Written by: Sashuv Kafle - 21130, Grade XII
Posted on: 15 October, 2020
We, humans, are often asked to identify ourselves. Who we are and where do we belong to? Identifying oneself in society has always been a major discussion since we tend to identify ourselves to fit into society.
Rosenberg along with his family flew to America and changed his identity, but his family was still targeted for who they were. Sawaquat, a Native American was defamed for ‘stealing’ the land that didn’t belong to them. Wideman was differentiated from other groups of people because of his skin color and his beliefs. Each of the individuals in some way or another had to hide their true identity to fit in the society properly even after facing discrimination who they were and what they believed in.
Rosenberg along with his family came to the US from Germany in 1938. They changed” their name and their identity hoping that the society would accept them. (Rosenberg 29) He gave up his self-identity, his name for people to accept him, but the bigotry never stopped. He was bullied by his neighbors as a “sheeine” (Rosenberg 29). The guilt of not embracing his heritage had always bothered him, but he never came to realize that until he started going to temples, attending Jewish festivals, and finding pride in his heritage. Self-identifying yourself helps a lot of problems in life and it gives you the confidence to fight for what you believe in. After a lot of consideration, he gained courage from his second wife which made him change his name and show the world his true identity. Rosenberg announced, “I want to be remembered by the name I was born with” (Rosenberg 30). Rosenberg no longer wanted the world to know him as “Ross” and wanted the world to recognize him as a Jewish and through his real name. After years, he was able to embrace his culture, his religion, and accept himself the way he truly was.
Sawaquat who was a Native American was frequently called by the whites when they referred to them as a thief. Sawaquat was one of the Native Americans just like many others who had to face humiliation every day just for accepting who they were as a person. But embarrassed for who you identify yourself as causes a bigger problem because we hide from people so that they won’t be able to judge us. Sawaquat wasn’t able to embrace his future in a proper way because he was “embarrassed” (Sawaquat 59) to accept the fact of self-realization that he was an Indian. When the realization hit him, he began to question his true identity and after a lot of consideration, he came to realize that “we come full circle to realize other people are like ourselves, as discomfiting as that maybe sometimes.” (Sawaquat 60) He came to realize that he wasn’t the only one who would feel that way. When Sawaquat realized his mistake of not identifying himself for who he was, he realized that other people who bully others and discriminate against others have maybe been through similar situations like that before. Sawaquat wanted his daughter to accept herself for who she was, and where she came from, “discover her own inner self that is unlike any others”(Sawaquat 60), and be proud for what the culture represents.
Wideman, a black man was denied from entering a bar because of his skin color and for what he believed in. He wore a cap that had ‘X’ written on it and since many people didn’t believe Malcolm X’s beliefs, he was restricted from entering the bar. With anger and pain in his heart from having no support and being humiliated for what he believes in, he compared his feelings to “our American racial weather, turbulent, unchanging and it’s changeability, it’s the power to rock us and stun us from our routines and tear us apart…” (Wideman) Discrimination has always been an issue throughout history and it can affect a person mentally and physically. It can lower down a person’s self-esteem and make them take decisions which they will regret for the rest of their lives. Although Wideman was a self-realized person, he felt pretty hopeless because he had no support from other people. This incident that he faced made him realize how much humiliation, torture his ancestor had to go through. “When rain falls on us, it falls on all of us” (Wideman 65) When one person in a certain group is humiliated the whole group gets humiliated and in order to live in a peaceful society where each and everyone is respected, “we must first imagine how good it would feel to be healed There are always going to be moments in our lives when people are going to question you for what you believe in and how you identify yourself as. And there will be people all over the world who won’t be ready to accept you just because you represent yourself in some way but just because certain people don’t like doesn’t mean that everyone is going to hate you. Rosenberg, Sawaquat, Wideman, they all went through the journey of self-realization where their identity was constantly questioned, but all the circumstances that they had to go through, helped overcome the fear of society judging them for who they represent themselves as. Self-acceptance is a key to happiness and until and unless we don’t accept yourself for who we are, you will never be able to find peace and happiness.
Sources
https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/unknown-facts-about-raavan https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/187/6/1140/4985429
