This is a column about the knots we tie ourselves in trying to make race, ethnicity and identity simpler than it is. People’s experience of their race, ethnicity and identity can be varied depending on many factors. But the section for “American Indian” doesn’t seem to fit either. It also wasn’t obvious to us which cashiers would speak Spanish and which would speak English, though it seemed almost all could speak both. Whether we’re mostly Indian, half Black, part Latino or definitely white – the cultures that often derive from our races and ethnicities have value and shape us.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 15, 2020 00:45 UTC