The Black Identity Model

Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by people of the same ethnic race and culture. I was raised in the small city of Temple City where a lot of older generation Asian immigrants resided, which resulted in my schools being mostly dominated by the first generation Asian American population. Because of this similarity of race and culture with my peers, it was fairly easy for me to bond with other students as well as feel comfortable within the realms of my schools and neighborhood. I had little trouble learning and participating in classrooms and also was able to be very involved in leadership positions in extracurricular programs at my high school which was a good learning experience for me.

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.

My block was a melting pot of people but my high school was not. After entering high school is when I realized that I was white or Caucasian. During this time, I was also given the

I started school at a place named little rock elementary. I remember My first day of school like it was yesterday. I've never met a black man until this day; his name was Thomas, the only black boy at the school. I decided that I would be friends with him since nobody else would talk to him and looked at him as if he was an extraterrestrial. I felt as if I the same as him for the reason being that I did not have many friends myself; his color didn't matter much to me on that during the start of school. This is what I did not know my father was a KKK clan leader, I never knew what the KKK was because my father never explained it to me, I did not have friends so the other kids at school never explained it to me, but I would hear

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.

The United States has a way of inspiring our citizens reflect on their multiple identities whether institutional factors or association to one’s geographical area. Inside the Black community of the United States, citizens repeatedly debate about what does it means to be themselves and represent their race to the rest of the world. Some questions that always arise for Black citizens when discussing their identities are: ‘do I have to be the representative for my race’, ‘can just be an individual’, and ‘how do I fit into United States as an American. Black-ish presents many concerns Black citizens contemplate throughout their lives while living the United States. Black-ish is a television show airing on ABC channel, the show centers around the

The first time I felt different from the rest was my last year of middle school. Before moving to the suburbs of Walnut Creek, I used to live in Antioch where minorities were common. I attended a diverse middle school, where I had a diverse group of friends. My friends and I used to have many things in common, primarily because we were all hispanic. However, all that changed when my family decided to move from Antioch to Walnut Creek.

Identifying the type of racial identity that one person is can be difficult for some people. I became aware of my racial identity when I was still in elementary school. When I was younger my hometown in a racial aspect was generally people of white descendants, but we had neighboring towns that had

I think that the stages of “racial identity development” are incredibly interesting because openly acknowledging them has the potential to make people extremely uncomfortable. Yet, I also experience mixed-feelings towards them because they fail to account for identities that fall outside of the racial binary.

At a glance, one could determine that Martin Luther King advocated for a new set of social norms under which people would be judged “by the content of their character, not the color of their skin”. He envisioned a world where people of color are integrated in the broader society and he based that solely on the broader notion of humanity shared among all people as children of God. In that sense, there is no doubt that King advocated for a social shift based on the shared humanity of Blacks and Whites. However, this is not by any means a common thread with Plenty Coups as he was not at all concerned with that aspect. On the contrary, he is saddened by the fact that the members of the Crow tribe no longer have a strong and vibrant identity defined

When I was a child, any friends I did have were mostly people of color. Most white people didn’t want a damn thing to do with me. Why? Because I was different. I dressed weird, I talked weird, I had weird hair, I acted weird. I WAS weird (I still am).

the first time I noticed a difference in diversity and ethnicity was when I would spend the night at my grandma’s house as a kid. Her neighborhood was not as nice as mine. There were always bad things happing like people braking in to homes or people getting arrested. When these things would happen I would always be terrified that someone uninvited would come into my grandma’s house and harm us. However, that never happened. With these brakes in and arrest in my

Until about age fifteen race and skin color was not evident to me. I wasn’t black and my friends weren’t white because we were all people. I think growing up in a white school and town caused me to forget who I am, what my heritage was, and that I’m not white. At a young age, my father passed away so the “black” part of me didn’t matter. Growing up with white friends, teachers, cousins, and schools made me believe I was white like them. Even though I learned about weaves, weed, parties, poverty, and ashy knees, when I visited my father’s side of the family in New York, being black didn’t mean anything to my naive brain. I wasn’t white or black but a person. Something that bothered me as a kid was why I looked different. I didn’t have blonde straight hair, pale skin, blues eyes, and I didn’t resemble my idol, Britney Spears. So I straightened my hair, I would put lotion on my skin hoping I would magically change skin colors, I begged my mom for contacts, and in seventh grade I got a blonde ombre. Today, I realize I’m not white, I’m not the average webb citian and I’ve learned to accept that even though

I was six years old when I first realized that racial differences exist. It was a year after I my parents decided to it would be best if my siblings and I lived in Jordan with my mother. My parents wanted my siblings and me to learn the Arab culture and the Islamic faith while we were still young. Prior to moving to Jordan, we lived in LaSalle, Illinois where all my friends were Caucasian. I never noticed being different because everyone around me was Caucasian, and no one pointed out that I was different at that time. Once we moved to Jordan, I began to notice that children and adults looked different, dressed different and even spoke an unfamiliar language.

Boo! Ghosts are the most popular halloween costumes with children. Perhaps the popularity comes from the idea that children like hiding their true identity, a fascination that will continue into adulthood. In Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey is a half white and half black woman who has trouble incorporating her black heritage into her life therefore missing a piece of her identity. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, characters described as a phantom or shade indicate missing or different identities. In The Circle by Dave Eggers, the employees live through what the circle tells and have no original ideas which stems from their missing identity. them Ghosts are the soul of a once living person, but they are incomplete in that they are missing emotions or major characteristics of a human. Because of these missing pieces, ghosts represent missing identity.