Who am I?

Anti-Racist 

        While reading Anti-Racist, this piece of writing has shifted my perspective of how my surroundings have affected my personal view of the world and of myself. This writing gave me a deeper understanding of how I come to be who I am.  When the writer says, "You are made up of your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your school, what you see on social media and read in books, what you hear and listen to, what you eat, what you wear, what you feel, your dreams, the stories you cannot wait to share and those you don't want to tell and everything in between and all around." really opened my mind to realize that we are products of our surrounding, what we experience and see makes us who we are. Which in reality makes perfect sense but the book also talks about how you don't have to stay in the box that society has assigned you. You can make a choice to change and to not apologize for it!    

        The reading also touches upon a concept of "subordinate culture" and "dominate culture", the way these terms are defined is "dominant cultures" are white, upper middle class, cisgender male, educated, athletic, neurotypical. While "subordinate culture" is defined as everything else that is not considered dominant culture such as "Black, Brown, Indigenous people of color of the global majority, queer, transgender, and nonbinary folz, and cisgender women, youth, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, atheist, and non-christian folx, neurodiverse folx, folx living with disabilities, those living in poverty, and more.". I believe this view of the world isn't a hidden fact on the two groups, society has boldly shared this concept on social media. 

        This collage I made (down below) describes me. The people around me such as my siblings and nephew and niece are who have helped me be the person I am today. The environment I am in or have established myself in is who I am. The color I like the most and the sights I have seen are me. The art I have seen are me.