An Experiment With Labeling
“Labels are for filing. Labels are for clothing. Labels are not for people” (Martina Navratilova). “She’s an immigrant.” “He’s a male.” Yes, he is a male, but he’s also been struggling with anxiety for 4 years. And yes, she’s an immigrant, just as I am. But I am so much more than my label. I am a daughter, sister, and friend. We can’t be just one person — we are so many people embodied into a singular human being. And labeling people under one specific category is not only offensive, but it is also restricting. It limits people to who they can or cannot be. Why is it that an immigrant can only be an immigrant, until the law makes them a citizen? Why is it that young African American girls have to hide their true voice so that they can please the society? Humans are meant to be more than their appearances. Only when we realize our true identity will we stop living under a label.
I, myself, have questioned who I am. There was a time when I was confused as to if I was an Indian, American, or immigrant. It took me some time, but I finally understood that I was all three, not just one. My experiences with my family, friends, and school have made me into the person I am today. When my parents call me Diyu, I am their Indian daughter who respects and loves them. When I am hanging out after school with my friends, I am a child who clearly grew up in America and got accustomed to American culture. When I am in class with my white classmates, and someone tells me that my “English is very good,” I am reminded that this is not my mother tongue, and this is not my mother land. I am reminded that I am an immigrant. But it is who I am — all three of them — and America will need to realize it just as Amitava Kumar, an Indian writer and journalist, realized it. In Passport Photos, Kumar explores what it means to be an immigrant through a poem by Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta called “Aay Wha’ Kinda Indian Arr U?”. Bhaggiyadatta questions if he is the “Indian wearing salwar or a sari, turban or a pottu on the subway platform at 10 p.m.” or if he is the “sponsored Indian whose husband owns her for ten years or else…” (Kumar 282). This poem revealed the different types of people an immigrant can be. One could be a father waiting to pick up his daughter from school and another could be a single man waiting to get married. But being an immigrant isn’t the only thing the man is.
Identity is a hard thing to figure out, and for many people, especially women, it took a long time to find. From the first wave of feminism back in late 19th and early 20th centuries, to today, women have faced many struggles in finding their identities, especially young African American women. In My Voice, My Choice, Jaylene Clark Owens, a female African American poet, talks about hiding her true, deep voice in order to fit into the expectations of society. A female can’t have a deep voice… that is just reserved for males. Or so they thought. These African American women have been pushed to the end, and now they have no choice but to fight back against their oppressor: the society. They will speak up and speak loud and deep. They will not be labeled into one single category. They are whoever they choose to be, and we cannot choose their identities for them. So yes, Owens is black, and a woman. But that doesn’t mean that she can’t have a deep voice. Her deep voice is her identity — the one she chose for herself.
So, let’s experiment with the effects of removing labels off of people, instead of placing them. Only then will we gain freedom. By removing the label of “immigrant,” I will see who I truly am. I am a student, a friend, a daughter, and a sister. And the label of “immigrant” doesn’t change anything, just as the label of “female” doesn’t change anything for Owens. She can have a deep voice even if she is a female, and I can be both American and Indian, regardless of being considered an “immigrant.” A label doesn’t define anybody — it never will.
Citations
Language. By: Amitava Kumar
Kumar, Amitava. “Language.” Critical Encounters with Text, 2012, www.pearsoned.com
My Voice, My Choice. By: Jaylene Clark Owens
Owens, Jaylene Clark. “Jaylene Clark Owens — ‘My Voice, My Choice’ — Youtube.”
Youtube, Button Poetry, 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=24URwA3Y544.
About This Blog
This blog was originally created for a class assignment in my SUPA Writing class. But as the project went on, I realized how much we need it. Our identities are who we are, and they are defined by all our experiences. Even the smallest encounters play a role in our identity. Not only our experiences, but also our language, voice and literacy play a role in finding our identity. We also explore what it means to label people, and what affects it has on people. As we go through this blog, we will use multiple resources from great scholars to learn about who we are and what defines that identity.
About the Author
Diya Patel is a student at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. She is currently in 12th grade, and working on the college application process. She wrote this blog for a specific class: her SUPA Writing Class. She loves to read, and is in her school’s Girls’ Cross Country team. She hopes that this blog will teach you a lot about identity and the factors that affect it.