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Keep these questions in mind while you explore...

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Keep these questions in mind while you explore...

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1. What stood out to you on this Padlet?
2. What will you takeaway from this Padlet?
3. What did you learn about yourself from this Padlet?
4.What did you learn about someone else?
5.How might this Padlet inform your future interactions or understanding of/with others?

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Learn about the Youtuber,

Shizen Wong, and her awesome self-discovery!

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A poem about Melissa Lozada-Oliva's experience.

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People share their honest feelings about their own skin and how it makes them feel.

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What Dark-Skinned People Will Never Tell You

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Remember this commercial?

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In this hilarious and insightful talk, eighteen-year-old Canwen Xu shares her Asian-American story of breaking stereotypes, reaffirming stereotypes, and driving competently on her way to buy rice.

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I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype | Canwen Xu | TEDxBoise

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Meet The Woman Who Learned That Her Mother Passed As White | Megyn Kelly TODAY

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Do White People Get Stressed Talking About Race?

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How colonization has lasting effects in 2018.

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I do belong .

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Check out this short video of celebrities who look alike!

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See Cyjo's photography of beautiful mixed race families.

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Fascinated by the evolution of identity, the photographer Cyjo, who styles her name CYJO, has created a series of portraits that examines how race, ethnicity, and heritage contextualize a person as an individual, and how they coexist within the framework of a family.

Cyjo identifies herself as a Westerner of Korean ethnicity (she was born in South Korea and raised in the United States) and photographed the series "Mixed Blood" from 2010-13 in both New York and Beijing. She has explored the dynamic between individual and collective identities in her previous work via a more abstract approach, but, with "Mixed Blood," she uses the more literal approach of portraiture.

Over time, as humans migrate and change environments, the definition of identity has evolved to adjust to a broader definition of race and ethnicity. Cyjo pointed out that, in 2000, the United States Census for the first time allowed people to choose more than one identifier when noting their race. Almost 7 million people chose to count themselves as mixed race, a number that has continued to grow over the past decade and a half.

Throughout "Mixed Blood," Cyjo wanted to portray the ever-changing definition of race and to examine the uniqueness of the individual within their families.

"The format for 'Mixed Blood' had the individuals together but standing separately (with the exception of select mothers and babies) which allowed the individual and group identities within the family unit to be more clearly observed," she said.

Cyjo found some of the families she photographed in the series through friends, and others she found through happenstance, something she said helped to form a narrative for the work.

"The organic process of accumulating a group brought a sense of random sincerity as opposed to a fixed image or expectation that could occur if people were specifically researched and then chosen to be a part of the project," she added. "The accident of inclusion allows for the outcome or end product to be more of a surprise and that excites me."

Separating the individuals within each portrait, with parents on the left and children on the right, also makes it easier for the viewer to compare and contrast each family. It is also possible to get a glimpse into the family's living environment, another example of how cultures are shared. Although Cyjo set up the portraits, she said there is still an element of spontaneity in the images, seen through subtle body positions or expressions of the participants.

Cyjo said one of the reasons she began the series was a curiosity about exactly what "mixed ethnicity" currently represents, noting that as countries such as China continue to modernize, how the mix of new culture will blend with longstanding traditions will be interesting to follow. While there are people who fear cultural blending, Cyjo said the idea of a global identity and our definition of self, culture and race is rooted in life experiences and personal choices.

"But the bigger question is how will cultures and people maintain their individuality?" she asked. "What will be those cultural differences aside from language and food that will make a culture unique? There's so much more we can learn from each other, especially from our differences."

Correction, June 25, 2014: The photographer Cyjo originally misidentified the Huang Rierson family's ancestries. Their ancestry is from China and all of Western Europe except France.

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Stunning Portraits of Mixed-Race Families

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Fascinated by the evolution of identity, the photographer Cyjo, who styles her name CYJO, has created a series of portraits that examines how race, ethnicity, and heritage contextualize a person as an individual, and how they coexist within the framework of a family.

