Week 7 Blog Post Response

What's in a Race?: Standardized Culture

Growing up in the Silicon Valley, I found that I was the only African-American student, or one of few others, in most of my classes and grades since elementary school.

But this simple realization didn't come until I was slightly older, in about third grade when I noticed a difference between myself and my fellow classmates. However, being the youngest in the family surrounded by adults, I did have the wisdom, of knowledge in hearing about "race" and identifying as African-American or black (of Hispanic origin), at a young age.

Identifying myself with a multi-ethnic background became a an increasingly difficult concept to grasp for some and to explain (especially as a third grader), as my parents both migrated from Latin America, and spoke Spanish fluently as their first language. This came as a shock to many, having not seen or often heard of African-Americans of Latin decent or origin speaking Spanish in other regions of the world.

Nonetheless, this had always been a norm to me, to which I realized was not common knowledge and regarded somewhat as an anomaly to some, one day while taking the S.T.A.R. test in my 3rd grade class. We had to fill in the bubble for the section of "ethnic background" indicating our race, when I found that the bubble next to "Black (not of Hispanic origin)" had already been bubbled in for me. So, being the young advocate for cultural representation, I decided to fill in the "Latino" bubble as well.

The next day, I found it had been erased, and when I attempted to fill it in again, my teacher spotted me stating "You can only fill in the one bubble that pertains to you".

To which I retorted "But I am Latino too, my parents talk Spanish".

The whole class listening in, had heard this statement as well, to which one of my peers shouted out "Your Mexican?!"

"No Panamanian."I corrected. My teacher with a surprised expression resolved "Lets just leave it as is shall we, it's simpler."

This was one of the first experiences I remember becoming explicitly conscious of race. The duality of other cultures and origins denied because of a "Primary Status" of being an African-American. It is simply easier to lump everyone together (like a melting pot) under one label regardless of other origins, disregarding cultural heritage. [This is the equivalent to Arizona banning all ethnic indication bubbles and adding one labeled "American Citizen".] My origins were being questioned as well as assumed to be that of another close by country, but not quite, solidifying the ideal at a young age than only those of Mexican heritage speak Spanish, forsaking other regions and cultural variations around the world. Also, standardization assumes that one cannot be Black or White or any racial background and of Hispanic descent as well, adding the limiting after thought and confusion in parenthesis of "not of Hispanic origin" for those that are. So this system of classification initially encourages one to choose their primary status, based on appearances (or different cultural factors in the case of others), forsaking other ethic backgrounds as "secondary", limiting identification and acknowledgement to simplistic acceptable choices.

So what does this say for those children of Hispanic origin or who are multi-racial, who must then choose a primary cultural identification as a means of conforming to societal classes for simplicity? That functionality serves a higher importance than identifying one's individuality and embracing a unique multi-cultural heritage, in a nation promoting the equality of those from all backgrounds of race,color, or creed.