Two Races One Identity

An essay by Cameron Rogers

To be biracial in this world is hard enough. However, to be biracial in a line of work that calls on you to speak up for certain racial groups, it’s even harder. I’m an activist and journalism major, and I was born into a black and Dominican family. Growing up, I was always proud of my heritage, but of course, not everyone was. Like many others, I went through the same old narrative of not being “black enough” to hang out with the black kids and not being “Hispanic enough” to hang out with the Latinx kids. Growing up, 90% of the people I considered friends were white or Asian because those were the people who accepted my racial identity. I’d been able to find some black and Latino kids that were accepting of me, but not as many as should be expected. What I am shouldn’t have mattered, but in this world, a lot of things that shouldn’t matter tend to divide us more than we’d like to admit.

In the world of Activism, I noticed that even though several of us fought for the same causes, race still presented itself to be an issue. I remember back when my main focus was the immigration crisis and Trump’s zero tolerance policy. I’d tried reaching out to a plethora of different groups in order to create a large-scale effort to raise awareness, raise funds, and raise political influence to be able to help direct the chaos that enveloped those who saw themselves treated unfairly and unethically. But to my utter surprise, the support and encouragement I’d expected was far from what I received. From many of the groups I spoke to, I was told I didn’t know what I was talking about because deportation was never an issue I’d have to worry about, so I didn’t have the right to speak on the subject.

I was floored for several reasons, the first being that everybody has the right to speak on the subject. No matter what race you are, you are allowed to have an opinion on a topic. If you are white, you are allowed to think that police brutality is wrong, even if you do not experience it. If you are Asian, you are allowed to think that our judicial system prosecutes brown people unfairly. And if you are biracial, you are allowed to think that children shouldn’t be separated from their families, even if you will never face deportation yourself because your family is documented from generations ago.

Second, the fact that any group would even refuse help, no matter who it's from, is insane. Anyone should be allowed to help if they have good intentions, that’s what activism is all about.

Finally, it was appalling that in a world and community that I’d believed stood for unity and togetherness, I would be treated as a tourist in an issue that affects my community directly. Not being 100 % Dominican, or never having to face deportation, does not mean that I’d be either unable or unwilling to help, and the sort of division that was so blatantly put on display is exactly why so many racial issues are still so prevalent today. Because when one race is in trouble, they shut the others out because they feel it isn’t in their jurisdiction.

But here’s the thing: as a species, helping each other is the only way we’re going to survive. No one achieves anything alone. Isolating ourselves from different races, and then isolating ourselves further from different subcategories within our race, and then being outraged when you feel that no one will help you is not okay. Walls are not the answer. Walls are meant to divide, to make others weak. We need to make ourselves stronger and build bridges instead. We are one people, one species, and dividing ourselves over issues when we have the same viewpoint makes absolutely no sense.

Anyone and everyone is entitled to fight for what they believe in, whether you agree or not because that’s what makes this country a democracy. And when you turn others away for not being similar enough to you, you become exactly like the oppressors you wish to triumph over. Don’t oppress those who wish to help, rise up and fight together, because we’re stronger together.