For Post 6, I asked you to describe one identity you have that you are most proud of or one identity that you either are not proud of, or struggle with. Here I copied your replies about your heritage.
Elecia: I am proud of my ethnicity of being a Caribbean Jamaican native. I am especially proud of this identity because Jamaica is such a beautiful country and my people and culture is amazing. I love to identify myself with this ethnicity because honestly we a lot of people in the world that has put my country on the map especially when it comes to music , ( Vybz kartel, spice, sean paul, shaggy ) and when it comes to athletes ( Elaine Thompson, Usian Bolt, and Shelly ann fraser pryce to name a few). I love our food, especially the jerk chicken and our national dish, ackee and saltfish.
Maya: One identity I feel the most proud of is being puerto rican , there is a lot of history around puerto rico that I’ve heard about and my grandparents origin from puerto rico and I got to travel a lot to puerto rico when I was younger its a part of my childhood and I’m proud of it some struggles to it is I often get asked if i speak Spanish or I don’t look puerto rican , From experience my mom has darker skin and me and my dad are light skinned so my mom gets often thats she’s black or Panamanian or some people ask is that your mom since we are not the same complextion. Other than that Im 100 Percent Proud to be puerto rican.
Marryam: One identity that I am most proud of is being Muslim. Islam is the first religon to actually give women rights. People often mistake Islam as a religon that holds their women in lower regards. However, if you actually pay a close attention, you can see how much women are respected in Islam. Also, Islam is a peaceful religion.
Natalie L: I am proud to be Puerto Rican from my dad’s side. I grew up with my Abuela’s cooking either for holidays or when she had to watch me. When I hear stories of my grandparents when they were in Puerto Rico or just the memories we made growing up with the food they showed me and the history they have taught me along with being able to say I am Hispanic is something that makes me proud. I am not proud of how I never learned Spanish, as a kid I was what my family would call lazy because I didn’t take the time to learn it or when my family would speak to me in Spanish I would just say I don’t know what you’re saying instead of trying to learn. However, all my cousins didn’t learn it either. When I got to high school I tried to learn and even my first semester of college but languages don’t seem to stick with me. Since I never learned or was able to speak it, a lot of friends I had growing up to this day call me a “fake” Hispanic, which makes me feel like they are pulling a part of my identity from me. It’s like i had multiple friend groups whether in school or my neighborhood all from different backgrounds and the ones who were Hispanic or African American would say I’m too white to be Hispanic and the ones who were white would say I’m too dark so I’m their Spanish friend.
Sung: One identity that I am the most proud of is being Korean. I believe Koreans have been overlooked for a really long time since it is a very small nation. However today many people were exposed to Korean culture for its music, films, foods, technology, athletes, etc. One identity that I am not so proud of is being a student. I would like to graduate and start a career, contribute to society, start living life as an independent, and be able to provide for the ones I love.
Debanie: One identity that I am proud of is being a Puerto Rican. I am was born and raised in NYC and wasn’t uptight with my Puerto Rican background. However, my mother always told me about my wealthy family that lives in Ponce, Puerto Rico, but I don’t know how they look or where they live in PR. Maybe 5 years ago for my 25th birthday, I visited Ponce, Puerto Rico; the drive from San Juan airport to Ponce, PR was 2 hours, but it was worth the drive. I absolutely loved the food, the houses were beautiful, big iguanas roaming freely, friendly people, a beautiful beach, bright green grass and clean environment. I loved Ponce, Puerto Rico and was glad to experience where my family is from.
Cherry: One of my identities that I am most proud of are my values. I believe in always doing the right thing. No matter how difficult it might be at times. I do not like to see anyone being bullied or taken advantage of in any way; especially someone who is too timid or shy to speak up or stand up for themselves. Growing up my parents taught my siblings and I to never allow anyone to intimidate us or make us feel inferior. This is a value which has stuck with me my entire life and has made me into the advocate that I am today. I advocate for several different causes from LGBTQ, BLM, and Healthcare to name a few. One identity which I struggle with is being black. Now I know this might sound weird or somewhat contradictory as I am an advocate for the black lives matter movement but I do struggle at times with my race. Before migrating to the US I lived in the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Lucia and never once had any encounters with racism or discrimination until moving to the US. I was wrongfully terminated due to a racist manager that I worked with at a major bank. She made the environment extremely hostile for all black employees. That experience left me scarred, depressed and at times wishing I wasn’t black because if that’s what it means to be black in America, then I don’t wish to be here. It took a lot for me to come to terms with what had happened and to this day I some times secretly wish I was not black due to all that has gone in history and even now.
