*Write: Essay Assignment #1--Who Are
You? Talking about

Question

*Write: Essay Assignment #1--Who Are
You? Talking about identity

Sahil Sharma · Accepted Answer

Title

1.0 Introduction

The concept of identity can be tricky at times. In practical life, a person's identity can be anything that represents him. When it comes to definition, identity is considered something which is used by a person for his or her better characterization. Identity makes it easy to identify a person out of many. That is why the name, achievement, profession, etc. of any person is used as a form of identity. Identity is often associated with a whole group from where a person is from. For example, A person can have different identities for his or her culture, race, location, nationality, gender, family, etc. However, in society, these identities are misused by many people to promote exclusion. As one might expect, these continuous wrong use of identities can be painful for those people. What is more painful is treating those people based on their identity and this treatment often results in the form of exclusion from society. Even though a person is judged based on this group identity, people in our society tend to use those forms of identity when there is no need to use the same. For instance, if an individual is Black in terms of skin color, there is no need to call or treat him by his skin color. I will describe how my identity has been misused against me. I am an English speaking American whose race is Latino, whose primary language is Spanish, and whose history is Mexican culture. Thus, my identities are a little different than that of a native American. My experience says that there are a number of occasions where my language, race, and history have been misused that indirectly promoting exclusion, and such situations made me feel disappointed and angry at times.

2.0 Main Body

Firstly, My language of Spanish has often put me in trouble here in the United States of America. The United States of America is known to be a country where people of many races, cultures, histories, nationalities, etc. live together. Unfortunately, in practicality, the conditions of such "outsiders" are quite different. Spanish speakers like me are often considered aliens in the United States (Williams et al. 123). I believe that the basic right to speak any language that I like and the only thing that matters is if the other person is understanding it or not. I have faced many situations where my language has become an obstacle to making friends, building relationships, or progressing in life just like a normal American citizen expects to do. My trouble of mine is not because I do not know English, in fact, I know English and have been speaking in this language since my birth. But the main reason for my trouble is that I am bilingual and can speak Spanish which automatically makes me an "outsider" according to some (Asher 71). There are several other incidents where I was targeted because I speak fluent Spanish. Imagine the condition of other American citizens who do not speak English fluently. I am not the only one who faces such exclusion because of their language. It does not matter if he is American or not. Some people are targeted as if all the Americans must speak English. I have read several news stories where English imposition has reached a pathetic point in our very own United States of America (Sanchez and Awad 40). This imposition can be comparable to the East Pakistan scenarios in the 1960s where Urdu was imposed on the people of current Bangladesh. Exclusion based on their preferred language is a serious offense and it harms the message of unity that is America all about.

Similarly, this discrimination based on my other identity also made my life difficult and it is my race. My race is Latino or Hispanic. I have seen several times that my racial identity has stopped people from talking to me politely. Even the kids look at me in such a way that I am a foreigner. People in public transit treat me differently than they treat a White American. My skin color is often associated with someone who has cruel intentions or can do a crime (Ahmed et al. 188). So, it is better for them to maintain a distance from me all the time. I have also experienced this in my school and college. They will talk to me but will not make me their friend. All I want is equality, not any extra advantages for being a Latino. Being a part of a society we always wanted inclusion and our community is still fighting for it. It is very disheartening to see people of other races not getting their basic human rights even in the 21st century. This exclusion does not allow us to build relationships in school or a locality (Felkey and Graham 125). Every night I go to bed thinking there will be another day tomorrow when I will be judged based on my race. The assumption of normal people being Latino is very pathetic to me.

Lastly, Another identity that has made my life difficult is my history of being from Mexican culture. I am very poorly treated because of my history. I see many people show disrespect towards me because of my history. I have also seen that my class teachers sometimes ignore my queries in class and treat me poorly compared to a native American student. This disrespect often makes me very sad. They tend to forget that we also are American citizens (Simpson and Yinger).

3.0 Conclusion

Thus, from the above discussion, it is seen how my identities have created difficulties way too many times in my life. Above all, I am an American citizen. I want people to understand that my language is not always my only identity. People need to promote inclusion to make America a country of unity, inclusion, and togetherness. People need to accept and embrace the differences among people. This is how inclusion can be promoted.

Page Break

Works Cited

Ahmed, Sawssan R., Maryam Kia-Keating, and Katherine H. Tsai. "A structural model of racial discrimination, acculturative stress, and cultural resources among Arab American adolescents." American journal of community psychology 48.3 (2011): 181-192.

Asher, Nina. "Made in the (multicultural) USA: Unpacking tensions of race, culture, gender, and sexuality in education." Educational researcher 36.2 (2007): 65-73.

Felkey, Jenna, and Sandra Graham. "Racial/ethnic discrimination, cultural mistrust, and psychological maladjustment among Asian American and Latino adolescent language brokers." Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology 28.1 (2022): 125.

Sanchez, Delida, and Germine H. Awad. "Ethnic group differences in racial identity attitudes, perceived discrimination and mental health outcomes in African American, Black Caribbean and Latino Caribbean college students." International Journal of Culture and Mental Health 9.1 (2016): 31-43.

Simpson, George Eaton, and J. Milton Yinger. Racial and cultural minorities: An analysis of prejudice and discrimination. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013.

Williams, David R., et al. "Perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in the USA and South Africa." Ethnicity & health 17.1-2 (2012): 111-133.

*Write: Essay Assignment #1--Who Are You? Talking about identity

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