What Are You?

Beltran's article this week on Jennifer Lopez and racial ambiguity got me thinking about the emphasis we put on race and ethnicity in America. Why does it matter? Human beings seem to have a need to "figure people out" and classify them the second they encounter others who may not look, talk, or dress as they do. This is why we have stereotypes. If you see an African-American, you think you know exactly how he or she must speak, what music he likes, what brands she purchases, what food he likes. Stereotypes serve as shortcuts to figuring people out, but rarely do they ever accurately depict a person. The only way to truly know someone is to get to know them.

If we encounter someone who doesn't immediately look like what we picture Italians, Latinos, Caucasians, Russians, or any other ethnicity to look like, the first question is, "What are you?" Who cares? I'm as white as they come, so not many people ask me this question, but my best friend is Irish and Filipino, so she gets this question constantly, and she hates it. "Hawaiian? Cuban?" The fact that nobody guesses correctly also annoys her to no end.

I think that we, as people of any society around the world, are afraid of "the other" so we must characterize strangers in as many ways as possible right away. We don't like the unknown, so we pretend to know. That way, we can decide immediately if we like someone or not. It's unfair and ridiculous, but that's the way it seems to be.