Claiming A Biracial Identity: Resisting Social Constructions of Race and Culture

Abstract

In this article the author shares his experiences on racism in the United States. Several years ago, African American poet and essayist Michelle Cliff was invited to the University of Colorado campus to give a presentation. Cliffs writing, along with that of other Black women essayists were especially appealing to him then because they were among the few examining both racial and gender oppression and their combined effects. In a world where socially constructed categories of race are misconstrued as biological, little encouragement is offered to people like the author to claim an identity that falls outside prescribed frameworks. He do not fit neatly into any of the current racial or cultural boxes. The author was around 8 years old when he first started noticing that his parents often were subjected to intense scrutiny by passersby. He started hearing ugly words kids shouted at them from their porches as they walked past. The author felt deeply humiliated when leaving restaurants with family after waiting and waiting for service, finally being approached and told to leave.