The Importance Of Race And Racial Identity

Explore the methods by which writers develop the theme of identity in the light of this statement.

Human beings have full control over their identities after they have received knowledge and have become shaped from external stimuli. These stimuli include the teaching process of humans which comes through tradition, schooling, and the actions of other humans and the influence of the organisms around them. Andrew Solomon, through “Son,” was able to use his experience of growing up and labeling himself as a gay dyslexic to show how his environment and knowledge had shaped his identity and how it was viewed by others with different identities. In “An Elephant Crackup,” Charles Siebert was able to explain how the other organisms or humans are able to form new identities for elephants over time by shaping them a new environment and having the elephants process it. In “Mind’s Eye,” Oliver Sacks had different case studies of blindness from different people and was able to show how each one experienced their blindness help shape and express their individual identities. The stimuli that becomes processed by a person in the situations, accounts, and studies of these works assist in the role of explaining the formulation of an identity.

Harsh stares and young blood draining out of an innocent or guilty body is what we hear and see in America. People have a side of nature of judgment, considerably known as racism. Ethnic minorities suffer racism in their lifetime, relating to Ta-Nehisi Coates memoir “Between the world and me” is an understanding of ineffectively influencing personal experiences, stereotypes, and ignorance towards people who face the issue of racism in reality like myself as a latina college student. As for Coates, he is an African American who lived in west Baltimore and attended Howard University in Washington D.C and now lives in New York. He is an author who has won awards such as the National Magazine award, Hillman prize for opinion and analysis journalism, and George Polk award. A person like Coates starts to understand what’s happening then and now in the world, therefore a better view of a memoir about an issue and a dream is an explanation of what everyone sees in the news or what revolves around us.

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.

The term identity is defined by Webster’s dictionary as being “the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions” however in exploring the concept of Identity in black literature, we can find no definite explanation or definition. We can try to accept that it has been rooted in social situations that are generally more discriminatory, such the institution of slavery. In some way shape or form, the average or normal African American is confronted with the question of where do I fit in amongst the white society? The problem with African American Identity has many dimensions, such as community, class, and color.

As it comes to the essentialists, race is very important when it comes to identity. It consists on the history and society that are involved in a big part in determining one’s identity, for all that experiences of races are different as they put them. Unfortunately, it comes from our past to when people used to think that the whitest people were the purist of all against the darkest people who were seeing as worst of all kind. As an illustration to that, historical trends take part into it, one horrifying example is slavery, when Africans were brought to the American colonies for the first time. Africans were taught to be categorized as completely different from us, used as things and property because they were black. In addition, they had

Finding your identity can be hard for some people. Your identity obviously makes you who you are. Gloria Anzaldua’s ‘To Live in the Borderlands’ (1987) and Justin Simien’s ‘Dear White People’ (2014) had a couple things in common when related to identity. In the poem, she talks about being between the borderlands and trying to find who you are based on where you are from and where you are now. I see a similar concept of not being able to decide who you really are in several characters in ‘Dear White People.’ When I think of the struggles with identity in both the poem and the movie, I think of the tug-of-war game. The reader, or character in the movie, is in the middle and having both sides of who they are on each

I claim that the functionality of the world relies heavily on race and ethnicity to make assumptions on individuals, leading to the continuation of stereotypes. However, while this is all true, people are confusing race with ethnicity causing assumptions to be even more unfair. The lifestyle of an individual is what defines them not the genetics that define their appearance. In Olson’s “The End of Race: Hawaii and the Mixing of Peoples,” he discusses how stereotypes and discrimination exist due to different backgrounds and culture not by race which is evident in Hawaii in which most of the population is mixed and have had cultures blend into one coherent culture that everyone accepts. Eventually it’ll reach to a point where we will not see an individual as a race with distinct traits that can be categorized but instead as a person with individuality. Moreover In “Paper Tigers,” writer Wesley Yang believes that Asians have been raised in certain ways that have made them successful throughout school but has also simultaneously crippled them in the job market and much like the Glass Ceiling, Asians have inherited a Bamboo Ceiling thus stating that ethnic background has an effect with the success that one experiences through life. Both authors claim that ethnicity, not race is the cause of stereotypes and inequality.

