Heylee Soto

One way that geography taught Williams about her body and identity is that it made her aware of the differences between how people were treated based on their race. In the Dominican Republic, she didn’t notice much racism because everyone was dark-skinned and accepted her. When her family moved to New Jersey, however, it was very different: “I developed my racial identity in New Jersey” (Williams). This is where she began to realize that people treated others differently based on their skin color. For example, at school, some people told her that they would treat her differently if they knew what race she really was (because they assumed she wasn’t black), while others judged her because they thought she was trying to act white. She became confused and frustrated because she felt like no one could see past the color. In “To Latina to be Black and Too Black to be Latina,” Aleichia Williams discusses how geography has played a huge role in the shaping of her identity as an Afro-Latina. She states, “I feel like it is more of a ‘Southern’ phenomenon that our blackness is more prominent than our Latinidad. It’s not that we don’t want to be Latinas; it’s just that people always remind us that we are black first (Williams).” This shows how geography is able to teach us about ourselves and how we see ourselves. The way people react to you or what they say about you can have a huge impact on how you see yourself. Oftentimes, when people from other countries see someone who is half white and half black, they will assume that person is fully white because those were the people that would have been in power over them for so long. However, people from the U.S. are more likely to assume a half-black person is fully black because of the race relations history of this country with regards to slavery and segregation. When Alicia Williams was five, her family moved to Puerto Rico. This experience shaped her understanding of who she is—both in terms of her physical body and her cultural identity.

REFLECTION 10

I enjoyed reading the article ” Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina” by Aleichia Williams. She was a young lady who came from a Hispanic family and her skin color tends to be a little darker than what normally Latinas look like. New York is a very big city where people from different countries live and engage so her moving to Northalina was a big step in her life. I live in New York and I agree with the fact that no one will question your skin or race in this city. People in North Carolina automatically started to put her in the “black category” since her skin is dark. That’s exactly what happened to her in the class until her classmates realized that she is fluent in Spanish. This only explains how much capital is taking over our country, but her strong personality is very inspiring in the way she embraces her differences. For William, being black is very normal as if you are white. It had nothing to do with identity and should not be a reason for violence, especially in schools. She was very courageous and she stand for herself for not being in one particular category.

The chapter “The Power Of Identity Politics” talks about how identity politics is being misunderstood and in order to do so, we must reconnect it to power. Alicia Garza defined power in her book as the ability to make strong decisions that can positively affect our lives and others. She also defined identity politics as it is a way of describing what is existing outside of what’s being normal in the united states. It is very common and true that America is very influenced by the politics of the whites and their privilege. African people are always feeling less valued in this country and that’s because whites are getting more rights and attention. I liked when she said”The more people you can get to invest in that story, the more powerful you become”.

I really liked the article by Aleichia Williams “Too Latina to be Black, Too Black to be Latina.” He taught me racial oppression simply because of its origin and how race can be an aspect of oppression. However, your origin does not define who you are, what counts are your values, who you are, your personality and your physique, loving yourself as you are because that way you are unique. They don’t need to fit in or regret being Black because a good-hearted black person is better than an evil white-skinned person.

The “identity” in identity politics shows as we all know, we live in a general public full of stereotypes about black people because a large part of them are seen as disgusting, ignorant and exceptionally exciting people.
Society has “stereotypes” of people who for them belong to the social circle and are considered by whites, without realizing how society includes blacks, since many of them perceive them as strangers. The assumption about the black community is made by the society that produces prejudice in new young people who adapt to these prejudices generation after generation, while black people live between two universes and have problems with their identity.

Both readings helped me understand the topic a lot better. The reading by Garza was eye-opening and made me understand the whole reason why identity politics became a thing. A lot of black women were being forgotten when it came to fighting for equal rights even in the women’s movements. Black women weren’t included in these fights and thus they had to make their own movement to get what they wanted. Identity politics is more than race; it’s about gender and sexuality. There aren’t a lot of protection laws within the United States that protect people who are part of the LGBT community.

Too Latina To Be Black, Too Black To Be Latina was a good short blog about Aleichia Williams, experience in middle. She happens to be spanish but is brown skin. THIS makes her a little different from the other girls in her school and confuses her during a gang war  between the Spanish and black people because she is neutral on both sides. Honestly I think these were problems of the past. I feel like people are starting to understand that some Spanish people are darker and there is no need to have something against having a darker skin color or lighter. I went to a high school that had a good mixture of african american & spanish teens. There was no gang violence for being spanish or black. We actually got along pretty well. That is where I also learned Spanish people are all kinds of colors. From really light skin to brown skin maybe even darker. 

