Racial identity
In this essay I critique the current role race and ethnicity has in society, specifically in defining a person or group of people. This form of unintentional racism, whether by the characterization of a person because of their appearance or their claimed race is prevalent in our daily lives. I argue that only a person themselves, can decide how they want their race/ethnicity to define themselves.
“What are you?” In a society where race holds a certain ambience over its people, questions like this do not pose any threat to people. Most people just answer instinctually “ Oh I’m (insert race/ethnicity here)”. Some people take offense, citing the question as racist and inconsiderate. The questioners usually do not have malicious intent, simply so, they live in a society in which race, although respected and accepted, has use as a form of characterization of a person. In “Being an Other”, Melissa Algranati shares the story of her unique biracial background and makes the notable argument that only you can decide how your race defines you, not how other people choose to perceive you. As a biracial person herself, the author accurately presents the tribulations of having a racial identity crisis.
Melissa Algranati shares in her article her parents different heritages, her father a Sephardic Jew and her mother a “white” Puerto Rican, and how those heritages have positively and negatively affected both her parents and herself. Algranati tells how her parents struggled in America as immigrants, and how they surpassed all the difficulties they faced, including an initial language barrier. “At the age of fourteen my father and his friends were once again forced to adjust to life in a new country, but this they had to learn a new language in order to survive” (Algranati 668). Her mother “went from being Maria Louisa Pinto to becoming Mary L. Pinto” (Algranati 669). Algranti discusses how her parents distinct ethnicities affected and still affect her life by revealing that “Throughout my whole life, people have mistaken me for other ethnic backgrounds rather than for what I really am” (Algranati 667). Algranati may have started by talking of her confusion and her feelings of “being an other”, but she finishes with self-assurance and confidence that she is “‘a Puerto Rican Egyptian Jew.’ Contrary to what society may think, I know that I am somebody” (Algranati 671).
America prides itself on its acceptance and for its nickname of “the melting pot”, yet still signs of racism exist concerning biracial Americans. Melissa Algranati tells her experiences as not only a biracial American, but that of a non-common combination (Egyptian Jew and Puerto Rican). This “melting pot” that America represents, not only brings in people of distant background and ethnicities, it also creates marriages and unions that would seem imaginable. These biracial unions then produce biracial children. According to the Washington Post, “More than 7 percent of the 3.5 million children born in the year before the 2010 Census were of two or more races, up from barely 5 percent a decade earlier. The number of children born to black and white couples and to Asian and white couples almost doubled” (Morello). While a majority of these biracial kids are half-black and half-white or half-white and and half-Asian, non-common biracial combinations, such as that of Algranati, still exist. Yet these combinations, still puzzle Americans, who tend to pick one race as the “true” race of a particular person. Algranati recalls how the parents of a friend recognized only one of her races. “Even today to them, I will always be Jewish and not Puerto Rican because to them it is unacceptable to ‘love’ a Puerto Rican” (Algranati 670). This type of profiling, while probably unintentional, exemplifies the racism brought on towards biraciality. Algranati proves how people take the appearances of people and then use that appearance to categorize them into a certain race. The problem becomes that these people sometimes have a racial identity crisis. Jon Anderson in the Chicago Tribune article “Identity Crisis Can Be A Lifelong Problem For Biracial Families” outlines the case of Dorothy Adams. In the article, Anderson writes “‘I didn't want to choose,’ she recalled, speaking last weekend at the monthly discussion meeting of the Biracial Family Network, one of many functions of a support group for ‘families and individuals of diverse ancestry.’” Algranati truly exemplifies how biracial children have to deal with people’s reactions to their two races. She also presents how Americans often do not perceive “ethnic” children as ethnic due to their physical appearance.
