Essay Racial and Ethnic Identity

“The History, Development and Future of Ethnic Studies” by Evelyn Hu-DeHart mentions several issues young scholars faced during the time of need for multicultural curriculum in higher education. Young scholars were demanding to uncover the missing facts and accredited sources that American history, culture, and society have left out for centuries. The solution the students concluded in solving this dilemma was to bring attention to the need of ethnic studies programs. With enough support from the student body and willingness of universities, institutions were able to recruit professors and thus create ethnic studies programs. According to Hu-DeHart, by providing ethnic studies programs and departments, the academic field would provide, “…a

The peer reviewed article “Ethnic and Racial Identity During Adolescence into Young Adulthood: An Integrated Conceptualization” is a well written article on the struggle that people of color face when coming face to face with their identity in social situations. Umana-Taylor, Quintana, Lee, Cross, Rivas-Drake, Schwartz and Seaton (2014) analyzed ethnic and racial identity or ERI and how it relates to important developments and issues from early childhood well on into young adulthood. They worked to find the most important milestones during the development or ERI as well (Umana-Taylor et. al 2014). This paper will consist of the information given from the article and how I’ve dealt with my own ERI.

The second stage of Black racial identity development refers to the encounter stage. This depicts the juncture in life when a black American experiences a traumatic event/circumstance that causes him/her to reconsider their overall beliefs on racism. Dr. Cross asserts that this event/circumstance usually heightens an individual’s racial awareness and additionally, triggers major conflicts with their earlier viewpoints under the pre-encounter context. This causes one to reassess his/her own identity and develop an awareness of the Black experience.

Each and every person on this Earth today has an identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through past experiences, family, race, and many other factors. Race, which continues to cause problems in today’s world, places individuals into certain categories. Based on their race, people are designated to be part of a larger, or group identity instead of being viewed as a person with a unique identity. Throughout Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Richard is on a search for his true identity. Throughout Black Boy, one can see that Richard’s racial background assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some

When addressing self-identification, some multiracial or biracial individuals do identify as being two or more races. Some identity as just one, or that they feel closer to a certain racial group. About 69% of Multiracial adults with a black background considered themselves as black/African American (experiences, social interactions that align them within the black community). While Multiracial Asian adults, with a white and Asian background, feel more connected to the white community than to the Asian community. Another group of multiracial individuals, are those that are white and native American, and around 22% say they have a lot in common with the in the US that is native America. And 61% say they have a lot more in common with the whites.

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.

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.

Even though I believe to have a strong cultural diverse upbringing that differs from many of the lifestyles of my white friend, I never experienced any self-depreciation and oppression regarding my culture. I do believe I have undergone cultural development in terms of acculturation, but considering I have never experienced the need to abandon my cultural values, I feel it is appropriate to refer to the white racial identity development model rather than the racial/cultural identity developmental model. As a white female, I have certainly benefitted from white privilege, and it is my responsibility to acknowledge that aspect of my racial identity.

Race is a social-constructed terminology where it categorizes people into groups that share certain distinctive physical characteristics such as skin color. However, race and racial identity is unstable, unfixed and constantly shifting, as race, typically, is a signifier of prevalent social conflict and interest. Although, many, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, argue in the aforementioned point of view, some – mainly white population -- believe that racial characteristics are biologically inherited.

Race is a socially constructed term that society uses to distinguish and categorize people by the color of their skin. With race, unfortunately, comes stereotypes, a distorted image of a particular person or group of people that is widely known and unconsciously recognized throughout society. The strongest stereotypes of Blacks in society are that they are unfriendly, dangerous, or are criminals. There is a correlation between the relationship with race and crime. The stereotype that will be discussed is, African Americans as criminals.

The growth of identity is a practice molded by a person’s family history, environmental experiences, and societal attachments. Identity endures ordeals to make the person secure and attentive so that it’s easier for the person to know what to expect out of their life. Although changes in our surroundings can be accepted, adjustments to one’s identity can often be challenging. Particularly in African American identity, there is difficulty in accepting who one is and knowing one’s place in society. There is an even greater difficulty if one is a biracial African American.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue. Everyone knows the story of Christopher Columbus; they are taught it in grade school if not before then. When he landed in America by accident, he had no idea that he would be creating the world's largest Melting Pot. This "melting pot" provided means for a new country, made from a mixture of many cultures and beliefs, thus creating a new country with a new and ever-changing culture. One complication with a Melting Pot is that you cannot put people of different race and ethnicity together without conflict.

For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.

Since the dawning of racism, human beings have passed judgment on each other based on race and ethnicity. The views of people based on their skin color, place of origin, or their cultural background have caused a stratification of men and women. We now have majority and minority groups, hate groups, ethnic enclaves, segregation, income differences, and have even experienced mass genocide in our world (Carl, 2011). All of these are direct effects of a persons race or ethnicity. These all provide humans with a struggle between each other for various resources. Race and ethnic stratification is an integral example of conflict theory because a competition for resources takes place between people coming from different

While many models exist to describe the phenomenon of ethnic identity, the model in question is the Ethnic Identity Development model proposed by Phinney and Ong in 1992. Their theory contains underpinnings of both Erikson and Marcia and is divided into three stages: Unexamined Ethnic Identity, Moratorium, and Ethnic Identity Achievement. Phinney’s theory rests on the proposal that “individuals begin in a state of indifference, confusion, or minimal awareness about their ethnicity, and move toward more complex, flexible, and informed ways