Anthony Appiah Racial Identities Summary

As soon as we are born, we are subject to labels. They afflict our society and people on the individual level. Before we even begin to understand ourselves, people put labels upon us. This inevitably influences those who are branded to view themselves based on these labels, which are ultimately social constructs. Even in the twenty-first century, American society is embroiled in racial issues, which are rooted in the badge of race and the divisions it causes. By creating labels and applying them to individuals, people are expected to fit into certain life “scripts” based on these forced descriptions. Kwame Anthony Appiah, in “Racial Identities” keenly describes “collective identities” and the issues that they cause. The effects of racial identities

There is no feeling that I can differentiate as being Asian, but it is perhaps one of the most prominent aspects of my life. As far as it seems that society and technology have come, my race still influences my lifestyle. No other description, except perhaps gender, is as profound an influence on character than race. In the words of Appiah, “what seems clear enough is that being an African-American or an Asian-American or white is an important social identity in the United States” (51). One aspect of being Asian that many Asian-Americans can identify is having “Asian pride” I have never displayed so-called “Asian pride” because, frankly, I do not feel pride in being Asian. Not to say that I am ungrateful for my heritage, but rather I am not aware of what the feeling is like to be something other than Asian. However, I am aware that being Asian has affected my life in several ways and many ways that I’m unaware of. Both my father and mother immigrated from the Philippines. They, like many other immigrants, looked to America as a land of opportunity and they eventually met in Las Vegas. Neither of them had any college degrees, and my father didn’t finish high school. He left school to get a job early, and cycled through many different jobs. He eventually found work as a plumber and made money through that way. He always told my siblings and I that he placed value in higher education because he did not wish for us

The sound of Jim Crow laws brings a highly negative image to many people who were disadvantaged due to them. The image of “colored” signs and “whites only” signs signify racial divide as pure as it can get. The influence of racial identity is so profound that if “colored fountain” is looked up on Google Images, the results are mostly Jim Crow-era water fountains. It is prominent enough to block out what a colored fountain should be, a water fountain full of colors. The racial label only serves a negative impact. For example, Appiah argues against a mindset that claims that there is a single, identifiable black culture, one that holds music such as jazz or hip-hop. He contends that this logic is simply wrong because, according to that mindset, “Jazz belongs to a black person who knows nothing about it more fully or naturally than it does to a white jazzman” (52). That mindset implies that all black people should be interested or involved in jazz, even if they are not personally interested in it at all. By upholding such shallow logic, this inevitably prevents individuals from straying from what a group or race “should be” and stops them from being what they personally wish for. This mindset has been used to discriminate against individuals on a small scale and on a large scale. From genocides, slavery, and discriminatory law, division caused by race has inflicted American