Racial Hierarchies and Categorizations

After reading the “Introduction” and the first few pages of “Shifting the Center” of Race Class and Gender I was reminded of the question I have encountered so many times in my life I could never attempt to count. Everyone has encountered this question, and if they haven’t they must either surround themselves with people who simple do not care or people who are very similar to themselves. The question I am referring to is: Where are you from?

This is addressed in the first few pages of “Shifting the Center” and much like the author I’ve grown tired of being asked this question. Now that’s not to say I think asking someone where they’re from is a bad thing. It’s not, but I do think one should ask what your heritage is, or where are your ancestors from instead. What I do find “bad” is why people ask. Some people ask just because they’re curious, nothing else, and that’s fine with me I welcome such questions. It’s the other people who ask because they need to categorize you, that bother me. And those seem to be the people who ask me the most, especially when I was a younger sunbather when my more “exotic” (Filipino and Spanish) skin tone, hair, and facial features would stump people. I can always tell when people are asking so they can place me in a category. They either look very confused when I list my ten multiracial ethnicities or they ask a follow up question like: “So what are you white, Asian, or Hispanic?”

As was explained in the “Introduction” traditionally we view race, class, and gender on a hierarchy. It is because of this traditional mind set that I think some people need to know, for their own mental hierarchy they find out where you belong on it. The whole idea of a social hierarchy, especially based on race (the one thing we have absolutely no control over) frustrates me because there is no basis for such a hierarchy. Yet people still rely heavily on such to form opinions about others they encounter.