"He's Not Black", By Marie Arana
Published November 30, 2008.
"He's Not Black" is an article written by Marie Arana that talks about issues in society revolving around race and how we as a society tend to categorize people as one race, based on appearance. The author begins by talking about Barack Obama, who is seen as black, yet as the author states, "He is also half white. Unless the one-drop rule still applies, our president-elect is not black." She then gives her own personal history and talks about how she always thought of herself as bi-racial, but when she took a DNA test, she found that she was also a descendant of many other races. At one point in the article, Arana relays a story from a student she met who was half German and half African-American. She was born in Germany, speaks German, and sees herself as a German-American. Arana said the girl had light-black skin, curly hair, and dark eyes. The woman said, "I am fifty percent German. But no one who sees me believes it." I thought this was especially interesting, and I will use myself as an example because it's something I find I actually can relate to. My mother is Mexican, and though neither she or myself speak Spanish, basically all of our family traditions are "Mexican". The weddings, the birthdays, the reunions--everything has Mexican influence and tradition. I've visited my family in Mexico, I've met my aunts, uncles, and cousins that are still living in the small town in central Mexico where my great-grandparents were born. I know they're there and I know they're my family. Yet over here, no one believes when I tell them I'm Mexican. What I'm wondering is, how do we as a society decide what makes someone a certain race. I've had people question me, "But you don't speak Spanish right?" I say no and they tell me, "Oh, well then you're not Mexican." Do I have to speak Spanish at home to be considered Mexican? I've heard friends say that they're Irish or that they're German, yet they only speak English, yet I don't think they should be denied their family's history.
I've always felt uncomfortable when I have to check a box about race on a test and I always wonder if anyone else does too. Like recently on the PSATs. I've always checked the "Caucasian/White" box. I would feel wrong if I checked anything else, just because someone else probably would have questioned it. If I had my mother's maiden name, people would probably have an easier time believing me. It just feels strange checking a box and labeling myself as "white" when the truth is, I feel like that's the smallest part of me, but it's what everyone besides my family identifies me as. I wonder if anyone else has ever been frustrated with the fact that most times, people only see each other as one race. This is something Arana based much of her writing off of and was a recurring theme throughout the article. No one is full anything, yet its what everyone is referred to. When talking about Barack Obama, she says, "After more than 300 years and much difficult history, we hew to the old racist rule: Part-black is all black. Fifty percent equals a hundred. There's no in-between."
The truth is, I've never thought much about this and I've never been offended by any of this. But now that I think about it, I realize that I care a lot about family's history. And no matter who denies the fact that I'm Mexican, it's there and I know that. The question I'm left with is, what/who determines what race someone is? Do they have to speak the language? Is it based on appearance? When it comes to the language of racial identity that exists today, I think it can have a large impact on the way someone views themselves. For nine years, I went to a school where I was the "white girl". Everyone in my class was either Asian or Mexican. I felt weird identifying myself as Mexican because I didn't cross the border everyday like most of my friends. Or I didn't speak Spanish at home with my family. For me, this is where the language comes into play and I realize now that much of what people tell me has shaped the way I feel about my own culture. I know that I'm Mexican, but by being told that I'm not, I feel somewhat uncomfortable saying that I am. I don't think it should be this way and I do think that language has something to do with this. I'm not sure if the language has to change but I think our society should be more open to the idea of people being a mix of many different races and cultures. Arana ties in an example from today and says, "The evidence is everywhere. If not in our neighborhoods, in our culture. We see it in Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Ben Kingsley, Nancy Kwan, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey. Yet we insist on calling these hybrids by a reductive name: Berry is Black. Kingsly is white. Kwan is yellow. Even they label themselves by the apparent color of their skin. With language like that, how can we claim to live in a post-racial society." I think the fact of the matter is that we should be accepting of the fact that people are made of all different cultures and not base labels off of first impressions and appearance.
I've always felt uncomfortable when I have to check a box about race on a test and I always wonder if anyone else does too. Like recently on the PSATs. I've always checked the "Caucasian/White" box. I would feel wrong if I checked anything else, just because someone else probably would have questioned it. If I had my mother's maiden name, people would probably have an easier time believing me. It just feels strange checking a box and labeling myself as "white" when the truth is, I feel like that's the smallest part of me, but it's what everyone besides my family identifies me as. I wonder if anyone else has ever been frustrated with the fact that most times, people only see each other as one race. This is something Arana based much of her writing off of and was a recurring theme throughout the article. No one is full anything, yet its what everyone is referred to. When talking about Barack Obama, she says, "After more than 300 years and much difficult history, we hew to the old racist rule: Part-black is all black. Fifty percent equals a hundred. There's no in-between."
The truth is, I've never thought much about this and I've never been offended by any of this. But now that I think about it, I realize that I care a lot about family's history. And no matter who denies the fact that I'm Mexican, it's there and I know that. The question I'm left with is, what/who determines what race someone is? Do they have to speak the language? Is it based on appearance? When it comes to the language of racial identity that exists today, I think it can have a large impact on the way someone views themselves. For nine years, I went to a school where I was the "white girl". Everyone in my class was either Asian or Mexican. I felt weird identifying myself as Mexican because I didn't cross the border everyday like most of my friends. Or I didn't speak Spanish at home with my family. For me, this is where the language comes into play and I realize now that much of what people tell me has shaped the way I feel about my own culture. I know that I'm Mexican, but by being told that I'm not, I feel somewhat uncomfortable saying that I am. I don't think it should be this way and I do think that language has something to do with this. I'm not sure if the language has to change but I think our society should be more open to the idea of people being a mix of many different races and cultures. Arana ties in an example from today and says, "The evidence is everywhere. If not in our neighborhoods, in our culture. We see it in Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Ben Kingsley, Nancy Kwan, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey. Yet we insist on calling these hybrids by a reductive name: Berry is Black. Kingsly is white. Kwan is yellow. Even they label themselves by the apparent color of their skin. With language like that, how can we claim to live in a post-racial society." I think the fact of the matter is that we should be accepting of the fact that people are made of all different cultures and not base labels off of first impressions and appearance.
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