Everything is Culturalized, Everything is Racialized, and You’re Mixed
Every action, every opinion, every object carries implicit and explicit meanings. Now more than ever, “being something” matters. People are habitually cognizant of these underlying tensions surrounding social interactions.
The existence of racial mixing should remind us that identities come in shades of grey. After thousands of generations of cross-cultural bonding, whether through willing association or forced integration, you’d think humans would be more drawn together. Knowing the world isn’t so clearly defined should mean less bifurcation, not more.
Unfortunately, human beings are rather short-sighted. We’re quick to forget this history and our origins. Instead, identity continues to be shaped by divisiveness — I am me and you are you, stay on your side of the line. You can be this, but not that. Black, White, East, West, AntiFA, Far Right, Left Coast, KKK, KFC — identities are formed in opposition to the “other.” “Them” comes in two brands, ignorance and arrogance. Communities form from these identities; sometimes they are discovered, but often they are ascribed.
Today, consciousness runs on bad news, terrible politics, and social injustice. If fully-formed mature adults are losing their minds over the sky falling, think of the children. These conditions arouse our primal need for community. Fear gives “being” a sense of urgency. The message is — figure out who you are now and be on the right side of the narrative. In a world full of certain tragedy, there’s little room for in-between.
This isn’t deconstructive thinking, it’s reality. In a world divided, where love means less than loyalty, the body is valuable currency. Power comes from the ability to define the body and the mind with certainty. Mixed people know this fatalism all too well.
Even if communities are imagined, the consequences are real. Moreover, choice is circumscribed. Being of the right extraction makes you a lifetime member of some exclusive social circles. Living in certain communities means access to privilege. Exclusion is bad for your health. Pledging allegiance to one flag means death under another.
But what if you belong to more than one tribe? When you embody cultural diversity in your spirit and wear racial diversity on your flesh, what happens when you’re forced to take a side? How does one maintain this doublethink, knowing the world is diverse while understanding that the contents of your bones can decide what you are, where you will live, how you will live, and who you will love, regardless of your reality?
If every object is culturalized, every body racialized, then how do we deal with shades of grey? You are alone.
If you believe all that.
There’s an alternative to “tragic mulatto” mentality, the belief that mixed people are eternally trapped between realities. Turn these ideological weapons back on themselves. If identity is imagined, if frameworks are socially constructed, then let’s start imagining.
Be mindful of the doublethink. You can be this and that, even if others hold a different opinion. Live a good life having diverse opinions. Knowing cultural nuance will be overlooked and history will be ignored, walk out into the world with your head held high. People will try to define you with simpleminded logic. Most won’t (and don’t want to) take the time to consider the complexity of even the most basic elements of a social structure. They’ll repeat the historical cycle ignorance. That’s their problem.
Be critical. “Communities” are generally crafted by a small group of elites who either politically impose it’s legitimacy or create a narrative that closely mimics existing social bonds. They serve a political or economic purpose, none are benign. Then there’s the “right” to culture — cultural appropriation is fine, but as an Asian American, you can’t be part of the white yuppie Zen Buddhist vegan fraternity. Oh you’re mixed? Forget about it. Even people of mixed ancestry fall into the ego trap by reproducing social hierarchy. I thought we were trying to get rid of popularity contests?
Be a pariah among many. Form a community with others who share your values and “mixed” perspective of the world. Create bonds through shared experiences and mutual desires for connection. Raise the next generation of mixed youth with a positive mentality, aware of the doublethink. Make it political, make it social, make it a brand, just make it with integrity.
Own your ancestry, every part of it. Embrace the parts and become whole. Now is an opportunity to do better. Without ignoring the urgency of the moment, go beyond thinking about identity only in terms of politics or culture or social history in the strictest sense. Experience means everything, strength comes in numbers, challenge while inviting.
Go with the ebb and flow of history. Groups and nations rise and fall. Culture is a matter of perspective. You are one of the millions of threads of time. Choose to be happy with yourself first.
