Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, & Identity

Chapter 6 considers divisions within races and other communities and contends that all races must fight against white supremacy. The introduction to this chapter describes an example of community divisions they witnessed during a meeting with elders from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These elders spoke proudly about being “full-blooded”—a label that comes from the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, which declared that the US government could take land from a tribe if it didn’t fulfill the blood requirement. Being full-blooded meant protection for one’s people, culture, language, and land, but the authors suggest that the pride some Indigenous Americans take in it is grounded in white supremacy. The authors contend that everyone must tackle white supremacy, but this collective struggle does not mean everyone is the same or will understand each other’s experiences or perspectives.

In the first of the 11 interviews, Mareo discusses the Black community’s colorism. He also discusses division as rooted in efforts by enslavers to divide enslaved people so they couldn’t rebel (a footnote details Willie Lynch’s speech on the matter, “The Making of a Slave”). Mareo is Tulsa’s Black Lives Matter president, and he addresses the high numbers of Black inmates, his own experiences in prison, racism by police, the importance of activism, and violence within the Black community. Other footnotes detail the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, the number of private prisons in Tulsa, and prison numbers by race in the US.

April compares her easier and more privileged experience as a white male to losing that male privilege when she became a transgender woman and then disabled—the result of being shot and stabbed in an anti-trans hate crime. When her family learned she was trans, they disowned her, and she couldn’t participate in the trans community when she became disabled because spaces were inaccessible. On matters of race, friends have told her she should listen but not speak because she is white, but she disagrees, citing the division this creates: “I have experiences too, you’re excluding others’ voices. This keeps polarizing everyone else against each other” (185). Footnotes describe the gender pay gap, anti-trans hate crimes, and statistics on people with disabilities, including the discrimination and access issues they experience.

Danelle and Robert discuss their appearance. Danelle, who is part of the Diné people, is African American, Indigenous American, and Mexican. She learned to take pride in looking different from other Navajos. A footnote considers how people only see the “more oppressed” side of multiracial people. Robert, who is white and Suquamish, notes the problems he has had because he doesn’t look Indigenous and discusses how his experiences—not his “Indian blood”—make him Indigenous American. He discusses the ways in which people ignore Indigenous influence on the US. Footnotes detail statistics about white and Indigenous biracial people, drugs based on plants used in Indigenous medicine, and activist Billy Frank Jr.

Jason addresses division in the Jewish community due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, noting that some other Jews see his views about it as antisemitic: “I think in a lot of ways, the hardline approach of policies in Israel around settlements, encroaching land, and taking rights away from Palestinians actually increases anti-Semitism in the world” (190). His Jewish grandmother was not seen as white in Europe, but he notes that American Jews can blend in as white. He also observes that society recognizes the Holocaust but not other genocides. Footnotes describe antisemitic attitudes in US history and lesser-known genocides.

Lisa E., the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, feels like an outsider because she is Jewish. She addresses gender and racial stereotypes in Disney princesses. She teaches her students and children to be critical about these topics, but she notes that her children have the privilege of not having to discuss them, which not everyone can do. She also acknowledges that women have different experiences due to their race (supported by an Audre Lorde quote). A footnote explains the stereotype of Jews having horns.

Renee, a Chicana, ran for office after observing that men dominate politics in New Mexico. In addition to the sexism in politics, she sees divisions due to race—Spanish, Mexican, and Indigenous identity/ancestry—and class. Footnotes discuss the terms “machismo,” “Chicana,” and “mestizo.”

Howard is Black, and Delores is Indigenous American. They consider colorism in US society and how whiteness creates division between Black and Indigenous American people, who view each other from the white supremacist perspective rather than working together. Footnotes discuss colorism and the history of Indigenous American enslavers.

Ronny D. says that don’t know their race until middle school. He is half Marshallese, half Pohnpei (Micronesia), and he outlines the divisions among the Micronesian people, including his own racism against the Chuukese people, who are described in a footnote.

Orientation also creates divisions. José, a gay, Catholic Latino man whose family kicked him out, notes that Catholicism sometimes leads Latino people to hold anti-gay attitudes, while racism exists in the LGBT community. In a group interview, Patience, Lee’Najah, and Tarlice describe their fear of the police as Black people and the racism they have experienced, as well as Black people’s racism against Asian people. Patience, who is bisexual, has also faced lack of support within the Black community (addressed in a footnote). Footnotes cover anti-Blackness in the Asian American community and the number of Latino people in the US who are Catholic.