Here in America, a general respect for each others races exists, however, people remain very observant about race, using initial, visual perceptions to identify other people’s ethnicities and race. This obsession with other people’s races happens to exist mainly with Americans. Although not a negative obsession, it still does not make sense why Americans place so much importance on race. For example, people here tend to always ask “what are you?” People also have a great amount of pride for their race and hold it as a matter of importance. Having pride in your ethnicity/race matters in terms of self-realization, but Americans tend to intrude per se when it comes to other people’s race. People look at a person’s appearance or name and immediately judge that person because of the alleged pretense of a certain ethnicity. This leads to inaccurate racial profiling and ignorance. Algranati presents examples of how her “white” appearance has caused misbelief in her true ethnic backgrounds, “Possessing light hair and blue eyes, I am generally perceived as the ‘all-American’ girl” (Alganati 670) and “one of my fellow workers says to me ‘that is such a collegian white thing to say.’ […] Of course he doubted I was any part Hispanic until he met my cousin who ‘looks’ Puerto Rican” (Algranati 670). I understand and agree with what Algranati expresses about her experiences having the appearances of a “white” person. I am 100% Mexican, born in Mexico, to Mexican parents, and have Mexican grandparents. While having family members of both light and dark-skinned “varieties” I ended up receiving the lighter-skinned genes and am one of the whitest people in my whole family. My nickname, “Güero”, literally means “white boy”. Here in the United States, people constantly express disbelief when told that I am Mexican. They say things like: “but you’re not really Mexican, you’re too white”, or “you’re just half Mexican, right?”, and “you’re Spanish, not Mexican.” To these people I can only respond by saying how I really am Mexican and that they base their facts off of an incorrect stereotype. While Americans do not try to act insensitively when it comes to racial appearances, sometimes they do come across as racially insensitive. Algranati really captures how Americans think that everyone belongs to the race that they look like.
Melissa Algranati accurately depicts the struggle of racial identity in America by presenting personal examples. She claims it us up to people themselves to choose how to define themselves in terms of race and ethnicity. Not only do people need to think for themselves on this topic, but other people also need to stop judging others for their race and instead appreciate them for their personality and how they wish to identify themselves.
Works Cited
Algranati, Melissa. “Being an Other.” Signs of Life in the USA. Seventh Edition. Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 377-386. Print.
Anderson, Jon. “Identity crisis can be a lifelong problem for biracial families.” articles.Chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune, 18 March 1998. Web.
Morello, Carol. “Number of biracial babies soars over past decade.” washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post, 26 April 2012. Web.
Melissa Algranati shares in her article her parents different heritages, her father a Sephardic Jew and her mother a “white” Puerto Rican, and how those heritages have positively and negatively affected both her parents and herself. Algranati tells how her parents struggled in America as immigrants, and how they surpassed all the difficulties they faced, including an initial language barrier. “At the age of fourteen my father and his friends were once again forced to adjust to life in a new country, but this they had to learn a new language in order to survive” (Algranati 668). Her mother “went from being Maria Louisa Pinto to becoming Mary L. Pinto” (Algranati 669). Algranti discusses how her parents distinct ethnicities affected and still affect her life by revealing that “Throughout my whole life, people have mistaken me for other ethnic backgrounds rather than for what I really am” (Algranati 667). Algranati may have started by talking of her confusion and her feelings of “being an other”, but she finishes with self-assurance and confidence that she is “‘a Puerto Rican Egyptian Jew.’ Contrary to what society may think, I know that I am somebody” (Algranati 671).
