Picture this: A girl walks into a social event. She walks up to a stranger intending on making a formal introduction in order to allow for more networking opportunities.
She walks up to the stranger, smiles and extends her arm to shake her hand. She opens her mouth to make the introduction and says, “Hello my name is Terri, and I am an African-American woman, a heterosexual, a Democrat and an all-around good person.”
To most people this sounds absolutely insane. However, in today’s society, labels are becoming so confining that at some point there is going to be no need for us to even use our actual names. Instead a person is just going to ask, “Which categories do you fall in?”
How did this happen? Were we just conditioned to conform to certain behaviors based on our appearances, orientations and political views? I know that during junior high and high school, we all had to conform to certain cliques in order to feel as if we in some way belonged.
However, one would think that after some sort of maturity that maybe this behavior would stop. It is almost as if the entire society is one gigantic high school setting. Either someone has to fit in with a certain section, or they must be considered outcasts.
For many of you that do not know me, my name is Terrisha Buckley, as stated in the byline. Once, I was even asked what I would like to be called. When inquiring further to what the person meant, he elaborated by going into the many names that are usually associated with my race: African-American, black, Negro, etc. I was actually in shock at first at the boldness of the question. However, I was in even more shock at the fact that I had been reduced from just a regular person to someone that had to be placed in a certain box.
I responded to this person by requesting that he call me by my name. I have no qualms about calling myself African-American or black. Nevertheless, that is not who I am as a person. That just happens to be a label that is associated with people of similar skin tones as mine. This does not mean I have to act a certain way.
I absolutely love how the term “black” has been elevated to not only describe a person of a certain skin tone but to describe the personalities of a person as well. Apparently, a person with darker skin must be more aggressive, speak in a certain manner and walk with a certain attitude that illustrates my true “blackness.”
This concept is not just restricted to racial situations. I have seen situations in which people of a certain sexual orientation were expected to act a certain way.
Apparently, a man who is in any way feminine must be gay. A girl that would normally be classified as a tomboy must be a lesbian.
He can’t just be a person that simply doesn’t enjoy sports or has actual style; she can’t be a person that enjoys sports and detests dolls. These people must be categorized as if they are animals that must be herded into their respective confinements.
I did not intend for this to offend anyone by any means. I am willing to admit I enjoy joking around about the stereotypes that I am expected to have based on how I appear to others. Despite my jokes, I still know that I am a person before anything else. This being said, I am willing to challenge everyone. Are you a person or do you have a list of things that come before? Am I a black person or am I a person that happens to be black?
This concept may seem weird to most people, but it is something to think about. I am willing to admit that I do not conform to the box that most people would place me in. I enjoy doing things that are not common for a black person but are completely normal for a regular person. Now the real question is, “What is a regular person?”
I say a regular person is what is left after he or she strips away all of the labels society has placed on this person. When there is no black or white, Democrat or Republican, gay or straight, right or left or any of that. It is when we completely see a person for who they really are.
I hope we get to this reality very soon; if not, instead of picking up a simple name tag when we go to a social event, we will have to pick up a pamphlet and pin it to ourselves in order for people to be able to identify us.
Terrisha Buckley is a junior majoring in animal and dairy science. She can be contacted at [email protected].