Let me
start off by sharing a little story. I already shared this in class, but for
those of you who were absent it might help you to understand this blog post a
little better.
In high school, I had an extremely
close group of friends. We took the same classes, hung out every weekend, and
shared the same interests. I was the only one of the group that was not white,
but it was never a problem, and it was something that I didn’t really notice. Actually,
my school was not very diverse so that could have been the reason why I never
thought twice about it. One day, my
friends were discussing the lack of diversity within our group and mentioned
some other minority groups at our school. Confused, I pointed out that I was
not white. Not hesitating, one of my friends replied, “You don’t count”.
It’s been years since she said
this, but these words are still a point of confusion to me. Why didn’t I count?
This has not been the only time someone has said this to me, and I still can’t
wrap my head around it. Personally, I do not think that I hide my culture, but
instead answer proudly when people ask about my background. However, when
people continually make these types of remarks about me, I can’t help but think
I don’t make my culture or race apparent enough. I am Bengali, Australian, and
American, and I like to think that I represent all three of my cultures, and am
not just defined by one. Am I doing something wrong if so many people think
that I am covering?
There has been a lot of buzz around
the 11-year-old singer Sebastien De La Cruz and his recent performance of the
National Anthem before Game 3 of the NBA Finals. De La Cuz is a Mexican
American and was asked by the San Antonio Spurs to perform the Star Spangled
Banner. He came out in a mariachi suit, and gave it his all. Surprisingly it
wasn’t his powerful rendition of the National Anthem that created the buzz.
Instead, social media sites like twitter were bombarded with hateful comments regarding De La Cruz’s race. De La Cruz didn’t perform in “normal clothes”, and
instead chose to wear something that related with his Mexican culture.
But what I found really interesting
was his response to the hateful comments. (The video is posted above.) In his defense, De La Cruz says "But I'm not from Mexico". To reinforce his American identity, he has been forced to cover by stating that he is actually a San Antonio native. De La Cruz has taken the comments with grace, but I wonder what I would have done in his position.
Sebastian De La Cruz and I are in opposite situations. My problem is that I feel that people do not think I display my Bengali culture, and that it is something they think that I hide. His problem is that he needs to justify his choice of outfit and prove he is just as American as anyone else. A question for everyone would be where do we draw the line between being ourselves and covering our identity? Does this idea of covering imply that certain people should act in a way that makes their culture (or what society views as their culture) transparent to the public?
Nabila, I think your post is really interesting and I think you’re right that the concept of covering is elusive in a lot of situations.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that by the time we’re mature/old enough to recognize that covering is taking place, it has become so habitual and normal in our daily lives that it’s hard to tell if we would be acting differently had we been raised in a different social environment.
This may seem like a huge oversimplification of Yoshino’s argument, but I feel like the gist of it is this: if you’re truly acting out your identities in a way that you’re comfortable with, then do it. Don’t feel forced to behave in any particular way, whether it be covering or reverse covering. Even though society has influenced us all to cover certain parts of ourselves, it is probably hard to pinpoint exactly how this occurred and how it has changed our behavior.
That being said, it makes more sense for us to display our identities as we feel inclined and try to withhold from suppressing what we feel to be our true selves. As far as other people (making comments like “You don’t count” or encouraging someone to act more “mainstream”), I think that the problem is the people saying those kinds of things, not the person who is being coerced to cover. In this way, I think even comments like “Be proud of your heritage, act more like [blank]” are just as harmful in trying to force someone to act a certain way. Ultimately, I think Yoshino gets at the idea of being yourself and doing what you want, and not feeling like you should be engaged or disengaged with a certain part of your identity for any reasons other than your own.
Sara's analysis of Yoshino is really insightful. I definitely think his goal is to discourage any type of behavioral coercion, and he makes the case that being one's "True Self" (mostly, at least) is most important. However, I don't think he does this particularly well. His examples of racial and sex-based covering suggest that all minorities who act in a "mainstream" way are hiding their true identities.
ReplyDeleteThis would, understandably, create confusion for any minority who identifies with the "mainstream." After all, many people in America today are far removed from the cultural influences of their actual ethnicity. Nevertheless, schools and organizations place a high value on the diversity of their students/members.
Personally, I don't think you should feel compelled to make a conscious effort to manifest your heritage. The fact that you are very "Americanized" probably results from your growing up in the American school system and interacting with other "Americanized" people. I don't think this is something that needs to be corrected; it's your own personal culture and it should be celebrated just as any other culture is.
I almost feel like by De La Cruz saying he is not Mexican, that he disowns his heritage in a way. Yes, he is American, but he chose to perform in a Mariachi suit for a reason: to represent part of his identity. I feel that De La Cruz also does a disservice to him self when he goes on about how his dad was in the Navy, thereby trying to further prove his "Americanness." Since when is being mainstream cool? Why do people feel so uncomfortable to acknowledge being unique?
ReplyDeleteI think that when it comes to covering, especially in the story that you included, that there is a lot of pressure to conform with the norms of society which are "American whiteness." We are in America and therefore it is okay to embrace the customs here, and I do not think that one needs to wear their culture on their sleeve or anything extreme but I almost feel as if you don't, then you are considered "white" as you were by your friend. I think this is very unfortunate but the ideas of what is normal and what isn't are too deeply engrained in society. Furthermore I am very saddened that in a place like America, commonly referred to as a "melting pot for diversity" that we still hold onto notions of what is "normal" and "accepted" as far as race and culture goes.
I honestly think that "covering" should only be used as a label when it is a conscious decision to conceal and identity, bourn out of embarrassment or the desire to fit in. Yoshino portrayed "covering" largely from a gay perspective which is much simpler than other forms of covering. When gay people cover, they do so by pretending to not experience same sex-attraction. Every gay person experiences this attraction, so it is easy to categorize as "covering". However, racial covering is much tougher to point out because these kind of tastes are not universal across races. I've never know you to go to Outback Steakhouse, but I've never seen that as covering your Australian identity. Instead, I just assumed that you didn't like that food. On the other hand, I wrote an entire post assuming that Obama was covering based on his taste in music. This is probably a double standard, but it speaks to the same concept. There is no foolproof way to identify racial covering, and to accuse someone of engaging in racial covering is presumptuous. In the same way, saying that you're "not really Bengali" is presumptuous because it assumes there is some universal "Bengali-ness" that you have rejected with the goal of being accepted in America.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I'd answer the question in your title with a question. Are you consciously covering to be accepted by your friends? Have you abandoned family traditions because you feared others might think they're "weird"? If the answer to either question is yes, then I'd say you did engage in some covering. However, if the answer is no, then I'd not worry about what Yoshino or anyone else says. Just keep doing the things you like, and leave the worrying about racial identity to scholars like Yoshino.