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An ethnic group, or an ethnicity, is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, society, culture or nation

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Race is a concept used in the categorization of humans into groups, called races or racial groups, based on combinations of shared physical traits, ancestry, genetics, and social or cultural traits.

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Race & Ethnicity: Crash Course Sociology #34

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Race, Ethnicity, Nationality and Jellybeans

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The heritage she knew...wasn't hers! #ethnicity

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The heritage she knew...wasn't hers! #ethnicity

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Grandpa finds out more information from his granddaughter about their family's true heritage.

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Grandpa Ancestry DNA Results Reaction: How big was the lie? | British Raj Secrets

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Comparing Race & Ethnicity       Side-by-Side

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Comparing Race & Ethnicity       Side-by-Side

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Definitions, explanations, and statistics

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The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is related to biological and sociological factors respectively. Race refers to a person's physical characteristics, such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color. Ethnicity, however, refers to cultural factors, including nationality, regional culture, ancestry, and language.

An example of race is brown, white, or black skin (all from various parts of the world), while an example of ethnicity is German or Spanish ancestry (regardless of race) or Han Chinese. Your race is determined by how you look while your ethnicity is determined based on the social and cultural groups you belong to. You can have more than one ethnicities but you are said to have one race, even if it's "mixed race".

Definitions of Ethnicity and Race

What is ethnicity?

Ethnicity is state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition. This is, by definition, a fluid concept; ethnic groups can be broadly or narrowly construed. For example, they can be as broad as " Native American" or as narrow as " Cherokee". Another example is the Indian subcontinent - Indians may be considered one ethnic group but there are actually dozens of cultural traditions and subgroups like Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, and Tamil that are also bona fide ethnic groups. Yet another example is people in Great Britain - they may be considered British, or more precisely English, Scottish or Welsh.

What is race?

A race is a group of people with a common physical feature or features. While there are hundreds - if not thousands - of ethnicities, the number of races is far fewer.

Difference Between Race and Ethnicity

Take the Caucasian (a.k.a., Caucasoid) race. The physical characteristics of Caucasians were described by M. A. MacConaill, an Irish anatomy professor, as including "light skin and eyes, narrow noses, and thin lips. Their hair is usually straight or wavy." Caucasians are said to have the lowest degree of projection in their alveolar bones that contain the teeth, a notable size prominence of the cranium and forehead region, and a projection of the midfacial region. A person whose appearance matches these characteristics is said to be a Caucasian. Caucasians don't always have white skin but in the United States "caucasian" is commonly used to mean white people.

Caucasians are found in many countries around the world. So while a Caucasian person in the United States may share certain racial characteristics with a Caucasian person from France, the two people have different ethnic backgrounds - one American, the other French. They will likely speak different languages most of the time, have different traditions, and may even have different beliefs that have been heavily influenced by their local cultures.

It is worth noting that "race" and "ethnicity" can be highly subjective, with lines between the two concepts frequently blurred. The video below discusses how terms for racial and ethnic identities have changed over the years and how a racial or ethnic term may not accurately describe a person's identity, as the person may have multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Multiracial vs. Multicultural

In most cases, race is unitary - i.e., a person belongs to one race - but may claim ethnic membership in multiple groups. For example, Barack Obama is racially black in spite of his mother being caucasian. On the other hand, a person can self-identify ethnically as Scottish and German if she has indeed lived in both ethic groups.

Self-identification and Choice

Another difference between race and ethnicity is related to the ability to self-identify. A person does not choose her race; it is assigned by society based upon her physical features. However, ethnicity is self-identified. An individual can learn a language, social norms and customs, and assimilate into a culture to belong to an ethnic group.

Race relations

"Race relations" is one of the dominant themes in American politics from time to time, and refers to relationships between the major race groups - white, black, native American, Hispanic/Latino, "Asian," and others of mixed races.

America has also had a sometimes troubled history with ethnic strife - e.g., during the waves of Irish and Italian immigration to the U.S. These immigrants were Caucasian but had a different ethnicity compared to the Anglo Saxons who preceded them; they often faced ethnic discrimination.

