In the chapter “Black
Power” from the novel The Color of Water written
by James McBride, he recalls certain
events when he was a child involving his white mother. As a black child living amongst the black
community during the 1960’s, James was always puzzled about his social identity. Having a white mother instead of a black mother
was very odd to him and even made him believe he was adopted. Thinking about McBride’s life experiences as a
young child made me consider the importance of identity.
Identity allows us
to distinguish ourselves from other individuals. Identity is determined by a mix of things not just
one solid thing. Identity
can be defined by your cultural status such as nationality, race, or religion. And can also be influenced
by society such as the type of family you have, your career, and so on. Most importantly it is what you think is most important about yourself
that tells others I am the way I am because of this.
How you view
yourself depicts your identity.
The way I identify myself is through my nationality. My nationality is very important to me because without
it I do not know what kind of person I’ll be today. For those who
do not know me I am Mexican. Being Mexican influences my
day to day life. Rather than speaking one
language I speak two, both English and Spanish. Not knowing how to
identify yourself can be very difficult at first. However, one must stop and think about how you view yourself
in order to know ones identity.
If one cannot
identity his or her self, it will cause confusion similar to how James McBride felt
growing up as a child.
As a child McBride, had a mother with a different skin color than he did. McBride was black and his
mother was white. His
brother Richie would often tell him “You’re adopted”. This
made McBride question whether or not he is adopted after all. Whenever McBride’s mother
would come to her sons school, schoolteachers saw his mother they would often
ask “Is James adopted?” and her response was always no. Imagine if that were to happen to you? Family
can identify who you are but if you’re a young child who does not know if his
own mother is his mother than what are to do but question who you really are.
Remembering family made it
much easier for James McBride however to identify who he was. The way McBride
was raised shows what kind of person he is. Coming from a mixed race family, his father Andrew McBride and mother
made sure there children never got into trouble. Although James McBride’s father passed away, the family
morals remained the same.
The family still
was taught to work hard, be educated, and believe in God. Due to his families
wisdom in raising children one can assume James McBride, was a good kid and
worked very hard in life to get far in life.
The importance of
identity is to know how to view yourself in order to distinguish ourselves from
other individuals. Your race, your family, and
even your likes and dislikes identify who you are. Not knowing your identity
will only confuse you like James McBride felt growing up as a child. Identity is what
makes you who you are and not the same as the person sitting next to you.
Question
In the chapter “Black Power” from
the novel The Color of Water written
by James McBride, the main point about the concept of black power is about
African Americans fighting back against the whites during the 1960’s. The
experience he remembers takes place after the death of a powerful black leader
Malcolm X thus causing groups of black activates like the Black Panthers to
rise up. As a result, James McBride
fears for the safety of his white mother. Growing up in a black community with
a white mother did affect McBride mentally. When he was in the bus going to upstate
New York he met a boy who was the son of a Blank Panther that sat behind him. Everything was alright until he saw The Blank Panther
standing next to his mother. He was so afraid and scared he didn’t know what to
do so he turned around and punched the Black Panther’s son in the face. For me
this was an identity because how vivid he remembers this situation. If it was a concept I don’t think it
would have been such a dramatic event for him and I don’t think it was an idea either due to
the fact he is retelling what happened to him as a child.
