Surface Pressure

BY SIMONE SKINNER

*Trigger warning: mentions of racism, discrimination and micro-aggressions*

On the surface, nobody knows what you are thinking or going through. All they see is who you are expected to be, but not who you truly are. This can be daunting, especially to the part of their identity that is prevalent on the outside every day — their racial identity.

WHAT IS RACIAL IDENTITY?

By definition, racial identity is the individual sense of a person’s identity that is brought on by how the individual has processed and internalized aspects of psychological, sociopolitical and cultural factors.

Most people develop their racial identity through the social and ethnic groups that they interact with on a daily basis. Unfortunately, for some, finding that individual sense can be confining.

RECOGNIZING RACIAL IDENTITY

Once a person starts to understand how and why they struggle with their racial identity, it opens the doors for healing and better understanding of self.

Troy Turner, a third-year Penn State student, says as a biracial person, he socializes with groups of similar cultural backgrounds when he struggles with his racial identity.

“Just being able to hear other people’s experiences of that similar racial identity is huge,” says Turner. “For discovering racial identity, having talks with your family members, uncomfortable or not, would be beneficial just using your communication.”

Alex Kenney, counselor in the Multicultural Resource Center at Penn State, also suggests that it anchors you to a particular history that you can be proud of and relate with.

“Racial identity is the entry point into one’s history and then there are nuisances within that group that many people strive to identify with or strive to learn more about to kind of actualize their existence and experiences.”

HOW DOES IT START?

Racial identity can be a sensitive topic for different types of people who believe they should already have one based on their appearance. These consist of multiracial groups, minority groups and even non-minority groups as well. The deterioration of the development of racial identity can stem from media portrayals, diverse ethnic backgrounds and even politics.

In the media, the representation of different groups isn’t the most authentic, especially when most of those representations are based on stereotypes and general assumptions. These characters can start to weaken racial identity because they do not accurately represent the ethnic background they originate from.

Mixed-race backgrounds can also trigger an emotional break in their racial identity for those in the multiracial community. When a person is made up of different cultural backgrounds, they might identify as multiracial. However, other people might experience the opposite and feel uncomfortable with being a part of two races. The most notable instance would be “Racial Impostor Syndrome.” From this, people struggle with their internal sense of self that doesn’t match with others’ perception of their racial identity and gives rise to a feeling of self-doubt. It causes these people to feel as though they are in between races and have no personal relation to any part of their heritage.

Politics is another stem of the problem in America, but it affects non-minority groups more than any other group in the sense of white identity politics. Although we live in a non-minority dominated environment, there are some groups that experience an altered sense of identity that is immersed in politics. According to Vox, almost up to 40 percent of non-minority Americans associate their non-minority identity through politics, which also means that almost up to 60 percent do not. This can be detrimental because this leaves non-minority groups with a significant part of their self-identity involuntarily saturated in politics, whether they like it or not.

WHY DOES IT START?

Interpersonal, structural and institutional discrimination as well as micro-aggressions can also trigger a shift in one’s racial identity as well. If severe enough these challenges to one’s identity can cause mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation.

According to Zencare, the reason for these challenges around race and cultural identity vary mostly in the topics of discrimination, racism and intergenerational trauma. Penn State American literature Professor Aldon Nielson comments on how one of the struggles of identity stems from racism.

“Racism creates a situation where some people are oppressed and demeaned and so forth and that is going to create a struggle with people asking the obvious question, ‘Why Me?’”

Starting the conversation about racial identity is the first step to aligning your outer self to your inner self.

Photographed by: Jenny Lee & Sara Bobulinski