"Asians"

The word "Asian" used in a racial context in the United States refers to people of Southeast Asian origin, including a vast variety of ethnic backgrounds, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

This colloquial usage is incorrect because "Asian" is not technically a race, as it means someone from Asia, including people from India, Saudi Arabia, Israel and parts of Russia.

Genetic Underpinning

Geneticist Luca Cavalli-Sforza has argued that neither ethnicity nor race have a genetic basis and cannot be scientifically defined. He notes that human populations have a great degree of genetic unity (even in their apparent diversity):

Most genetic differences are between individuals, not groups. Almost never does one group (racial or ethnic) have a trait that is missing in the rest of humanity. Our physical differences-skin color, facial features, hair texture- actually represent ancestral adaptations to different environments. These are malleable characteristics that evolve relatively swiftly. The obvious differences in skin color, for instance, relate to the intensity of sunlight at different latitudes.

References

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What's the difference between Ethnicity and Race? The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is related to biological and sociological factors respectively. Race refers to a person's physical characteristics, such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color. Ethnicity, however, refers to cultural...

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Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions.

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There are stories behind names...

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I am a white American male. I'm married to a beautiful blond-haired green-eyed woman, and have two amazing blond-haired blue-eyed boys. I was a blond-haired blue-eyed child who grew up in suburban New Jersey in a solid family with a mother, a father, a brother and two dogs. I lived a life marked by opportunity and forgiveness; and while I may not have always had "much," I have always had the benefit of the doubt.

I was raised to treat everyone equally, regardless of race, or any other demographic for that matter. And while my town may have been predominantly white, I certainly didn't grow up isolated from other races and cultures.

But even with the upbringing and exposure I was blessed with, I'm probably still a racist. I don't mean racist like a hate-filled bigot who dehumanizes and devalues the lives of others based on skin color. I mean that I am uncomfortable with, ignorant of and distant from racial inequalities that exist in my country.

I lived a life marked by opportunity and forgiveness; and while I may not have always had "much," I have always had the benefit of the doubt.

It is okay for me to admit this. It doesn't make me evil. It makes me ready for change. This admission took two things: research and honesty. Over the last couple of years, I have read, watched, listened to and participated in countless discussions on the topic coming from a broad range of sources. Through this process I was able to realize the aforementioned realities. Which is great for me, but for purposes of this post, let's unpack them a little.

I am uncomfortable with racial inequalities that exist in my country.

I live my life day in and day out and only rarely am I f orced to confront these realities. Certainly the media, social and otherwise, shine a light on the issue, but that is not what I mean. Reading a powerful blog post or an inspiring tweet does not constitute confronting anything. What I mean is that when I get pulled over, shop in a store, go for a job interview, meet a new person for the first time, etc... I expect to be judged by who I am.

Yes, I am tattooed and bearded so I'm sure that on occasion someone generalizes about me, but I don't worry about it because I know that once they get to know me they will move beyond those judgements. And I assume that they will eventually get to know me, because even with their judgement, they will give me the benefit of the doubt. I live my life benefiting from other people's glass walls. That is simply not true for people of color. They are forced to confront it every single day. Perhaps not in an overtly bigoted and hateful way (although I'm sure that happens too), but in the "deficit of the doubt."

I live my life benefiting from other people's glass walls. That is simply not true for people of color.

The security guard that makes a mental note that they are there, the woman who locks her car door as they walk by, and yes, the times they get pulled over for driving while black. (No matter how much or how little you think that happens, we all know it happens.) So you see, while I am very uncomfortable when forced to confront a terrible reality that I can generally avoid, my friends and neighbors of color are forced to confront it every day.

Consequently, they have formed a thicker skin to the subject and are more free to discuss it. This can easily be misunderstood as being rash or aggressive because it creates an uneasy feeling in me. Let me put it this way: we all have that person in our lives who always manages to say the one thing that makes everyone in the room uncomfortable. Maybe it's a friend or coworker, maybe it's your cousin or your sister-in-law; whoever it is, our attitude is generally that it is their problem. We feel like they are doing something to us, because we are feeling uncomfortable with what they are saying or doing, rather than taking responsibility for our own feelings.