This week’s readings were both interesting and at the same time a little hard to digest, I feel like I understand what identity politics to a certain point. I understand the examples that it applies to, but couldn’t put it in my own words if I had to explain it to someone else. When Garza spoke about how lack of representation has to do with white identity politics I really felt like a hammer hit a nail into my head. “This can be incredibly alienating – never seeing people who look like you in fashion magazines, not being able to get makeup that matches your skin tone. Whiteness as the control looks like clothes that fit only a certain type of body, as defined by whiteness. Whiteness as the control looks like nude tones on Band-Aids or pantyhose, or makeup being a certain shade of peach” (Garza 187). This specific part about the magazines and makeup always gets me because it makes me think of the dolls I would play with as a child. More specifically, my friend and I went into the American Girl Doll store today for nostalgia’s sake and the sudden presence of representation was really heartwarming. It’s always made me particularly annoyed that the typical ‘nude’ shade (whether it’s in tights, makeup, bras or just a crayon color) isn’t actually nude for a lot of people. Also, the part where Garza mentions America being known as a place that’s very progressive but doesn’t actually welcome change really resonated with me.

This week’s readings were insightful. I particularly enjoyed reading Garza’s article due to the depth of which he explored identity politics. Garza gave examples of what she has experienced firsthand and it only amplifies the importance of identity politics. One quote that stuck with me, that I also mentioned in my discussion board post is the following: “Power prefers to operate in obscurity; if how power operates was fully transparent, I suspect many of us would rebel against it.” This quote is powerful because it touches on the unawareness many have in regard to the actual power we have within our very lives, to make the choices we want to make. Garza mentions how although we may feel we have control due to our ability to have ‘choices’ in what we eat, where we shop and who we talk to, there are people that choose whether these choices are even made available to us. Garza truly broke down empowerment and power, which are two very distinct concepts that we may use interchangeably, unbeknownst to how power actually works.

In the beginning of “The Power of Identity Politics”, Alicia Garza shares an experience she’s had regarding identity politics; “I‘ve literally been accosted by white people in public places demanding to know why we identify ourselves in ways that divide us rather than just realizing we are all part of one human family” This is such a popular idea, that identifying ourselves divides us, that we are all human and there is “no need for labels.” In reality identity labels can be empowering for many minority groups, especially in helping them find community. 

There are some great quotes from Garza’s article that stuck with me :

-”America is built on white identity politics: the attempted geno cide of indigenous people in the Americas in order to access the land and resources needed to build a white Christian nation; the enslavement of people from the African diaspora in order to se cure free labor to build a white Christian nation; the exploitation, internment, and degradation of Chinese and other Asian and Pacific Islander and Latino/a immigrant labor in order to propel commerce forward, for the purposes of making the white Christian nation the most powerful in the world.  

-“Identity politics is both simple and hard to define, partially because it’s been so demonized by American conservatives. Because identity politics is ultimately a political concept, to fully understand why identity politics is important, we should start by defining power. I define power as the ability to make decisions that affect your own life and the lives of others, the freedom to shape and determine the story of who we are. Power also means having the ability to reward and punish and decide how resources are distributed.  

This is different, of course, from how most of us think about power, which is individualized. Most of us talk about power in relation to how we feel in any given moment. One can wake up in the morning feeling empowered—but empowerment is dif ferent from power. Power is about who makes the rules, and the reality is that most of us lack real power, even over the decisions that are closest to us. Sure, I am empowered to decide what I eat for breakfast today, but larger forces create the options I can choose from—or whether or not breakfast is even available to me. A lack of understanding of power is central to how power operates. Power prefers to operate in obscurity; if how power operates was fully transparent, I suspect many of us would rebel against it.  “

I definitely enjoyed this weeks readings being that they both were relatable whenever they’d touch on different social political perspectives. Identity politics, according to critics, merely reinforces societal divides black versus white, straight versus gay, Jew versus Arab, Sunni versus Shia, Protestant versus Catholic, and so on. Instead then focusing on our differences, arguing that we should recognize our shared humanity. We should make an effort to do what we preach so much of becoming in life as a humane collective. Simply wishing that we could all get along will not help to overcome sexism, homophobia, or white supremacy. In an unjust world where certain portions of society are subjugated by others, attempting to transcend our identities is not the solution. There is concern that the fixation with identity politics would lead to continuous conflict and separation. It’s difficult to believe that there will be a settlement when both sides have become so entrenched in their different religious identities and enduring senses of victimhood.