America prides itself on its acceptance and for its nickname of “the melting pot”, yet still signs of racism exist concerning biracial Americans. Melissa Algranati tells her experiences as not only a biracial American, but that of a non-common combination (Egyptian Jew and Puerto Rican). This “melting pot” that America represents, not only brings in people of distant background and ethnicities, it also creates marriages and unions that would seem imaginable. These biracial unions then produce biracial children. According to the Washington Post, “More than 7 percent of the 3.5 million children born in the year before the 2010 Census were of two or more races, up from barely 5 percent a decade earlier. The number of children born to black and white couples and to Asian and white couples almost doubled” (Morello). While a majority of these biracial kids are half-black and half-white or half-white and and half-Asian, non-common biracial combinations, such as that of Algranati, still exist. Yet these combinations, still puzzle Americans, who tend to pick one race as the “true” race of a particular person. Algranati recalls how the parents of a friend recognized only one of her races. “Even today to them, I will always be Jewish and not Puerto Rican because to them it is unacceptable to ‘love’ a Puerto Rican” (Algranati 670). This type of profiling, while probably unintentional, exemplifies the racism brought on towards biraciality. Algranati proves how people take the appearances of people and then use that appearance to categorize them into a certain race. The problem becomes that these people sometimes have a racial identity crisis. Jon Anderson in the Chicago Tribune article “Identity Crisis Can Be A Lifelong Problem For Biracial Families” outlines the case of Dorothy Adams. In the article, Anderson writes “‘I didn't want to choose,’ she recalled, speaking last weekend at the monthly discussion meeting of the Biracial Family Network, one of many functions of a support group for ‘families and individuals of diverse ancestry.’” Algranati truly exemplifies how biracial children have to deal with people’s reactions to their two races. She also presents how Americans often do not perceive “ethnic” children as ethnic due to their physical appearance.
Here in America, a general respect for each others races exists, however, people remain very observant about race, using initial, visual perceptions to identify other people’s ethnicities and race. This obsession with other people’s races happens to exist mainly with Americans. Although not a negative obsession, it still does not make sense why Americans place so much importance on race. For example, people here tend to always ask “what are you?” People also have a great amount of pride for their race and hold it as a matter of importance. Having pride in your ethnicity/race matters in terms of self-realization, but Americans tend to intrude per se when it comes to other people’s race. People look at a person’s appearance or name and immediately judge that person because of the alleged pretense of a certain ethnicity. This leads to inaccurate racial profiling and ignorance. Algranati presents examples of how her “white” appearance has caused misbelief in her true ethnic backgrounds, “Possessing light hair and blue eyes, I am generally perceived as the ‘all-American’ girl” (Alganati 670) and “one of my fellow workers says to me ‘that is such a collegian white thing to say.’ […] Of course he doubted I was any part Hispanic until he met my cousin who ‘looks’ Puerto Rican” (Algranati 670). I understand and agree with what Algranati expresses about her experiences having the appearances of a “white” person. I am 100% Mexican, born in Mexico, to Mexican parents, and have Mexican grandparents. While having family members of both light and dark-skinned “varieties” I ended up receiving the lighter-skinned genes and am one of the whitest people in my whole family. My nickname, “Güero”, literally means “white boy”. Here in the United States, people constantly express disbelief when told that I am Mexican. They say things like: “but you’re not really Mexican, you’re too white”, or “you’re just half Mexican, right?”, and “you’re Spanish, not Mexican.” To these people I can only respond by saying how I really am Mexican and that they base their facts off of an incorrect stereotype. While Americans do not try to act insensitively when it comes to racial appearances, sometimes they do come across as racially insensitive. Algranati really captures how Americans think that everyone belongs to the race that they look like.
Melissa Algranati accurately depicts the struggle of racial identity in America by presenting personal examples. She claims it us up to people themselves to choose how to define themselves in terms of race and ethnicity. Not only do people need to think for themselves on this topic, but other people also need to stop judging others for their race and instead appreciate them for their personality and how they wish to identify themselves.
Works Cited
Algranati, Melissa. “Being an Other.” Signs of Life in the USA. Seventh Edition. Eds. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 377-386. Print.
Anderson, Jon. “Identity crisis can be a lifelong problem for biracial families.” articles.Chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune, 18 March 1998. Web.
Morello, Carol. “Number of biracial babies soars over past decade.” washingtonpost.com. The Washington Post, 26 April 2012. Web.