Until I can acknowledge that I feel more uncomfortable talking about racial inequality than people who have been forced to deal with it every single day of their lives, I will never be able to get over myself enough to be a part of the solution. And if I'm not a part of the solution, I'm a part of the problem.

I am ignorant of the racial inequalities that exist in my country.

I was recently watching a Sunday service from North Point Church. In the service the lead pastor, Andy Stanley, invited two African American men who were also Christian leaders to be a part of a discussion about recent events and racism in general in this country. They both explained the reality that they were taught how to behave if they ever got pulled over by the police. They talked about it as if it was just another part of growing up. An obvious lesson like don't drink and drive or always pay your bills. This may not seem so strange until they described exactly what they meant by "how to behave if you ever get pulled over."

One of the men relayed that he was taught that you never reach for your wallet. Now, I understand that if you are being addressed by a police officer you don't want to be erratic or make any sudden moves, but the degree to which this lesson was ingrained in him as an African American young man was startling. It ran so deep in his heart that when he heard about recent events he admitted that there was a part of him that thought to himself, "Why'd you reach for your wallet? You know you're not supposed to reach for your wallet."

I will teach my boys to always be respectful of police. I will teach them not to resist or run if addressed by police and to always be upfront and honest, but I will not have to teach them not to reach for their wallet. I cannot imagine feeling like I have to teach my children how to protect themselves from the people who are meant to protect them.

If ignorance is defined as lack of knowledge, education or awareness then I am most certainly ignorant of the racial inequalities that exist in our country. The beautiful thing about ignorance, though, is that it is easily remedied ― but not without willingness and intention.

I cannot imagine feeling like I have to teach my children how to protect themselves from the people who are meant to protect them.

There is a video that has been circulating recently showing several people sitting in a diner, all of whom are white except one. The waitress comes out and brings all the white patrons pie. The African American man then asks the waitress, "Where's my pie?" to which the other patrons respond, "Why are you making such a big deal? All pie matters." It is meant to illustrate the tension between #blacklivesmatter and #alllivesmatter. I think it is an excellent illustration except that it misses one of the most important factors. It would have been far more accurate if the white guys who had received their pie were blind-folded. Because whether or not we mean to, most of us are blind-folded to the things that people of color deal with every day. That is not our fault, but whether or not we stay that way is on us.

My discomfort and my ignorance can be attributed primarily to one thing:

I am distant from the racial inequalities that exist in my country.

I live in New Jersey. I am not someone who has gone their whole life without interacting with people of color. I am not someone who is solely informed by the media in regard to cultures and races outside my own. I have friends, coworkers, neighbors, mentors and family members who are people of color, but I am still distant from the racial inequalities that mark their lives. I have never made it a secret that I was a "rebellious youth". And by that I mean that I was a criminal. I made very bad decisions and did a lot of awful things. Some things that I will never be able to fully make amends for.

I have, however, never spent more than a weekend in jail. I have always attributed the reality that I am a free man to God protecting me and allowing me to learn my lesson without prison time. I still absolutely know that to be true. However, I have to acknowledge that my "get out of jail free card s" came, at least in part, due to my ability to catch a good sunburn in 15 minutes. I also regularly share with people how grateful I am for all of the opportunities I have been given to do things I really wasn't qualified for. I have been allowed behind the scenes in a lot of situations that shaped who I am and developed me in my field with no explainable reason.

I have a certain degree of ... privilege because of my skin color. The responsibility for having it isn't on me; but the responsibility for what I do with it is.

While I will never really know for sure, I have to wonder if my experience would have looked the same way if I didn't. The "deficit of the doubt" that people of color experience throughout their lives is something that I am only beginning to understand. And that understanding is really only an intellectual one. It is often said that the greatest distance in the world is 18", the distance from your head to your heart. I will always remain distant from the deficit of the doubt until I allow it to hit close to my heart. The question then is: how?

