it wasn’t an issue for me during that period of my life. However, as I got older I realize there was a difference. As an adult I could really see the prejudice in others. I recall working a on a special project for the

The stage that most accurately describes me will be integrative awareness. Integrative awareness has developed a secure, confident sense of racial/cultural identity (Sue , 2001). The reason why this cultural identity describes me is because I do commit to supporting and appreciating all oppressed and diverse groups which also wraps around integrative awareness too. The reason why is because I like to treat people equal and I like being fair to everyone because that’s how I was raised. I’m very open to all types of different t cultures diverse groups because we are all people at the end of the day. Integrative awareness also wraps around being multicultural and for me it doesn’t matter what race, cultural, and religion you are because I don’t

Identity is defined as “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is” (Oxford University Press). Personal identity deals with questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being people. Some of these questions are familiar that happen to all of us every once in a while: What am I? When did I begin? What will happen to me when I die? There are many different categories that define us as people (Olson). Our Race, Class, and Culture define who we are so much that it affects how we should live our life.

In Jan Arminio’s article, “Waking Up White,” (2010) she discusses her journey of self-discovery. She claims discovery of identity didn’t happen until after the birth of her children. In high school, college, and adulthood she acknowledges being naively racist although not directly demonstrated. She asserts that her behavior was due to her need to reassert her dominate role and each race has a role to play. After going back to school for her doctoral degree and the birth of Jan’s children she went through an identity shift. She analyzed the history of whites plus blacks and discovered white people created the term to serve their own personal agendas. Supporting this idea through the findings of race being a social construction that holds back society. In must order to better understand her own race Jan

I am a Hispanic woman who if I am honest have a lot of self hate for myself and my culture. “Internal racism has been the term used to describe the process by which persons of color absorb the racist messages that are omnipresent in our society and internalized them” (Sue, 2016). I grew up in a small border town where stereotypes are made. I never experienced much racism because we were the majority. However, looking at it now I have a lot of self hate, and I always identified as white growing up, because I am light skinned I still believe I can pass for white at least until I moved to Georgia. Living here has taught me that I miss my culture I miss the cooking, the camaraderie, the unity that Hispanics have. The other day I was asked at

The Helms White Racial Identity Development Model identifies six racial identity statuses (Sue & Sue, 2016). These statuses include contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, immersion/emersion, and autonomy. Each of these statuses identifies characteristics that individuals in these statuses have. I traveled through theses statuses and believe I am currently in the immersion/emersion status. During different points in the model, I learned about race and myself that allowed me to move through each status, and currently working towards entering autonomy.

In the conformity phase, people are more appreciative of the dominant culture’s characteristics over their own culture’s values. In the United States, this dominant culture is the White American culture and serves as the reference group for those individuals in the conformity phase. Individuals can be in this phase without having a disdain for their own culture. Because the White culture is the dominant culture, individuals may conform to this culture in order to avoid feeling inferior. Within each of the five phases of the R/CID model, attitudes and beliefs are further broken down. For individuals in the conformity phase, the attitude and belief towards the self are characterized by negative views. Cultural and physical characteristics of the individual’s own culture are unwanted and should be denied or changed. Attitudes towards members of the same group are also highly negative. Individuals in the

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.

Personally I feel that I identify myself within the Poston Biracial Identity Development Model. This model is focused for individuals that identify with multiple racial or ethnic groups. The stages of this model are the personal identity stage, choice of group categorization stage, enmeshment/denial stage, appreciation stage, and the integration stage. The personal identity stage is when an individual is independent of race or ethnicity. When I was in elementary school probably around 5 or 6 years old I showed part in this stage as I was naïve of the thought that people could be segregated based on race or ethnicity. The choice of group categorization stage is when an individual identifies themselves with one of their ethnicities. I reached this stage around 3rd grade or so when I began to identify myself as specifically the white part of my ethnicity (Irish).

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.

Race is not is biological, race is an idea that we perceive based on physical characteristics. People experience their racial identity at different times in their lives. Describing how I became aware of my own racial identity and how it affected me to be the person I am today and my future is a good eye opener for becoming a future educator. Also my perspective of how my racial identity has changed maybe a slight change but nothing too drastic.

As white people, we never have our racial identity challenged. The beginning of the project was me becoming aware of the intersecting contradictions of identifying as a white woman; the obstacles of being a woman, but the privileges that come from whiteness. Growing up, like the mass population, I was taught, you are either a man or a woman and that those things are opposite to each other. I never thought I wasn't a woman, but I never thought I was opposite to a man either.