racial identity

  • Watch: Why the Black Kids Still Sit Together

    Two decades ago, Beverly Daniel Tatum posed a question to the world in the book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? The author, psychologist and president emerita of Spelman College responded to the question while deeply delving into issues of race and racial identity in her 1997 best-selling book. “It’s not…

  • Black Identity Isn’t the Only Thing Rachel Dolezal Stole

    Black Identity Isn’t the Only Thing Rachel Dolezal Stole

    I remember, with painful clarity, the time I ached to be white. I mean that literally, by the way. I stuck a clothespin on my nose when I was about 6 years old, hoping to shape that flat, Filipino knob of flesh into a more aquiline point. That shit hurt and, even worse, it didn’t…

  • Paris Jackson Explains Why She Identifies as a Black Woman

    Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, had a lot to say in an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone. The 18-year-old, who lost her father when she was 11, not only opened up about his death (she says he was murdered) but also revealed that she identifies as a black woman. In the interview, Paris addressed the…

  • Raíces Latinas: Conversations With My Grandmother

    “No te olvides que tienes raíces Latinas.” (“Do not forget you have Latin roots.”) My grandmother, or “Abuelita” (as I refer to her), often said this to me. This time, she was seated in her reclining chair. Through her silver-rimmed bifocals, I saw her penetrating eyes. “Of course not, Abuelita,” I said with a cooing…

  • Black Lotus Is a Woman’s Search for Racial Identity in a Racist World

    “‘Passing’ describes the choice to identify as a member of another racial group rather than face social prejudice,” writes Sil Lai Abrams in her memoir, Black Lotus: A Woman’s Search for Racial Identity. “Today the term is used almost exclusively to describe black people who consciously adopt a white identity.” But for Abrams, born to…