I don't mean know someone in that way that white people tend to reference when racism comes up in conversation. That, "One of my best friends is black" way. I mean I have to enter in. I have to make it my business to overcome my discomfort; I have to be intentional about educating myself and raising my awareness so that my ignorance can diminish; and I have make it personal.

I need to let my heart break at the fact that there are people in this country who do not receive the benefit of the doubt, ever. I need to care enough to do something. Something more than just write a blog post or share a powerful video clip. I have to build genuine relationships with people of color and stop the whole ridiculous "I don't see color" BS.

I need to see color and learn to appreciate it for what it is. I need to allow myself to participate in and grow from and enjoy a culture that is not my own. One that has its pluses and minuses like all others. I need to be willing to get close enough to applaud when there is a victory, mourn when there is a loss and call it out when there is a shortcoming. I need to actually see my brothers and sisters of color as family.

I have a certain degree of power and privilege because of my skin color. That is not something I need to feel guilty about. I didn't ask for it or seek it out, but I have it. The responsibility for having it isn't on me; but the responsibility for what I do with it is.
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BEFORE YOU GO

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I am a white American male. I'm married to a beautiful blond-haired green-eyed woman, and have two amazing blond-haired blue-eyed boys. I was a blond-haired blue-eyed child who grew up in suburban New Jersey in a solid family with a mother, a father, a brother and two dogs.

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Children's hearts lack prejudice-something that bears repeating in a world where many adults revert to hatred and racist caricatures.

Adults might think they always know best, but this story shows that we have a lot to learn by watching the youngest generation.

When Lydia Stith Rosebush originally published this amazing story on Love What Matters's Facebook page 2017, it immediately went viral.

And after reading the story, I can understand why.

Lydia's five-year son, Jax, is convinced of one thing in life: he and best friend, Reddy, look like identical twins.

There's really only one thing that separates the two besties according to Jax: his hair stands up, while Reddy's is cropped.

So Jax decided to cut his hair over the weekend and play a little prank of he and Reddy's teacher on Monday.

Because how on earth would their teacher be able to tell the difference between them if they had the same hairstyle?
"Jax said he couldn't wait to go to school on Monday with his hair like Reddy's so that his teacher wouldn't be able to tell them apart," his mother, Lydia, wrote on Facebook.

"If this isn't proof that hate and prejudice is something that is taught I don't know what is," Lydia wrote. "The only difference Jax sees in the two of them is their hair."

The post received more than 85,000 likes and 25,000 shares in less than a week.

Many of the post's readers have also shared their own stories of how children aren't prejudiced.

A schoool teacher in Germany wrote about how a conversation she heard between a mother and her son.

The mom asked her son how many refugees there were in his class, and the boy replied, "None, Mom. There are only kids in my class. "

Even though their wonderful story went viral a couple of years ago, there is no indication that Jax and Reddy have gone seperate ways.

In fact, they still seem to be best friends!

We sure have a lot to learn from our kids, don't we?

Please share this article and help spread Jax's beautiful vision. Hopefully, it can help get adults to stop judging others solely by what's on the outside!

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5-year-old best friends got the same haircut to trick their teacher so she wouldn't able to tell them apart

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Children's hearts lack prejudice-something that bears repeating in a world where many adults revert to hatred and racist caricatures. Adults might think they always know best, but this story shows that we have a lot to learn by watching the youngest generation.

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Clothing giant H&M apologized on Jan. 8 and removed this advertising image from its website.

H&M came under fire last week for an ad that featured a black child donning a sweatshirt with the words "coolest monkey in the jungle" etched on the front. The scandal drew public accusations of racism all over social media, including from the Weeknd and G-Eazy, who both cut ties with the company.

Since the scandal, the parents of the child featured in the image have publicly stated that they don't believe the ad was racist, and the company has taken several actions, including hiring a diversity leader and issuing a public apology that was featured at the top of its website.

