I consistently answer the question “Where are you from?” incorrectly. I begin to tell of the story of where I have lived, but soon it becomes clear that this is not really the question. Something about me reveals that I am not completely white. The asker wants to know “what” I am but also knows that perhaps there is something inappropriate in such a question. I answer the question incorrectly in part to challenge the asker to say what he or she means, and in part because I sometimes forget people are not interested in the fact that I was born in New York but instead in where my parents were born. In these moments I must move from my narrative of place to a narrative of lineage. With me, and with everyone else, race is visibly present at the moment of every interaction. Americans have worked hard to make many distinctions between people “disappear,” but race does not. Among the elite, who today are working especially hard to make distinctions appear to disappear, race stands out as a reminder that this work is not always easy and that the quest to elide all traces of difference is not always possible.
Shamus Rahman Khan (via wretchedoftheearth)
75 notes
Posted on Wednesday, 11 July
Reblogged from: tranqualizer
Posted by: wretchedoftheearth
Source: Shamus Rahman Khan (via wretchedoftheearth)
Next Post Previous Post
  1. wesandasavage reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  2. decafrabbit reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  3. mena-more reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  4. nthlptrvch reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  5. mattman1624 reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  6. sahteen reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  7. tomfjord reblogged this from thehorannetwork
  8. gwest650 reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  9. thehorannetwork reblogged this from wretchedoftheearth
  10. wretchedoftheearth reblogged this from sociolab
  11. gotmine reblogged this from sociolab
  12. iwillsimplyresume reblogged this from sociolab
  13. questionall reblogged this from sociolab
  14. soviet-space-dog reblogged this from sociolab
  15. fudgesmonkey reblogged this from sociolab
  16. insanityplz reblogged this from sociolab
  17. carmenobscura reblogged this from sociolab