To me, identity means who you are. Is the way you think about yourself, how you are viewed by the world, and the characteristics that define you as a person.
Identity is that mix of qualities, looks, personality or beliefs that make a person.
My identity is tied to my race because my race is a part of my identity and it also defines me racially.
I believe my soul comes from the way I am defined by God.
This ongoing conversation is really important because it allows us to learn and understand our own identity and the identity of others through interactions with family, friends, organizations and other social connections we make in our everyday life.
It also helps us to know our gender, age, orientation, race, ethnicity, religion and disability. All of that plays an incredibly crucial role in determining how we understand and experience the world, and shape the type of opportunities and daily challenges we may face.
Of course, I feel I have an identity. I would describe it as “amazing”.
My personality, my race, being partially Deaf (i might be Hard of Hearing) are how I describe my identity.
Some traits of my personality are that I am a lover of traveling, I am so passionate about soccer, funny, thorough and friendly.
In a public way, I don’t really feel a lot of pressure from other people because I live in a quiet area, with a very low pressure of making me find or express my identity.
Sometimes though, there is a bit of pressure, especially when it’s coming from hearing people. They don’t think being Deaf can be who I am.
I experienced some reactions about my race and Deafness but in two different ways. Maybe it’s a mix of both?
Weirdly, I have not experienced anything strange or aggressive when it comes to my black identity, and I realize this is a good thing.
But when it comes to my Deafness, that’s when things change.
One day, I went to see my friend here in South Africa where I live. He sent me his address via WhatsApp. I took a 30 minute walk and unexpectedly found myself confused because the address I received was not shown on the front of the green gate so I kept looking for it and still didn’t find it.
I decided it was time to ask someone, so knocked on the gate and this made a white man extremely angry. This man had been in a car chilling outside the gate near me, and as I was knocking on the door, he suddenly got out of the car shouting at me.
How could I know that was his house? It left me even more confused.
I tried to communicate with him by approaching him and showing him my phone (I had texted some notes for him), he ignored and hostilely distanced me to a 4/5 meter even though I tried other ways to communicate with him.
I used a hand gesture to tell him that I am Deaf, and he still ignored me.
So I left him and asked a good black woman, who is a maid, about the address then she gave me clear directions. Finally, I found the right address and I noticed the gate was very old and rusty which is why the address on it was not shown.
Society shapes my identity through media, education, family, friends and of course my gender. They have been mostly positive and understandable. Less negative.
I think diversity, inclusion and education are game-changer. They all matter to all humans if I am right. To understand the future of diversity, inclusion and education, it’s helpful and important to look back first through our tribal history.
I am so optimistic about where our future is headed! I do believe that there must be destruction and change before real healing and change begin. It’s possible to make it happen. We can make a great difference in our future together.
How powerful would it be, if we could share what being black means through our eyes?
If instead of educating and lecturing other people, we could let them in in our lives, share our struggles, fears, and joy, while raise awareness about our identities?
Our vulnerability and rawness are much more powerful than us teaching you about racism. You can walk in our shoes and learn about the emotional response your actions might have caused.
This is the idea behind “Identities”. A bi-weekly series where real humans will share real human stories.
Check our intro post to find out more about this project and, if you wanna write for us, check this post! We will be opening soon to other identities ❤