H&M apologizes for showing black child wearing a 'monkey in the jungle' sweatshirt

But the recent controversy is not H&M's only dirty laundry. The Swedish apparel company has been rocked by scandal several times before.

Upon releasing an assortment of faux-feather headdresses in Canada, H&M received several complaints that the product was offensive to Canada's First Nations aboriginal peoples, as reported by the Guardian in August 2013. Some took to Twitter and other social media platforms to criticize the company - and others like it in the fashion industry - for cultural appropriation.

The company quickly removed the accessory from their annual summer music festival collection but did not issue an official apology.

In November 2015, H&M South Africa was accused of racism because of how few black models were featured in their advertisements. In tweets, H&M South Africa responded that "H&M's marketing has a major impact and it is essential for us to convey a positive image. We want our marketing to show our fashion in an inspiring way, to convey a positive feeling."

The insinuation that white models conveyed more of "a positive image" added fuel to the fire. H&M responded again with more tweets, insisting that "we have worked with many models from various ethnic backgrounds in our campaigns."

Amid the fast fashion fad - in which companies buy more cheap clothing to keep up with ever-shifting trends - the world's clothing waste is growing. And H&M (as well as companies such as Zara and Forever 21) is arguably one of the largest faces of the fad. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, the average American disposes of 70 pounds of textiles every year, and textile waste makes up 5 percent of the average landfill.

In 2010, the New York Times discovered an H&M in Manhattan was slashing what appeared to be never-worn clothing and simply throwing it out. H&M did not respond to the report.

In April 2016, H&M began its World Recycle Week, during which the company refurbishes used clothes. The company also launched a "Conscious" collection in 2012, which is clothing made using more sustainable practices and recycled materials.

To keep up with a worldwide desire for fast fashion, companies such as H&M have turned toward producing large volumes of their product in Asia. The 2013 Rana Plaza sweatshop collapse in Bangladesh, which resulted in more than 1,100 deaths, uncovered the life-threatening labor conditions inside these retail factories.

In response to the tragedy, Walmart, Gap and H&M were among the companies that vowed improvements would be made to the factories. But by 2016, a slew of reports showed they were failing to fulfill those promises.

Human rights group Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) released a report in 2016 that documented the sexual harassment and low wages persisting at factories, including H&M's. The international coordinator of the alliance told the New York Times in 2016, "At this point, we do not see H&M working in a way that would prevent another Rana Plaza."

According to a research report from the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, almost all workers at H&M's platinum and gold suppliers in Cambodia who were interviewed for the study said they had observed, on average, two to four workers faint every month.

H&M also launched a Fair Wage Method project in 2013, pledging to raise their wages to a "fair living wage" by 2018 but failed to explain what that actually means. No exact hourly rate was ever released by the company, and the announcement is no longer available on its website.

After protests regarding wages and working conditions in Bangladesh, labor rights groups said authorities were detaining innocent protesters to frighten workers at H&M plants into remaining silent, the New York Times reported in 2017. In a statement to the Times, an H&M spokesman said they did not plan on switching suppliers.

A Dove ad showed a black woman turning herself white. The backlash is growing.

Nivea's 'White Is Purity' ad campaign didn't end well

Today's Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

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H&M faced backlash over its 'monkey' sweatshirt ad. It isn't the company's only controversy.

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H&M came under fire last week for an ad that featured a black child donning a sweatshirt with the words "coolest monkey in the jungle" etched on the front. The scandal drew public accusations of racism all over social media, including from the Weeknd and G-Eazy, who both cut ties with the company.

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"Because I’m Latino, I can’t have money?" Kids on Race

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50 People are asked 1 question: If you could change one thing about your body, what would you change?

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This reading comes from the resource Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior.

Categories and labels can help us understand why we act the way we do. But sometimes those labels obscure what is really important about a person. Student Anthony Wright's difficulties in filling in the "little boxes" on an application form explains why reducing individuals to a category can be misleading.

