According to Garrod (2012), Jose is a Latino boy whose parents are immigrants from Honduras. Even though he has a unique culture, he grew up believing that he was identified as white. He applied white-like behaviors and actions throughout his school experience. Jose is an intelligent boy who acquired Advanced Placement courses, which consisted of classrooms predominately white students. Since his school was populated with generally white students he grew up believing in himself being like them. He would dress and talk as if he had a white heritage. He did not realize his identity is not white until a substitute teacher Mr. Connor’s pointed it out in front of the classroom. The teacher yelled “Why don’t you try that in your own country?” at
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High school created Jose to become unsure about his identity and his heritage. He wanted college to aid him to shape his identity. Jose stated, “I had gone to the meeting because I felt an obligation to go” (Garrod, 2012, p. 60). He understood he was not white anymore, but he was not sure if he still wanted to accept being Latino. Using the excuse of checking the Latino box on forms for ethnicity, he thought he should explore more of his heritage through the organization. La Unidad had individuals who were proud of being Latino. They were all more aware of their culture, social, and political topics from their heritage. This made Jose feel “ very unLatino” and excluded (Garrod, 2012, p. 61). Jose questioned himself, “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. I only knew that I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to please everyone, and was finding I couldn’t please anyone.” (Garrod, 2012, p. 61). Jose began to speak with a Latino accent, becoming more confused since that side of him never appeared during high school. Each time Jose attended meetings he found similarities with his peers that he never knew he could have. Noticing the same childhood memories and similar academic success made him break down the wall he built between him and his heritage. According to the supplemental material, Erikson explains identity crisis, which is a developmental turning point in which the individual must choose one course or another because what one has done in the past no longer works as before. This applies to Jose, where La Unidad made him choose his main
High school created Jose to become unsure about his identity and his heritage. He wanted college to aid him to shape his identity. Jose stated, “I had gone to the meeting because I felt an obligation to go” (Garrod, 2012, p. 60). He understood he was not white anymore, but he was not sure if he still wanted to accept being Latino. Using the excuse of checking the Latino box on forms for ethnicity, he thought he should explore more of his heritage through the organization. La Unidad had individuals who were proud of being Latino. They were all more aware of their culture, social, and political topics from their heritage. This made Jose feel “ very unLatino” and excluded (Garrod, 2012, p. 61). Jose questioned himself, “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. I only knew that I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to please everyone, and was finding I couldn’t please anyone.” (Garrod, 2012, p. 61). Jose began to speak with a Latino accent, becoming more confused since that side of him never appeared during high school. Each time Jose attended meetings he found similarities with his peers that he never knew he could have. Noticing the same childhood memories and similar academic success made him break down the wall he built between him and his heritage. According to the supplemental material, Erikson explains identity crisis, which is a developmental turning point in which the individual must choose one course or another because what one has done in the past no longer works as before. This applies to Jose, where La Unidad made him choose his main