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2018 Midterm2 (assignment) Index to Sample Student Midterm2 Answers Part 3. Research Report Starts |
LITR 4340
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Jojo
Hunter
22
Feb 2018
Stuck Somewhere In-Between
I am
half white, half Hispanic, yet I grew up with only the white side of my family.
Because of this, I have had problems that minorities have experienced, yet I do
not necessarily identify as a minority. I also cannot identify as white because
my skin is not fair, but dark. I am brown in color, yet I grew up, and only
know, my white side of my DNA. I only know English, but when someone tries to
talk to me in Spanish, I often get a disgusted look or questioned on why I don’t
know “my language.” I am left having to describe my family tree to a complete
stranger. I have been rejected by both the dominant culture that I grew up in,
and I have been dismissed as a “gringa” or “coconut” because I lack all
knowledge about being Hispanic. I have also been rejected by the dominant
culture for having darker skin, and have even been call “Spic” or “nigger.”
These things hurt me, because I never did anything to deserve being called
names, and I certainly had no hand in what my skin color would be. My son is
half white, quarter black, and quarter Hispanic, and fair skinned. However, he
identifies more closely with black culture (music, dance, speech) but he is too
young to realize this. I have wondered if he will be treated as I have been, or
if, because he simply looks like the dominant race, would he be treated better?
I
would like to explore the topic of mixed race experiences from writers of all
ethnicities to determine whether or not my experiences relate closer to those of
minority or immigrant writers. I don’t know how many books, stories, or articles
have been written about being bi- or multi-racial, but I am curious to know if
other people have had similar experiences to my own as children or adults. I
want to know what commentary there is, and I would like to see if others have
come up with solutions to combat my identity crisis. After reading short
stories, poems, and articles written by bi-racial authors, I have seen some
common themes and questions throughout. Most of the works address a acceptance
from one race or the other, a harder than normal childhood/life, and the fear of
being “enough”.
WSP,
a writer for The Waterhole writes
that racial identity in America is very complicated, adding that, “We are a
melting pot nation, full of biracial citizens who are torn between being
accepted by one culture versus being rejected by the other” (WSP). Because of
the color coding that exists in America, people are associated with an
ethnicity, culture, language, or class depending on the color of their skin.
Marcus Samuelsson also documents this in his tale about his journey to America
from Switzerland. His childhood was even complicated there, because he was
adopted from Ethiopia as a child. He is dark in color, but everyone in his
adopted home have very fair skin. When he came to America, he made friends with
the other Swiss cooks where he worked, but he became enthralled with the black
culture. After being invited to all sorts of event with an African-American
co-worker, he writes,” At times, it felt like a cultural test: What would it
take for me to belong? Was the color of my skin enough?” (IV II, 320). He had
already been labeled as a black man by the people in America, and he questioned
how people were labeled culturally in America. When he finally meets some fellow
New York immigrants who are also Swedish through adoption, they begin to form a
bond, and better become acquainted with America in this new grouping.
Fortunately, this can make one stronger than going it alone, especially as an
immigrant. Immigrants are family people. Unlike Americans who tend to move away
from family like at an early age, most immigrants remain close to both their
immediate and extended family, so it is no surprise that these gentlemen found
solace in forming a bond with one another.
Blitheful, a contributor to CNN iReport, recounts her childhood experiences as a
half white, half black American minority. She says that she was not accepted by
the children in the black community that her mother was from because she “talked
white” and had different textured hair from them. When she went to school in the
white community, she was not accepted because of her looks. One of her friends
even judged her before she knew her because she thought she was all completely
black and that made her think she was going to shoot everyone at school. Because
of the color code that says white is good and black is bad, those that are
somewhere in between are associated with those “bad” people at the end of the
spectrum. Fortunately, there are more and more mixed couples and more bi- and
multi- racial families than ever! The color issue is something that is being
talked about, and it is more widely recognized that there is some in-between.
The generations of the past had bad memories associated with people of other
races, but equality has come a long way in America. A
U.S. News article that broke down
data from a US Census Bureau report says that “non-Hispanic white people will be
a minority by 2043” (USNews).
Unfortunately, many poets who are bi- or multi-racial write about being torn
between cultures, skin color, and expectations of them. Jean Toomer, a poet
wrote “Portrait in Georgia,”was the son of a bi-racial father and married a
mixed race woman. The narrator in this poem describes their features as
dangerous: “Hair braided”…”colied like a lyncher’s rope” and his slim body,
white as the ash of black flesh after flame (Toomer). In Mei Mei Evans short
story “Gussuk,” she also talks about mistaken identity and not fitting in (IA,
237). When Lucy visits Kigiak, the residents mistake her for one of their own,
but she is later classified as a Gussuk because she is not like them at all. She
fights to become assimilated to the culture, even praising herself silently for
this noting that she was “eating real Eskimo food” and “her predecessor had
probably holed up in that trailer night after night eating peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches” (IA, 243). The symbolism of this whole scene suggests that
Lucy figures she will be accepted since she is trying to assimilate, and the
former person in her position sat eating bland, American food when there was so
much more to experience. Unfortunately, she finds herself missing the American
culture that she grew up in after getting drunk with the locals, and cannot
continue to stay in a place where she is neither a local nor a proper American.
Written by contributor Blitheful: Mixed race and racism here:
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1019065
A
short essay on bi-racial identity written by WSP:
https://wspucla.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/if-im-biracial-who-am-i-a-short-essay-about-the-problematic-nature-of-being-multiracial/
Poetry by bi-racial people:
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/best/biracial
UsNews Report on the future of skin color:
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/12/old-and-brown-america-in-50-years-census
Jean
Toomer Poem:
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/portrait-georgia
