Brittany Liu's Blog #2 American Melting Pot

I don’t know what to call myself and from what I’ve learned from class last week I’m not sure I really need to label myself.  I guess I am multiracial, being half Chinese and the other half: German, Irish, Belgium, and Native American.  That being said I have never really felt like I fit in with any of these nationalities.  Sometimes I feel ashamed saying I am Chinese when I don’t know the language or the customs of Chinese culture.  This actually reminds me a lot of Nathan Adolfson because although he is Korean, he was raised with American traditions and did not seem to feel quite at home when he traveled to Korea.  I know this is a little different because I am not a first generation immigrant and I am not adopted, but I still do not think I would feel connected to China unless I learned more about it.   Also, based on my appearance I don’t feel “white” even though I have European blood.  Although I follow the customs of most “white” Americans I know there is more to me that I need to explore. 

However, doing the race activity in class I felt more connected than ever being an American citizen and a student at William and Mary.  Being a “bridge” and seeing the other “bridges” within our class emphasized the links we all share as human beings and as a community.  Although we have been taught for so many years to look past race, I think that distinguishing ourselves and embracing our race brought us closer together when we found the links in each other’s races that we did not expect to be present.  A striking question that was brought up in class was “when the whites stopped separating themselves?”  I believe this has come out of the idea of trying to look past race in order to accept everyone, but instead this has put up barriers of appearance.  One can’t help, but label someone by his or her appearance and if we are told to look past nationality, appearance will be the only thing left.  Instead of generalizing, we should be finding how everyone’s race is unique.  I believe this really created a community within our class last week. 

This previous half of my blog was written before we watched “Roots” and “Triumph of The Will.”  Now that I have seen these films I thought more about identity rather than nationality.  In “Roots” the young slave chose to preserve his name in face of extreme torture.  For him as a slave that was all he had left to call his own.  His name represents his heritage, his family, and his own life.  This really made me think about my own name and what it means to me.  My name is my identity and my nationality; it reveals my past and present family and it gives me pride that I would also fight to preserve.