Self-identification of race encounters more opposition than self-identification of gender in America. We easily accepted Bruce Jenner identifying as a woman in 2015, but shunned Rachel Dolezal, a Caucasian-born woman, for identifying as African-American in that same year. Half of the Millennial generation acknowledge the idea that “gender is a spectrum” instead of just male or female; cities and public establishments have created no-gender ID cards and bathrooms to accommodate for all genders. So what makes choosing our race so different? One example would be that there are benefits to being a certain race, such as earning college scholarships by identifying as African-American. Many see this as unfair to real African-Americans who are eligible to the scholarships – no scholarship means no education. America separates race as White (non-hispanic), African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Alaskan Native, and bi- and multiracial and we are expected to choose our race when filling out applications and censuses. But if others don’t agree with our choice, then what race are we?
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Rowan Counterintuitive 
feedback provided. Should I have less rhetorical questions?
[You mean, “Should I ask FEWER rhetorical questions?”]
—DSH
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Point I want to make at some point in the work:
Transracial adoptees are often confused about which race they should identify as: the race of their adopted family or their biological origin.
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answer question in next paragraph with:
Brazil mixed-race
transracial adoptees
possibly Riddle 10/10
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This is the best Open Strong I’ve seen so far, Scarlett. I’m not going to criticize it here, since I think you’re showing enough command of your material that I’d prefer you continue to develop it yourself without interference. What you say about our ready acceptance of gender self-identification is not universally true, of course, and I’m sure you understand that. We only have to consider the horror expressed in North Carolina over transgenders in girls bathrooms to be reminded that the world is not entirely ready to let everyone declare a gender. The distrust of men “posing” as women is not identical to the outrage over whites pretending to be mixed-race to earn minority scholarships, but as you suggest, they both arise from the jealous feeling that somebody is gaming the system to gain an advantage (in the one case, money; in the other, access to an otherwise prohibited space).
Just something to think about as you proceed.
Grade: J
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