By: Denver Humphrey, 2024 Cohort
When we think of multiculturalism a lot of things come to mind.
But for most of us, race is a big one. It’s immediately what we think about. It’s a foundation of our humanity, our world to be exact. Everything is very general, black or white, wrong or right, yes or no. Pretty simple, right? Maybe. However, multiculturalism is something that makes up our society. We are collectively here for a reason, and purpose unknown. For a lot of us, that purpose is forever lost and never found.
There is diversity in diverse experiences. There is diversity in everyday people. Our diverse cultural groups make up our existence, how we engage in society, how we assimilate, and how we survive.
“Multicultural experiences” is exposure to or interactions with elements or members of different culture(s). We are made up of different subcultures. Those subcultures influence our everyday interactions and the people we become. As your environment shapes who you are, and the people who raised you don’t have a say anymore, those subcultures become even more important and prominent.
In early environments, subcultures form naturally, insignificant ones. Popular, not popular, bullied, not bullied, rejects, and regulars. As you grow those become more complex and even more evident. They still exist but they’re race-driven, and obviously misunderstood. Even in my own sub-cultures, I’m obviously supposed to be a part of them, but I still feel like an outsider. You may be just like them, but you both will never be the same and you will never share space.
So when I mentioned it was simple, it’s simple for some people. Think about it this way, imagine you only had three categories from the list, white, cis-female, and Christian. That’s great. But when you’re a multi-cultured person you may have five or six. And when we look at the media, most times we see two or three. For multicultural people, we sometimes make up all of these. When your identity is convoluted it makes everything ten times harder, it makes navigating, feeling, and existing, ten times harder. That’s a battle for the average multicultural (particularly marginalized) teen.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF
It’s jarring when someone says, “Let’s do some introductions.”
If there is one thing I won’t know the answer to is, “Introduce yourself.”
I guess I have always been confused about where to start first. Name, age, grade, location – the easiest of identifiers. But what happens if we look past the skin? Instead, “How are we?”
At a young age, we are kind of just thrown into this simulation called, “living.” No brochure or manual to give us an overview of our living arrangements and assigned protectors, we just so happened to wake up one day, and boom, we’re here. Getting to the age where we can recognize that we exist, and will have to adapt to function.
HEALTH FIRST, HOBBIES LAST
Youth of color are raised to undertake many ventures. Our traditional parents raised us to not be bored, lazy or scared. Instead, go for what you want, explore and do many things, because it’s better to be talented than not. Did it work? Yeah, it really did. But were there consequences? Yes, yes there were.
“Hi! Nice to meet you, I heard so many things,” the stranger said.
“Nice meeting you as well,” the daughter says.
“Well, this is the star basketball player, right here. I see big things for our future. WNBA, right here, says the parent.
“Oh, that’s amazing. Remember me when you’re famous, haha,” the stranger says.
End scene.
Here lies the issue. Most multicultural youth in their lifetime, if they ever were good at something, have only ever been called just that.
“She’s going to be the next star volleyball player.”
“He dances, but I really want him to play football.”
“They paint, they’re going to be the next Picasso.”
That’s the danger of limiting how you refer to someone. Before they were a football player or singer, they were Ana, Mikiyah, Deirdre and Denver.
So the things we do are not what we are or who we are. Yes, we may do sports, arts, and STEM, and that can be amazing. But we are human first and our ever-changing identities and social-emotional health are at risk, so they come first.
I hope that one day, parents raising multicultural youth will realize that the identity and power of their children is not in the things they do or the activities they participate in. It’s the way they pour life into others, how they smile when their favorite song plays on the radio, how they pick up trash they see lying on the street, how they help a little kid tie their shoe, they know how to find joy in unexpected places. Us children are vessels. Treat us as such.
LET’S TALK IDENTITY. WHO ARE YOU?
Who am I? Who are any of us?
I’ve always had this issue. I want to be and do a lot of things, then again, nothing at all. Everything seems so important right now, but won’t be in a year from now. I hate how things feel so final, so urgent.
I wish I had time to explore, “Who am I?” but every time I get close, a shift happens. A life-altering event, a person’s withdrawal from your life, a friendly face that makes you question everything. Anything that happens, leads me right back to square one.
My cultural groups are not uncommon, but it’s the person that makes up these cultural groups where it leans uncommon. I’m a Black woman, with an alternative appearance, morals, and ways of living, my identity is something that feels much bigger than me to figure out.
So I don’t know who I am. That’s the problem with being multicultural, you never truly know who you are and what that looks like. At least I shouldn’t be my hobbies and passions first.
BELONGING IN ORDINARY SPACES
Belonging in ordinary spaces is a special art. Moving through with a heavy identity makes ordinary spaces feel so complicated. Being multicultural is something that comes with questions.
I have never felt whole even in spaces with people like me. It’s a constant pressure to agree on things, laugh at things, and feel things. Together. Sharing that moment together. This goes deeper than being multicultural.
In ordinary spaces with blue eyes, straight hair, thin thighs, and acrylic nails, I feel overwhelmed. I don’t feel insecure, scared, or not good enough. I just don’t feel warranted. I feel so noticeably different. They know I do, too. People with a small number of cultural groups, don’t know how to interact with people with multiple. They are confused.
“How do you do your hair?”
“I liked you with your braids better.”
“I thought you were meaner before I met you.”
I’ve never been able to successfully assimilate.
So when I straightened my hair, at 7, it didn’t work. There wasn’t any change, they still reacted the same. When I begged my Black mom to dye my hair at 13 that obviously didn’t work out. I’ve never done these things to fit in, but to try something new. I wanted to be interesting to myself, and if I was interesting to me, then others would be too.
I used to be so bored by my existence and I thought others were too. That must’ve been why it never worked – assimilation.
I’m still constantly accepting this disconnect, cause it will forever be there. But I have the power to measure how much I let it affect me.