Little Boxes. "How would you describe yourself? (please check one)" Some aren't as cordial. "Ethnic Group": These little boxes and circles bring up an issue for me that threatens my identity. Who am I? Unlike many others, I cannot answer that question easily when it comes to ethnicity. My mother is Hispanic (for those who consider South American as Hispanic) with an Asian father and my father is white with English and Irish roots. What does that make me? My identity already gets lost when my mother becomes a "Latino" instead of an "Ecuadorean." The cultures of Puerto Rico and Argentina are distinct, even though they are both "Hispanic." The same applies to White, Asian, Native American or Black, all vague terms trying to classify cultures that have sometimes greater disparities inside the classification than with other cultures. Yet I can't even be classified by these excessively broad terms.

My classification problem doesn't stop with my ethnicity. My father is a blue-collar worker, yet the technical work he does is much more than manual labor. My family, through our sweat, brains and savings, have managed to live comfortably. We no longer can really be classified as poor or lower class, but we really aren't middle class. Also, in my childhood my parents became disillusioned with the Catholic religion and stopped going to church. They gave me the option of going or not, but I was lazy and opted to stay in bed late Sunday mornings. Right now I don't even know if I am agnostic, atheist or something else, like transcendentalist. I just don't fit into categories nicely.

My biggest conflict of identity comes from another source: education. In the seventh grade, I was placed in a prep school from P.S. 61. The only similarity between the two institutions is that they are both in the Bronx, yet one is a block away from Charlotte Street, a nationally known symbol of urban decay, while the other is in one of the wealthiest sections of New York City. Prep for Prep, a program for disadvantaged students that starts in the fifth grade, worked with me for fourteen months, bringing me up to the private-school level academically and preparing me socially, but still, the transition was rough. Even in my senior year, I felt like I really did not fit in with the prep school culture. Yet I am totally separated from my neighborhood. My home happens to be situated there, and I might go to the corner bodega for milk and bananas, or walk to the subway station, but that is the extent of my contact with my neighborhood. I regret this, but when more than half the teenagers are high-school dropouts, and drugs are becoming a major industry there, there is no place for me. Prep for Prep was where I would "hang out" if not at my high school, and it took the place of my neighborhood and has been a valuable cushion. At high school, I was separate from the mainstream majority, but still an inextricable part of it, so I worked there and put my effort into making it a better place.

For a while, I desperately wanted to fit into a category in order to be accepted. Everywhere I went I felt out of place. When I go into the neighborhood restaurant to ask for arroz y pollo, my awkward Spanish and gringo accent makes the lady at the counter go in the back for someone who knows English, even though I think I know enough Spanish to survive a conversation. When I was little, and had short straight black hair, I appeared to be one of the few Asians in my school, and was tagged with the stereotype. I went to Ecuador to visit relatives, and they could not agree about whether I was Latin or gringo. When the little boxes appeared on the Achievements, I marked Hispanic even though I had doubts on the subject. At first sight, I can pass as white, and my last name will assure that I will not be persecuted as someone who is dark and has "Rodriguez" as his last name. I chose Hispanic because I most identified with it, because of my Puerto Rican neighborhood that I grew up in, and my mother, who has a big influence on me. However, many people would not consider me a Latino. And by putting just "Hispanic," "White," or "Asian," I felt as if I was neglecting a very essential side of me, and lying in the process. I now put "Other" in those little boxes, and when possible indicate exactly what I am.

I realize now the problem is not with me but with the identification system. The words Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American, describe more than one would expect. They describe genealogy, appearance and culture, all very distinct things, which most people associate as one; but there exists many exceptions, like the person who grows up in the Black inner city and adopts that culture, but is white by birth; or the Puerto Rican immigrant with blue eyes and blond hair. Religion can also obscure definitions, as is the case in Israel recently with the label "Jewish," which can be a race, culture or religion, and the definition of being Jewish by birth. The classifications especially get confused when appearance affects the culture, as with non-White cultures due to discrimination. Defining what is "culture;" and the specifics also confuses the issue. For example, it can be argued that almost every American, regardless of race (genealogy), is at least to some degree of the white culture, the "norm" in this country. With more culturally and racially mixed people like myself entering society, these classifications have to be addressed and defined.