Cultural messages regarding ethnic and racial identity was more implicit then explicit. Racial and ethnic messages were more implicit because Americans, especially the white majority, are uncomfortable with race discussions (Irving, 2014; Picca, & Thompson-Miller, 2016). In Pembroke the majority of the residents are white so I had little interaction with people that were racially or ethnically different then myself. I also never had any interaction with an English Language Learner. Due to the majority of Pembroke residents being white, I did not talk a lot about race. More importantly, my white privilege allowed me to never have to talk about race (Irving, 2014; Picca, & Thompson-Miller, 2016). Instead it was through the actions of my

the other children in my survey who were African-descent like me. This gave me a sense of social community and stratification with them. Also, since I was the oldest out of my childhood friends this boosted the social identity aspect I adopted from my sibling. My neighbourhood compared to others was at a lower class, there was small crimes such as vandalism, use of illegal drugs, and conflicts. This made me socially desensitised to common crimes which shaped my social identity by being calmer when experienced with crimes outside of my neighbourhood. As I progressed to elementary school, I grew up mentally more mature then my peers which changed me into being more judgemental of others. I expected a lot from others which they found annoying. My time in elementary school was plagued by my lower wealth class which became more and more of an obstacle since school becomes more expensive as your grow older. This made me adopt a tendency to take care of my belongings and eventualy become very responsible. High school was the focal point of my young life. During grade 9 I acquired my first job which helped me with my money problems and help support my family extensively. Politically, people in my neighbourhood, including my family, would not pay attention conflicts and elections unless it was a problem in our home country. This caused me to become politically ignorant to situation happening in Canada and the world. In conclusion, my life mad me develop a social identity of

Toni Gatrell Ms. Tantlinger AP Literature 17 September 2017 A True Identity An identity is something people struggle to discover who they are as an individual. For some it takes years to invent their own identity. Which is why it’s better to know one's indigenous origins to create a true identity.

In my present job, I had to question whether I belong because being a female, my co-worker saw me as inferior. At that point, I felt more proud than ever because I challenge them to outdo me in performance and intellect. There were times when I started to doubt my potential, but I had to do self-talk, put on an armorer of bravery, hold my head high, and pretend to be just as capable until it happened.

In today’s society it seems to be believed that all racial conflicts or issues have been resolved, yet unfortunately, this could not be any further from the truth. Issues stemming from how people view different races and ethnicities continue to be so prevalent in this modern world. Judgement and prejudices cloud people’s minds and that does not allow them to really comprehend that race and ethnicity are only one feature of a person. First of all, in order to fully grasp the idea and effects that race and ethnicity play into a human being, it is important to know what these two words really mean. In the book, Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action, race is defined as a population that shares a set of genetic traits or physical features, and ethnic groups are defined as groups of people who display a set of cultural traits such as language, religion, or diet (Leon-Guerrero, p.65). Now understanding what the race and ethnicity of a person means, the next step should be to understand that these factors should not play into any consideration for any judgement since they are only one part of a person. Unfortunately, people who are part of the race minorities tend to fall into scrutiny by a society that does not fully comprehend this. This has led to negative mindsets and many forms of discrimination in different types of environments. Ultimately, the race and ethnicity of an individual will play a factor in the success of that person by affecting the type

An identity defines a person’s life on who they are. We do not get to choose our identity; our identity chooses us. Whether one doesn’t get to choose their identity, it is important to be appreciative of ones identity. In the novel The Human Stain by Phillip Roth, identity is displayed through Coleman Silk actions. Coleman Silk a man that made decisions in his life such as making a racial comment while teaching, lying about his race, and having an affair. In all, he was trying to find a new identity in search for power. In results of his life decisions, Coleman Silk lost his original identity that would dawn on him forever.

The ways race affect a person’s identity and status among society are painfully apparent in Theme for English B by Langston Hughes. When giving his identity to the reader, the speaker states: “I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.” (7) This introduction would sound quite unusual today. A student today wouldn’t introduce their self in front of their class as “Fourteen, yellow-skinned, and born in Seattle”. This demonstrates that race was a crucial part of a person’s identity in the speaker’s time, and that to understand who someone was, one must establish whether they were “colored” or not. The speaker reinforces this afterwards, saying that he is “the only colored student in my class.” (10) The repetition of the word “colored” leaves