My identity is something I have struggled with in the past. Growing up, I never liked being called ‘different’. I feel like as a kid when people called me different it had such a negative connotation. Being a minority has created a few obstacles in my life but it has also helped me grow as a better human being. I am now able to look at being a minority as a positive attribute to my life. I have witnessed the first black president to be elected and many other monumental moments for minorities. Those breakthrough moments for minorities have made me hopeful for the future. Growing up, I remember I had to constantly answer the same question of my ethnicity over and over again. I didn’t realize that I had to explain why I looked different than …show more content…
I never realized that I had to justify that I was an American. I started to feel isolated and alone solely because I didn’t relate to many of my peers. I remember carrying that feeling of isolation with me. In my eyes, I felt that being Indian crippled me from being a 'normal' American. As a result, I began to feel humiliated when my parents would speak in Hindi with me when we were in public. Due to feeling isolated, I began to distance myself from my religion and from my culture. I thought me being Indian outside of my home isolated me, and that it didn’t make me ‘normal’. As I was going through this phase of trying to be normal, I remember my parents had felt hurt because I felt humiliated by parents for just being themselves. They began to notice that I was embarrassed and ashamed of where I came from. This damaged my relationship with my grandparents and parents. I never wanted to go out with them, because they dressed differently and spoke with an accent. My parents didn’t like feeling that I was becoming “too American”. So I struggled with not being American enough and being too American. I constantly felt out of place. The minute I left my house I 'switched off' being Indian and the minute I entered my home I had to 'switch off' being