Identity: Identity And Identity

What is identity? According to google identity is “the fact of being of who or what a person or thing is,” but what is it in reality? Identity is a complex idea determined by many internal and external factors. Who are we and why are we the way we are? Identity is important to oneself because it how one perceives themselves and how they believe others perceive them. Identity allows one to determine their social groups, their career choice, and their relationships overall. Identity, for most people, is a fixed idea of who they are and who everyone else is with little to no room for change. In the article, Black Like I thought I Was, Wayne Joseph was faced with an identity crisis after taking a DNA test and realizing that he had not a single

From a young age, children, specifically minority children, are raised to be prideful of their race and heritage. These are forms of identity that are significant to the way a person will decides their values and goals. Race and heritage can decide religion, the way one dresses, the music they listen, and the community they will recognize themselves with. On the opposite ends, there are just different styles of living that varies from person to person that can establish these certain aspects of life as well. If a family isn’t so persistent on the traditions and cultures of their race and heritage, then one has more space to determine the activities, and social groups they think fits for them. Race and skin color is one of those aspects of nature that one can not decide and will affect them greatly within their experiences. Location is also an adding factor on one’s life occurrences. These combined all shape an individual view on themselves and others and determine the kind of person they will become. Nurture, in my opinion holds a greater weight in these outcomes, and allows identity to be ever changing for every person regardless if they develop positively or negatively. The quote by B.J. Neblett describes this perfectly, “ We are the sum total of our experiences. Those experiences – be they positive or negative – make us the person we are, at any given point in our lives. And, like a flowing river, those same experiences, and those yet to come, continue to influence and reshape the person we are, and the person we become. None of us are the same as we were yesterday, nor will be tomorrow.” Nature itself could not reflect a person’s identity as well as nurture because identity is more not skin deep, it is the mental capacity to think and live for oneself, in respect to race and