With race being identify as one of the most essentialised (insert citation) social categories in today society, it is important for us to understand how the development of racial identity may be influenced by external determinants. As a self identified Black women much of how I navigate and experiences the world has been through the lens of first a black girl then a black woman. In this paper I will examine how my experience as a black girl/women has been shaped my racial identity development through out my life course and discuss external factors in my environment that may have influenced that development.
The Racial Identity development model that I chose to identify with is the “ Black identity development model” in the “ Boys no more …show more content…
These experiences served as a protective factor in my racial identity development throughout my life course. Growing up as part of generation X. I experienced the “WAR on Drugs” and the crack epidemic. These events truly shaped my racial identity and how I grew up. I grew up with several friends and family members being raised by people other than their parents because of the chemical dependency issues that their parents had. Although the devastation of the crack epidemic nearly destroyed our parents, many of the grandparents in my community stepped up and stepped in and would later become played an influential role in the lives of my people in my cohort. Because of this missing generation of parents many generation Xers were heavily influenced by the values and racial identify of our grandparents. I believe because their grandparents raised so many people in my generation, we were able to see, clear racial progress between our generation and theirs. Therefor growing up during this time, many people in my cohort believed that we could grow up to be anything despite the odds. I strongly attributed this desire and belief to strive for the better came from the grandparents of my generation. While on many fronts this was a rough time for many Black Americans and the breakdown of the black community was unfolding right before us there were also many individual …show more content…
She felt I used too much “Street language” and that I was too loud. Over the course of several years I would have many interactions like this that would make me question my racial identity and often shake my confidence as a person. I believe that because I had an environment that celebrated Black African Americas this served as a protective factor through out my entire development life course. This environment equips me with the skills and tools need to strong and resilient in the face of racial adversity.
In conclusion the results of my IAT suggest that I have a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American. I believe that this preference comes from having a strong positive Black influence throughout my developmental life course. Much of my early informative years were shaped and reinforced with positive Black images and role models. This course has helped me to recognize how my up bring has created protective factors that allowed my racial identity to develop in to the sage in which I’m
The Racial Identity development model that I chose to identify with is the “ Black identity development model” in the “ Boys no more …show more content…
These experiences served as a protective factor in my racial identity development throughout my life course. Growing up as part of generation X. I experienced the “WAR on Drugs” and the crack epidemic. These events truly shaped my racial identity and how I grew up. I grew up with several friends and family members being raised by people other than their parents because of the chemical dependency issues that their parents had. Although the devastation of the crack epidemic nearly destroyed our parents, many of the grandparents in my community stepped up and stepped in and would later become played an influential role in the lives of my people in my cohort. Because of this missing generation of parents many generation Xers were heavily influenced by the values and racial identify of our grandparents. I believe because their grandparents raised so many people in my generation, we were able to see, clear racial progress between our generation and theirs. Therefor growing up during this time, many people in my cohort believed that we could grow up to be anything despite the odds. I strongly attributed this desire and belief to strive for the better came from the grandparents of my generation. While on many fronts this was a rough time for many Black Americans and the breakdown of the black community was unfolding right before us there were also many individual …show more content…
She felt I used too much “Street language” and that I was too loud. Over the course of several years I would have many interactions like this that would make me question my racial identity and often shake my confidence as a person. I believe that because I had an environment that celebrated Black African Americas this served as a protective factor through out my entire development life course. This environment equips me with the skills and tools need to strong and resilient in the face of racial adversity.
In conclusion the results of my IAT suggest that I have a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American. I believe that this preference comes from having a strong positive Black influence throughout my developmental life course. Much of my early informative years were shaped and reinforced with positive Black images and role models. This course has helped me to recognize how my up bring has created protective factors that allowed my racial identity to develop in to the sage in which I’m