"Race Management": How Race is performed privately and publicly

After the election and Trump win, I have seen more public displays of white racial identity than I have ever before, except from what I’ve read in historical sources from the Civil Rights era. For me, it has called into question with how race is performed in the privacy of one’s home (or in any other comfortable setting) and within public spaces. One thing is for sure… context matters. These very intentionally directed acts of white supremacy matter in private and matter in public. Why might you ask? It impacts how racially minoritized groups choose to perform their racial identity. “Race performance” can be, and often is, dictated by the standard of whiteness within a context.

Let me explain further.

In Hernández’s study (2016), the results indicated that the Latina participants “managed their ethnic identity differently based on context, recognizing a difference between an internalized, personal identity, and a public identity that they managed depending on context” (p. 175). For me, this is inherently accurate. Often those in marginalized racial communities perform their ethnic, personal identity differently within safe, inclusive, and familiar contexts like in one’s home, in one’s community of friends, in one’s church, in one’s culturally-based student group, or in one’s fraternity or sorority. Within these contexts, whiteness isn’t the standard. It’s never fully gone, but it’s not the standard.

In other contexts, this isn’t the case. In historically exclusive environments, like colleges and universities, we see marginalized racial communities constantly negotiating how to remain authentic to one’s personal identity while successfully navigating a space that doesn’t always acknowledge, support, and celebrate that personal identity. To me, this sounds a lot like oppression. Having students and staff of color constantly negotiating their racial (and ethnic) identity in social spaces that in turn creates negative attitudes, standards, and environmental conditions for members of this community further perpetuates visible and invisible systems of oppression (Guido, Patton, Quaye, & Renn, 2016, p. 75).

As a new student affairs professional and bi-racial woman, I realized the importance my own development has on impacting the students I serve. After reflecting deeply about this idea of “performing my bi-racial identity”, I am empowered to continue self-authorship in private and in public. I am empowered to live my “inside life” outwardly because I know that by being authentic and living my truth I am inherently giving my students the permission to do the same.

References

Hernández, E. (2016). Using critical race theory to examine race/ethnicity, racism and power in student development theory and research. Journal of College Student Development, 57(2), 168-180.

Patton, L.D., Renn, K., Guido,F. M., & Quaye, S.J.(2016). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

• Professional Development