What Kind of Explorer Are You?

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I shouldn’t have been cast in that role because I’m “not really black.” This was probably one of the most offensive things that has ever been said to me because I take pride in my African-American heritage. With three simple words, my pride had been attacked. Although my multiple races have affected my life in an unfortunate way, they have also affected my life in good ways by causing immense pride and a sense of community that I feel with each and every one of them. Throughout my life I have explored my racial identity and discovered that it is an extremely important part of my personal identity.

When I saw this race question on the ERB, I asked my teacher what to put down since I identified with all 3 races. My teacher proceeded to tell me to “just pick one”. I had never thought of it before but after this experience, I began to explore more into my racial identity and discovered that my diverse background is extremely important to me. Being told to fill in a bubble of “just one” and having to choose which one I thought was most important was very upsetting, because in my opinion, they are all important. I hate to think that society tries to tell me and others that we can only identify and “bubble” ourselves as just one. People shouldn’t have to “pick one” thing to identify themselves as. Humans are very complex creatures and I believe that it is important that we embrace this complexity rather than trying to put ourselves into one, small, simple bubble.