Personal Narrative: My Identity In The United States

Identity is a complex fluid and static concept that takes many distinct shapes and forms over the years. Each and every person in society has their own idea of identity and what it means. To me, identity equates to the labels and beliefs I affiliate myself with at the time. Personally, my identity has changed tremendously in the last few years of my life or rather I just started to accept and acknowledge my various identities to a more encompassing and inclusive extent. Through this piece, I will discuss how I identify myself and which of those identities I hold closest. To start, I identify as an Asian-American or to be more specific a Vietnamese-American. In all honesty, I have always struggled with this identity growing up in an American society that embraces assimilation and being white. However, I never denied being an Asian-American, but I also would not flaunt this aspect of my identity. Rather, it was more the ascription that came with identifying as a Vietnamese-American that I struggled and fought with. Growing up in the years following the Vietnam War, there was a lot of anti-Vietnamese sentiment that was passed from parents to my classmates. That sentiment made it …show more content…
I identify as such because the democratic party and liberals are people who fight for the rights and equality of others regardless of their identity. For this attribute, I am extremely proud to identify as a liberal or a democrat especially during such divided times in United States history. I was also drawn to this party not only because of their drive to fight for minority rights but also on socioeconomic and environmental issues. I did not identify as a democrat or even have a political affiliation until my later years in high school, not because I did not believe the subject was important, but because I was not well informed on the matter and could only see generalities of the two major U.S. political