Hyphenated Selves Analysis

It’s amazing how much I reference my reading to my experience to the my time at Robeson High School. I remember having a group discussion with the girls about their Ethnic identity and what they’ve faced so far in the world. At first, of course the girls were very reluctant to share but after Stanley and I shared our experience, they found familiar situation that they’ve experience. In “Hyphenated Selves: Muslim American Youth Negotiating Identities on the Fault Lines of Global Conflict,” the article talks about Muslim youth experiencing discrimination and having to be more conscious and mindful in their surrounding due to the event of 9/11. Although the girls aren’t muslim, they’re all black and they too face discrimination because of their skin. In our discussion, some of the girls shared that many times their peers and family were the ones to inflict discrimination on them. One example was that many times, the dark skinned girls are often told they’re “pretty for a dark skinned girl.” That resonated something in me because I too often hear that phrase. What hurts the most is that it’s coming from my fellow African American/caribbean peers. I always respond I don’t know how to respond the that. The message that young dark skinned girls are getting from

We spoke about them being mindful of their ethnic background since some of them are graduating soon, some will go off to college and others will go on to start working. The real world is not as simple and easy going as it seems and I had to share my experience with them to show them that discrimination will continue but they don’t have to be the ones to confirm people’s bias, but be an example that defy all odd and miraculously show them that not all black people are not how they perceive