White Paper – scarletthief

Opening:

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?

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.

WHAT MAKES GENDER IDENTIFICATION AND RACE IDENTIFICATION DIFFERENT?

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/09/29/495665329/for-affirmative-action-brazil-sets-up-controversial-boards-to-determine-race

For Affirmative Action, Brazil Sets Up Controversial Boards To Determine Race

  • 27 year old Lucas Siquiera took the Foreign Service exam to join Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • He considers himself to be mixed race, known in Brazil as pardo, or brown.
  • Father’s family: grandfather is black, grandmother, Indian and white.
  • Mother’s family: mostly white Portuguese
  • self identified as mixed race on his application. 20% of the government’s positions must be filled with people of color: mixed race or black
  • People saw Siqueira’s photos on social media and said he was a white and a fraud who lied to get a job in the government
  • Brazil government had to rethink their job offer
  • a committee of 7 diplomats were gathered to review his case and decided he was NOT mixed race with NO explanation
  • Siqueira sued them and in order to prove his Afro-Brazilian roots had to do tests to categorize his skin color on different sections of his body.
  • He was considered to be white b/c of his physical looks, but his racial identity “is made up of more than just physical characteristics”
  • Racial tribunals (court/jury/panel/etc) are now mandatory for all government jobs
    • measuring lip size, hair texture, nose width, and other racial stereotypes
  • U.S. “one drop rule” means one drop of Black blood means you are Black
  • Brazil says skin tone is more important than race because its population is very diverse.
  • Siqueira doesn’t support the the racial tribunals.
  • He is neither fully black or fully white, but in the middle.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/15/414655045/rachel-dolezal-resigns-as-president-of-spokane-naacp

Rachel Dolezal Resigns As President Of Spokane NAACP

  • Rachel Dolezal he had been presenting herself as being of mixed race when she was really born to white parents.
  • Over her time at the NAACP, Dolezal had become a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.
  • NAACP afterward said “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership,” supporting her.

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/03/23/394789419/family-secret-and-cultural-identity-revealed-in-little-white-lie

Family Secret and Cultural Identity Revealed In ‘Little White Lie’

  • Lacey Schwartz who has darker skin tone and curly hair, different from her parents, grew up in a white community
  • Parents are white and Jewish and said her color came from a dark, Sicilian grandfather
  • She grew up thinking she was white
  • Found out Lacey’s mother had an affair with a black man and never told Lacey
  • Needed to clarify her racial identity for college application and was accepted as an African American student based on her photo, despite not choosing a race on the application.
  • Georgetown University decided she was African American based on physical attributes
  • She made friends with other AA students and felt like she “belonged”
  • now identifies as black when she once identified as black

http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Gender%20Identity

Gender Identity

Gender identity is one’s own perception or sense of being male or female. Please do not confuse this with sexual orientation (as heterosexual or homosexual) or the strength of one’s gender-typing; it is just a person’s own knowledge and feelings of being a male or female.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/us/14admissions.html?_r=0

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/05/16/152822762/minority-rules-who-gets-to-claim-status-as-a-person-of-color

Links to check out:

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