The Choice: Ethnic Identity

1013 Words3 Pages

A baby boy is born in a clinic within an impoverished village in Thailand. The mother, who had no immediate family and was unwed, deceased during childbirth, leaving her son an orphan. The baby was placed in foster care and soon adopted by an American couple. The couple then raises the boy in their home as their own. He grows up in a suburban neighborhood, learns English, attends public school, lives within an entirely American culture, and embraces it. He is aware that he comes from a different familial background and is of a different nationality than his parents, but he has made the choice to identify himself with the ethnicity that he has grown to love. He believes that his ethnic identity entirely up to him. A Thai boy choosing the ethnicity of an American child as his own goes against the widespread belief that ethnicity is in our DNA, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, he is setting the example. Being able to make a meaningful choice in your ethnic identity is something everyone should be allowed to do, no matter the situation. Nobody should be expected or forced to believe in an ethnicity determined by their race or heritage because everyone has their own beliefs. Your personal notions give you the power to decide who you want to be, just like the Thai boy. Ethnicity is the choice everyone can make to be the individual they want to be and the origin of a person’s ethnicity is not inherent or defined by race, it comes from personal beliefs.
Now, if everyone should be allowed to live by the ethnic identity of their choice, why has society always found it strange when a person claims an ethnicity different from their racial identity? This happens because of the total misunderstanding of where ethnicity originates...

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...ll have our individual ideas, beliefs and tastes. These are the things that define us and entitle us to make our own decisions in claiming our ethnic identity. Ethnicity is not a set category we are born into and must stay in our whole lives, it is our choice and it comes from our own doctrines. This idea can create an eruption of diversity without assimilation by one culture. Everyone having a choice in their ethnicity will allow people to exchange more ideas and be more accepting of cultural variety. A society enriched by different perspectives, such as this, can even make for a much more creative and innovative future.

Works Cited

Bernstein, Nell. “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita.” South Texas College Blackboard. Bedford Books, 1999. 562-567. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Staples, Brent. “Black Men and Public Space.” Successful College Writing 4 (2009): 134-136. Print.

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