Losing Yourself in Labels

So coming up with titles are always an issue when writing blog entries. I was in my social and economic development class and we were discussing battered women and the concept of losing yourself in labels came to mine. I personally have always felt that I live my life through labels and following the shadows of my Mom and my brother. They have set the standards very high for me and because their standards are so high, I am labeled through them: “Little Sandy” or “Little Rah.” Interesting the way life works because I am so different from the both of them, yet this label encourages me to be all that I can be. But thinking back to this label thing, I have always had an issue with describing myself without using a label or even understanding what constitutes into a label.

Label: Brand, Sticker, Marker, Tag

This is a very interesting definition especially when I think of the labels I have been tagged with and the stereotypes that come along with this label as well as how my life is predicted based on these stereotypes and tags and the struggles I have to face to get through them.
• Being a black woman in America

• I go to an all-white private school in upstate New York where even in the 21st century, I have to deal with ignorant races remarks

• I find myself stuck in the position of having to explain my race more than I planned to

• I have to deal with the issues of being judged on getting in my school through affirmative action rather than me being there because I earned it through busting my ass in school

• I have to deal with the fact that an educated black woman is a very intimidating force to be reckoned with

• On top of that, The more education I acquire can actually ruin my income: Studies show the higher a woman of color education goes, the more here income decrease---Race and Ethnicity Class (Ithaca College)

• I have to deal with being pre-judged to be aggressive and independent or Dependent and a Push Over—very little room to maneuver

• I am labeled to be a teenage mom or caught in the circumstances of being sexually aggressive

• We are stereotyped to all come from an urban neighborhood and to be labeled as “HOOD”

• Black Women have the highest rates of HIV

• Black women are included in the people of color women to be single parents or raised in single-parent homes

• Being from New York City

• New Yorkers are labeled to be rude and very to themselves

-I find this funny when everyone I met, I have introduced myself to

• Stuck up and always in a rush

• There are no trees and we don't care about the earth
  

-One of the ignorant things I was told at Ithaca

• All the boroughs are just one place

• Urban children from NYC have never been anywhere or done things outside of being in the city

So all of these things are markers that I have been labeled to, but I don’t fit into them so, what do I label myself as? I am still proud to be a black woman making progress in America when although not exclusively racist through law, the systems are still under racist rule. I am definitely proud to be a New York because I love Harlem and the person it has made me become.

But the crazy thing when it comes to descriptions, it is a hassle to try and describe yourself without having a labels. Labels are what make you who you are right? WRONG, no one sits down to examine exactly who they are and what makes them who they are. In some places you are characterized by your society So, In South Africa; since apartheid just ended in 1994, there are many issues with race and labels. There are six race categories here: Black, White, Colored, Asian, Indian, and Other. When you have been characterized in this group, you are racially profiled. There are many stigmas that come along with the categories and of the people that are forced to grow in these boxes.

There are colored traditions that are not shared in the black or the white community. Indians and Colored have an upper hand in comparison to the whites and the Asians, but the blacks and the colors are on the same level when it comes to economic status. Yes, this is Africa and to be ideal would be for there to be African Kings and Queens and the continent full of the inspiring blacks, but that is NOT reality. Many people allow labels to cover their life so much that they forget who they were before those labels. It is interesting here because Colored has been used as a derogatory term just as it has in the United States but the people who are categorized as that race consider the term as part of their identity and to take it away would mean that they are missing something.

In Class, Labels came up with the discussion of battered women and them not having any idea as to what to do once out of the abusive relationship. These women have been wives and mothers for so long and abused, that they forget who they are as women. They are unaware of How to treat themselves or care for themselves because they have been neglecting themselves for so long. It is crazy how involved in your life you become that when you begin to become a care-taker you forget the most important person to take care of is yourself.
Even if you find yourself caught up in labels, don’t let it overwhelm you to the point where you forget who you are. Be you and help others. I find the best thing for me to do with labels is to embrace them so, I am able to change the negative stereotypes into positive ones.

Stay Royal :-)