Farangiz: I am proud of my nationality, because I think it is a very beautiful place and when I tell people they don’t know about it, therefore I have the chance to talk about it and how life is like there. I struggle with my culture because I don’t agree with certain ideas and traditions they hold because it’s very outdated and a toxic, when you talk to most people about it they get offended and refuse to listen to you and say that you are wrong because “you don’t know what you’re talking about” or they tell you “that you’re too young so once you grow older you will know and understand and agree with us” which I despise just because your opinion is different they tell you that you don’t know what you’re talking about and refuse to listen to what you have to say.
Ardit: I believe one one identity I have that I am most proud of is me being always lovely and always showing honesty. I am not sure if it has to do with my zodiac sign which is cancer. I am proud of it because nowadays I believe a lot of people do not show their true self or “ true color” and also I believe a lot of people have gone through friendship and relationship breakouts because of this so this makes me proud since always I am never the one to make the first step of a conflict between friends or people around me. I always liked to be laid back and just watch and observe. Another thing I believe is worth mentioning is that I’m Albanian. I come from a country where we have never had a religious conflict, our mosques and churches are on the same block. After they come out from the mosque or church friends will go have a coffee together and chill all day together without looking at each other in a different way because of religion.
Valon: One identity I am most proud of is being Albanian, not just because of the small population we have in New York, but for my heritage, culture, and what it means to me. I am proud that I learned the whole language, and that is important to me because I am able to talk to my grandma, aunts, and uncles Albanian because it makes them proud. One thing that I love most about myself is not I don’t forget my heritage, and where I come from, I know the struggle my parents and their parents went through, and now that we live in the United States, I want to make them proud of what I’ve become. I’m proud that I live the same way as my parents did, meaning what we eat, what festivals we celebrate, and the music we listen to, nothing makes my parents happier than seeing me shine, and not forgetting about where I come from.
Joseph: I suppose an identity that I have that I am most proud of is being multicultural. My family tree is surprisingly diverse when it comes to heritages and cultures. I didn’t do much outreaching before to learn about my family history, but after doing it I came to find out that my family has been all over the world, with ties in Western Asia, Eastern Asia, Europe, and some parts of South America. An identity that I have that I would say I struggle with is probably my Middle Eastern background. I have family in both Palestine and the area now known as Israel and my family is quite torn at times considering the geopolitical climate of that area. I struggle because I am at arms with some family members about issues regarding that, but I guess that’s fine with me. I don’t agree with a part of who my family is, but I’ve gotten used to living without them.
Sabina: I believe everyone feels proud to be a part of some group. Speaking of myself, being Ukrainian implies sharing many things with many people, such as culture, history, family practices, and so on. My country and nation have a long but violent, harsh, and terrible past, yet they survived and did not lose their identity. I’m proud of the person I’ve become. I became the person I am now by following my own ambitions, desires, friends, and parents. My family has inspired me in terms of morals and values, social activities, and language; they have provided me with something to strive for in my life.
Abdulkadir: The identity that I’m proud of is being Muslim. When I was younger, I would feel slightly embarrassed wearing traditional clothes because of how much people would stare at me. Now it doesn’t really bother me; I know who I am and I’m proud of it.
Aylin: One identity I am mostly proud of is my ethnicity. I am Mexican and I absolutely love my culture and the people who I grew up with. The parties, food and music are like no other. Both of my parents are from Puebla, I have only been there once when I was younger and I remember loving the environment and the freedom I had.
Silvia: One identity that I am most proud of is being Ecuadorian because both of my parents are from Ecuador and I also grew up knowing what Ecuadorian culture was. Especially when I went to Ecuador two times I saw my family and the way they dress and live is so unique to me. Plus, in Ecuador they speak Spanish and Spanish is my first language. They have another language called Quechua, which I am interested in learning as my third language perhaps.
Prof. Barnes: I am originally from Poland and while I speak Polish to my children and celebrate some Polish holidays, I also feel very Americanized. I love American books, movies, NYC, the diversity of people and landscape. Another big part of my identity is being an immigrant, which to me means a mixed bad of challenges and accomplishments, and now, finally, a feeling of belonging here.
Thank you, everyone!
Prof. Barnes