My mixture helps me look to issues and ideas from more than one viewpoint, and I like that. Racial, economic, social and religious topics can be looked upon with a special type of objectivity that I feel is unique. I am not objective. I am subjective with more than one bias, so I can see both sides of an argument between a black militant and white conservative, a tenant and a landlord or a Protestant and a Catholic. I will usually side with the underdog, but it is necessary to understand opposing viewpoints in order to take a position. This diversity of self that I have, I enjoy, despite the confusion caused by a society so complex that sweeping generalizations are made. I cannot and don't deserve to be generalized or classified, just like anybody else. My background and position have affected me, but I dislike trying to be treated from that information. I am Anthony E. Wright, and the rest of the information about me should come from what I write, what I say and how I act. Nothing else.

1. Construct an identity chart for Anthony Wright. How does it help explain why he called his essay "Little Boxes"? Why does he find it so difficult to classify himself? When does a special designation become a box that limits a person?

2. Psychologist Deborah Tannen writes, "We all know we are unique individuals, but we tend to see others as representatives of groups. It's a natural tendency, since we must see the world in patterns in order to make sense of it; we wouldn't be able to deal with the daily onslaught of people and objects if we couldn't predict a lot about them and feel that we know who and what they are. But this natural and useful ability to see patterns of similarity has unfortunate consequences. It is offensive to reduce an individual to a category, and it is also misleading.

3. Give examples of the ways that generalizing can be useful. Give examples of its "unfortunate consequences." How does Wright's essay support Tannen's observation?

4. What is Wright's dilemma? Do you or people you know share that dilemma? If so, how do you or they resolve it? Does the reverse of Wright's dilemma ever cause problems? That is, do people ever feel hurt because their membership in a group is not acknowledged?

5. How do Tannen's comments help explain why Wright concludes that "I cannot and don't deserve to be generalized or classified, just like anybody else"? Do you share his feelings?

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This reading comes from the resource Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior . Categories and labels can help us understand why we act the way we do. But sometimes those labels obscure what is really important about a person.

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Rihanna's Fenty Beauty line tackled major gaps in the industry and showed makeup companies just what it means to be inclusive.

But one of the products is solving a smaller ― but nevertheless annoying ― beauty problem for those of us constantly losing bobby pins or earrings in makeup bags.

Twitter user @ItsShelbyTho recently pointed out that Fenty Beauty's Match Stix packaging is magnetic.

"I threw all my earrings in my makeup bag and my FENTY set caught all of them... wow @rihanna never stops giving back," she tweeted.

A few days later, Fenty Beauty replied to Shelby's tweet:

Thanks to Rihanna, we won't have to waste time rummaging for earrings, tweezers or anything else metallic that's buried in the depths of our makeup bag.

Beauty lovers are clearly psyched about the innovation:

The end of digging frantically through your handbag for a bobby-pin!!! 😱 Praise the Lord! 🙆
- Sarah Bettaney Brady (@sarahruthbrady) November 28, 2017

This is how I find my tweezers in my makeup bag 😄
- sophia (@sophiesatx) November 28, 2017

It finds all my Bobby pins too 🤗
- maiahthemermaid (@maiahthemermaid) November 28, 2017

Praise Rihanna. What will she solve next?

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One Of Rihanna's Makeup Products Secretly Solves An Annoying Beauty Problem

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Rihanna's Fenty Beauty line tackled major gaps in the industry and showed makeup companies just what it means to be inclusive. But one of the products is solving a smaller ― but nevertheless annoying ― beauty problem for those of us constantly losing bobby pins or earrings in makeup bags.

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A social experiment centered around race and shopping. What would YOU do?

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Shopping While Black - Social Experiment

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Kids react to Cheerios commercial that some people were angered by.

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Kids React to Controversial Cheerios Commercial