My First Conk by Malcolm X and Ex-NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal: ‘I identify as black’ by Greg Botelho are two pieces that talk about how the American society views and defines race. The first piece is an excerpt from Malcolm X’s autobiography talking about the time he received his first conk and his thoughts in the years after. Botelho is a news reporter who wrote about the story of Rachel Dolezal being outed to the public as being a Caucasian female as opposed to the African American female she portrayed herself to be. After Barack Obama was elected as president, people argued that America had finally become a post-racial society. I do not believe that this will ever happen. These two pieces made me aware of how society defines a person by their race.…show more content… She was born as a Caucasian female but later on in her life she decided to self-identify as African
American. America was informed by her estranged biological parents that she was born and raised as Caucasian. One of her sons told her “Mom, racially you’re human and culturally you’re black”. I love this statement. While I do believe that race should not be a defining factor in the difference amongst humans, American society uses it as such.
American Society allows race to define a human being. This allows clichés and pushes people to follow the cliché whether they feel they should be or not. America has changed and molded their definitions of each race but we are still a long way away from being a post-racial society. When it comes to self-identifying, society has huge double standards. It is not acceptable in America for a Caucasian to identify as African American or vice versa. In society’s eyes, a person is born a certain “color” and cannot change that. It is completely acceptable though for