Identity

Before Lucas was born, Angelien made a graph of Lucas' ethnicity. As it turns out, he is 5/8 Filipino, 1/8 Irish, 1/8 English and 1/8 German American (Rockefeller). I am trying to get a better understanding of what it means to be mixed race in America. I had an outsider's understanding that one cannot be 1/2 this or that, as you cannot say this arm is Filipino and this finger is Irish. That one is both or all, and should not have to choose. Outsider's perspectives often influence one's own identity. If people tell a person that he/she looks "white," then does that person feel more white, even if he/she identifies more with a different ethnicity? Rush Limbaugh said that Obama has "a problem with white people," so does that mean that he thinks Obama has a problem with himself? Isn't he as much white as he is black, especially being raised by his white family? Does Obama think of himself only as Black since outsiders' perspectives have dubbed him, "The First Black President?"

I had a friend once who was racing his friend, going 90 in a 45. They both got pulled over. My friend got let off with a warning. His friend got one night in jail. My friend is Guamanian, Hawaiian, and Puerto Rican. His friend was black. When he showed me the warning, the police officer had marked off, "white" under ethnicity. This story has always been an example in my mind of how the way in which one is perceived by others affects how one sees oneself, how one is treated and how one ultimately will choose to identify him/herself.

Ultimately, I want Lucas to know where he came from, that there is a reason he is growing up in this country, that he comes from many beautiful cultures with important traditions, stories and values, and to feel comfortable in his identity he will create someday. And define it himself.

Can the English language please have a non-gendered pronoun for he/she and him/her?