Why I’m Unsubscribing from Race
Is anybody else perplexed that in 2024, we can't choose our race? Is race not also a social construct? Why is gender the only identity that is allowed to be fluid?
Why can’t we be trans-millionaires and demand that our bank accounts reflect the way we feel on the inside? Why do we still make multiracial people choose a box? Why do we assume people’s race and thereby make assumptions about how they think, how they vote, and how they see the world?
I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being judged by the color of my skin and not by the content of my character.
Sometimes, I don't want to be racialized. Some days I wake up and I'd rather not be “black”, or a “BIPOC”, or a “person of color.” Sometimes, I just want to be… me. So, I've decided to release myself from the shackles of race. I no longer consent to being tied to the social constraints of the arbitrary notion of race. I'm tossing my black card for good.
I was assigned “Black” at birth. All babies are pretty much the same shade of pink at birth, so there’s no way my race was even observable at the time. I had no choice in the matter. I’m not sure if my parents did either.
Back in my days as an undergraduate at a super liberal university, when I identified as a black feminist, people would ask me, “are you black first, or a woman first?” Ten years ago, I would have replied, “I’m black first.” I was so loyal to my race. Black. Blackity black. Being black gave me a great deal of pride and a whole lot of other things I carried unconsciously. Being black made me angry at the world – made me feel obligated to hold certain political views – and made me feel like a victim. Being black made me feel paranoid – like someone or something was always out to make my life more difficult.
Today, if this same question was asked, I would reply, “I’m a woman, first and foremost.” Even though we in the West have regressed so far from nature, and allowed males to penetrate the female sex class, and colonize womanhood to fulfill their desires; I know that in reality, I am a woman. I can go anywhere in the world and be seen as a woman. I can connect with other women as a woman from any race, class, or nationality and they would understand me, and I, them.
If I traveled back 2000 years in time, I would be a woman.
Today, If I woke up and declared that I am now a man, I could go to the doctor and get my breasts removed under the guise of gender-affirming care faster than I could go and get a breast reduction due to debilitating back pain. I could get my ovaries removed to affirm my manhood faster than I could get my tubes tied for not wanting to become a mother.
Today, If I woke up and declared that I no longer identify as black, I would be shamed and ridiculed. I would be called “crazy” – accused of self-hatred. A race traitor. A coon. A bedwench. A Pecola Breedlove.
It makes me wonder why we, as a society, are so adamant about removing gender from its biological roots but hold on to racial stratification for dear life. Haven’t we spent years trying to undo the social ramifications of racism, but now, we’d rather attempt to divorce gender from reality. It makes me wonder if something more nefarious and deeply sinister is at play.
Regardless, I don’t want blackness anymore. I gave up my blackness when I decided to not vote for Biden in 2020. I don’t think I’ll ever vote for a Democrat again. I don’t know how to play spades anyway. I have no rhythm. I prefer to eat with chopsticks. I married the father of my child. I wear Blundstone boots in the winter. I feel so pretty when wrapped in a Sari. My daughter has a Japanese name. Once, I even shared an ice cream cone with my dog.
I think my ancestors were just regular people. Not slaves, kings, or queens.
I don’t listen to degenerate hip-hop music. I won’t be first in line to fight against the oppression of others. I don’t hate capitalism. I don’t care about what black celebrities are doing.
I’m giving up my blackness. Nobody gets to tell me who I should hate. Nobody gets to tell me who I should love. Nobody gets to tell me what I should be mad about. Nobody gets to tell me what I should be interested in.
I’m tired of being emotionally manipulated by the media. I’m exhausted from my energy being siphoned to fuel popular culture.
Just let me be myself.
Despite my beautiful, flawless, melanin rich, collagen fortified skin – I’m not black. I’m not indigenous. I’m not a person of color. I’m non-racial. Just like all those people who are non-binary – the people who aren’t men or women, male or female. I’m non-racial.
Non-racial. It rolls off the tongue even better than “non-binary”.
I don’t subscribe to any race. I’m just a human (of the female variety, because that matters a great deal in the whole human thing). I’m an adult human female. Formerly known as a woman. But now women can mean anything. A woman is anybody who identifies as a woman. Huh?
I’m not magical. I’m not better at sports. I’m not strong and independent. I need my man, and I need him to be male.
I identify as a non-racial, joyful, clinically sane, adult human female.
If all identities had the special privilege of fluidity, I’d totally be a trans-millionaire.
It’s not fair that gender is the only identity that has the privilege to be fluid, changeable, and discardable. But race, the ultimate social construct, is expected to be unchangeable, and rigid.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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Race is an illusion used as a tool for social control. Whiteness and blackness have never existed; they're just adverbs. The very idea of the "white race" didn't exist until English planters in the Carolinas invented it to stop poor and enslaved Europeans from joining enslaved Africans in revolts against them. In the 1630s. We even know where and when it was invented.
Gender, OTOH, does exist and isn't something that can just be felt or imagined or wished away. Vive la difference!
Kudos! I couldn’t agree more. I’m white. I don’t care. It wasn’t my choice, it doesn’t define me and I’m sick of being judged, lectured, assessed and spoken for on my “ whiteness. I’m Jewish. I was born to Jewish parents. If I converted to a different religious sect, I’d still be Jewish. A blood test would identify me as such. I don’t care, I don’t care what others subscribe to, I’m not particularly observant, I’m not ashamed.My son in law is the first American born child of immigrants from India. He’s an observant Hindu. He does not want to be identified as “ brown”, “ Indian” or “ Hindu”. He’s American.
The titles “ liberal”, “ Leftist”, “ Marxist”, “ Socialist”, Progressive”, “ Republican”, “ RINO”, “ Conservative”, “ Ultra- MAGA”… I can’t stand it any longer! One cannot be enough of anything. We must be defined, toe the line, subjugate, genuflect and pledge loyalty to the party overlords… or else! We aren’t given a voice or a choice. I no longer subscribe to either party. Neither represents me. Neither party appears particularly interested in representing America. Only their own interests. We cannot survive as a nation much longer, but that appears to be the grand design. A Brave New World. A central government ruled by despotic fiefs over a transhumanist serfdom. And all of the various “ isms” won’t mean a damn thing. Huxley’s 1931 opus- a fictitious, ominous warning has become a playbook.But we’re too distracted… too busy despising each other to see what is right before our eyes.
The racialized, sexualized, religious, cultural ,tribal, ideological cult of identity politics is exhausting, condescending, divisive and infantilizing. I’m sick to death of being spoken for and spoken at by those who don’t know me and truth be told, I’ve no desire to engage with. Leave me alone. All I ask for is equal protection under the law and respect . I’ve earned at least that much.
It’s quite amazing how easily people get along when left to their own devices. But that would destroy the plan. Divide and conquer.
And really, when did AOC become a “ Person of Color”? My daughter is white and at least three shades duskier then this fraudulent narcissist.
I’d be honored to make your acquaintance!