Why Does Race Determine Identity

How does culture affect our self-identity? By the way we are branded with our culture, our own culture gives us this identity and since it is given to us then we view and judge other cultures and the people involved with them. That is how racism comes into play. Racism, some may say originates from back when slavery and inequality was still ongoing; in a way it did, but it essentially derived from culture and its perceptions. The differences in culture of the “whites” and the “blacks” and the “whites” thinking they were

In his essay, “Racial Identities”, Kwame Anthony Appiah addresses the topic of racial identification. He describes how and why it’s hard not to identify someone based on their race. Today in the United States, racial identification is quite relevant. People judge and stereotype others based on race. Classifying people based on their looks isn’t bad, it’s the negative attitudes and labels that come with it. Racial identification is hard for most people to avoid, is detrimental due to the bad attitudes people have, negatively affects people’s lifestyles, and divide people.

What is the obsession with people’s need of identification? People need to understand that we all are different, not everybody can fit into a group. In her article, “Being an Other,” Melissa Algranati gives a personal narrative of her life and her parent 's life and how they faced discrimination and her struggles about being identified as an “other” even though she was an American born jewish and Puerto Rican. Michael Omi’s article “In Living Color: Race and American Culture” reinforces Algranati’s article since in his article he discusses about people ideas about race the stereotypes that they face. They have the same thought that Americans is obsessed with labelling people, they both discuss people’s assumptions of others based on how

Race labels have been present in society for hundreds of years. However, the concept of race has not always existed. In ancient times, while people were often divided by characteristics such as class and religion, they were never divided by the color of their skin. “Race” in the context of classifying humans was not even used in the English language until 1508 in a poem by William Dunbar (California Newsreel, 2003). Today, race defines most of the things that we do. For example, we are asked about our race when filling out most forms like standardized tests and the United States Census. But why is this important? The answer: it should not be. I believe that race divides people and allows for things such as racism and stereotyping to

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

Society labels others which are shapes our identity. Labels such as white, black, cool, not cool, popular, unpopular etc. These labels are all given by society and placed by society. Based upon this evidence labels can be some good and some bad but either way, society has given them to you and they are difficult to change to our real selves. These labels shape who we are as a person or our identity.

The 21st century society consists of judgements and unrealistic expectations of the public. Different races get treated certain ways based off the stereotype that humanity has assigned to them. The way a person presents themselves is oftentimes used as a characteristic to categorize them in our day and age. For example, the way one dresses, does their makeup, or acts in public can place them in a general group of people with similar features. By organizing people into categories, assumptions are made about these people that tend to create boundaries for these individuals. When one hears the word identity one thinks about the way one appears or the way they express their likes and interests. While both of these are valid ways to think about someone’s identity, most people do not think about how that can affect the way someone lives. There are things we chose to identify as and there are things that we do not have a choice about. People are judged every day because of their race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. Race and appearance, such as being African American and one’s fashion choices oftentimes intersect in society creating challenges.

Race and ethnicity are key roles in our society, people can be prideful about them or they can be shameful, none the less they are a huge topic and many people would like to get rid of them, but in all actuality there is a reason why they exist and function. To start off i would like to quote the original question in the book, Emerging by Barclay Barrios, it asks the question, “why do ethnicities continue to function in society?”.This question can be answered in three steps. The first step for why ethnicities persist to exist is big institutions, secondly, what new mechanisms are emerging for classifying people, and lastly, the psychology behind ethnicity. These together make race and ethnicity posable and keep them around.

Race is something that is determined by our genes, what we are born with, but so is gender. Gender and race are both determined by what genes we are handed down and neither of these things are our choice, we are simply male or female, and we are simply a race. However, if one is not comfortable with his or her gender, they may freely identify as any other gender regardless with what they were born with. Using the same logic, we must reach a similar conclusion with race. If, as a

Racial identity is a part of a socially constructed hierarchy that identifies human beings based on their ethnicity and ancestry. Essentially, the only difference between race and ethnicity is that race is determined by the dominant ethnicity. Race has been a relevant topic throughout history, and racial conflicts still exist in the modern world. Judgements based on racial identity create prejudice and bigotry. The susceptibility of people to believe others’ predispositions is what causes prejudice and bigotry to grow. Racial identity has inhibited individuals’ opportunities for centuries due to predispositions formed from a lack of credible knowledge.

If race were not simply a concept in relation to genetics, then it would remain constant across the globe; someone who is considered Black in the United States may be called White in Brazil or colored in South Africa, thus race is inconsistent and capricious. Much like how race as a construct is fluid, racial identity can be fluctuating as well; the way in which one

The study of the racial autobiography has discovered the racial identity of the individuals. Particularly in Asia, people who have identified themselves through the racial, they have developed different perceptions about the world. A part of the race, cultural, sexual and gender identity has done more perceptive on how individuals view the world. By using the Asian history to study race, culture, and gender, there are quite a number of cognitive adjustment on how individuals view the world.

Early attempts to define a process of minority identity transformation came primarily through the words of black social scientists and educations (Sue & Sue, 2016). In my quest to becoming culturally competent, I must first understand my own culture and Identity. Multicultural and social justice competent counselors, develop knowledge about the history and events that shape their privileged and marginalized status (MSJCC, 2016).

As someone who identifies as a multi-racial woman, I have found that my racial location in society has been different based on who I am around. I am of lighter skin, and I have acknowledged I am more privileged than a woman who is darker than me. As a multi-racial woman, I at times have had to make sure I fit in based on who I was surrounded by. I am aware that in ways I do benefit from white privilege, but in a lot of ways I am still put into the subordinate group by the dominate racial groups. I fully became aware of my racial identity as a child, going to a predominately white elementary school. After my encounters with some of the peers and teachers at this school, I became aware that I was “different”, and for the first time not feeling fully accepted into my peer groups.

We live in a country that is so diverse. No matter where we go we always seem to encounter someone of a different race or culture. So much so, that it has become imperative for many to be able to properly interact with others from a different background. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we are a society that primarily focuses on one’s personal growth, we never look back to realize what effects we inflict upon people of a different race. This topic very well hits close to home for me because I am a hispanic female. This topic not only interests me because of my racial identity, but also with the sudden change in political climate, it is a topic that should be brought up and discussed. I personally believe that for those that are a part of a minority group, or outgroups, the effects of racial identity and interactions are not always the best, whether it be mentally or socially.