On Labeling People...

Aug 15 ~ 05
Hey all...just wanted to bring up something that has been bugging me. Its late and I'm tired so I won't rant for too long. I was talking to one of my good friends this evening and she brought something up that I've wondered about before. She mentioned that she hates filling out the school forms for her children because of the "ethnicity" labeling question.

In her family she is descended from predominantly Hispanic relations while her husband is predominantly "white". So what box does she "check" for her children? They are not just "white" nor are they just "hispanic". She mentioned that this kind of irks her and I can see why.

Yes I've heard all of the blah blahing of the bureacrats about "funding sources" "affirmative action" etc., however, I think a lot of it just boils down to the fact that we humans as a species LOVE to label things...especially people. Why is that?
Why must we be able to "fit" everyone into a label that we specify? Does it make us feel more comfortable if we can "categorize" everything in our world...including human beings? I mean think about the labels in our daily lives..."stay-at-home-mom" or "working mom"...I just LOVE the latter one because I have met VERY FEW "non-working" mom's....in fact I don't think I every have...including "career housewives". We are labeled at our jobs, our neighborhoods that we live in are labeled...the "burbs", "hood", "in the sticks" (where my 12 year old thinks we live...lol!). Anyway ~ of course this whole "what label are your children?" got me to thinking...

My grandmother (paternal) is descended from a native american tribe and so is my husbands maternal grandmother. My paternal grandfather is full on Norwegian. I have NO IDEA where my mother's family hailed from although I suspect that there is more than likely more native american and possibly african-american lineage from that side as well...even though I look like the label of "white". What does that make our children...are we just classifying by skin color here or are we ACTUALLY classifying by ethnicity? How can we when some families are SO DIVERSE!

I have another friend who has mentioned the same problem when filling out forms. She comes from a white/asian marriage and her husband hails from an african/white marriage...what does that make their children? Should they "check" all four boxes? What label should be "attached" to their children? Should the parents go ahead and label their children as "ethnic" so the school recieves more money and they recieve a better chance at a scholarship?

This raises some interesting questions ~ especially in light of our rapidly evolving diverse culture in North America. Maybe its time to shed some of the "labels" ~ maybe that's okay. I'm not saying we should all start abandoning our own unique cultural heritage and/or family histories...but maybe its time we stop trying so hard to label everyone. Maybe its just time to take a big collective breath and realize that whether we're "Hispanic", "Black", "Asian", "White", "Native American"...maybe we're just all human beings-living in the same geographical area-ultimately carrying on with our very human, very average, very messy/beautiful lives every day. That's it...we're just humans. Irregardless of how our skin and/or eye color managed to turn out in the genetic crap shoot.

Oh - btw-the family that hails from four different "ethnic labels" - their little boy is a blonde headed/light eyed very "white" looking child. So what should go on his school forms?
Other?
Seriously...
Maybe its time for a change...change is scary...but it is certain. We have come a long way in the past century in letting go of racial, ethnic, and religious stereotyping. Maybe its time we start letting go of the labels too.