Week 10: Race, Language, and identity; critical multiculturalism in TESOL

The Ibrahim article, Becoming Black was very interesting to me. I was also taken back by the story of these French speaking Africans coming to North America. It makes me wonder why blacks only find themselves identifying with other blacks. In this society today unfortunately that is still the case, but not in all cases.  However, generally you see people of the same race or culture identifying with one another. It is amazing to me how they would just fall into the categories of becoming black just for having that skin color. I remember talking about with whom we find ourselves identifying with. What makes up our social identity? I had found myself identifying with many different groups of people and my culture only being one of them. I believe that we need to continue to expand our identity by looking past skin color. Anyone can learn BE (black English). As seen in today’s society, it is another dialect of English and not only black people are speaking it. I have seen and heard people who wanted to be black or identified with that type of person.

The idea of racism comes to mind when I was reading the article. He also addresses the white racist in the article which made me question my beliefs and if I am falling for the stereotypical mind set. I believe that you should not fall into the stereotype stated in the article if you have black skin. It was so crazy to me to hear that these continental Africans are falling into these dominant groups such as blacks. They are facing a social imaginary right off the bat as Ibrahim states in the article. I can’t imagine how it would feel like to enter a society that already had preconceived ideas about where one does and does not fit in. That want and need to fit into society could definitely have an effect on with whom these continental Africans were identifying with. He states that they mostly identified with African American blacks and their culture.  It goes back to the idea that everyone is an individual and we all come from different cultural backgrounds. I believe that anyone can identify with whatever kind of culture or identity that they want to.

It was eye opening to see that he did not identify himself as being black, he described his identity as tall, Sudanese and a basketball player. However, when he got to North America he made the transition from his identity to becoming black. In the end, I think that it is important for TESOL educators to begin to put aside the stereotypes and treat all students equally. I believe that in today’s society we need to embrace the different cultures and like Ibrahim says to look into rap and hip-hop and instead of banning it, embrace it and assist students in finding their identity.