The writing piece by Evelyn Alsultany called, “ Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” from this bridge we call home is a writing that gives great insight into the
mind and emotions of a person with a mixed racial background. There seems to be a misconception among those who don’t have mixed racial background, that those that do have mixed racial backgrounds aren’t discriminated against.It may appear advantageous that those who are of two or more races have the luxury to side with which ever race they choose, if their skin is light enough or dark enough. What appears to be an “advantage” of race maneuverability to people who appear to be “clearly” one race to others, can actually turn out to be a constant hassle when you are constantly being asked “what race are you?”.
Alsultany takes the reader into her mixed racial world from her perspective to give us an understanding of the constant racial struggles she must deal with from others in the world who are curious as to what race she is. When Alsultany is in class, one of her white classmates wants to know her race, so she ask Alsultany where she is from,when she answers she was born and raised in New York City,the converstation continues to proceed as, “Oh…well, how about your parents?”. Alsultanys’ internal response to this is, “( I feel her trying to map onto her narrow cartography; New York is not a sufficent answer. She analyzes me according to binary axes of sameness and difference. She detects only difference from first glance, and seeks to pigeonhole me. In her framework, my body is marked, excluded, not from this country. A seemingly “friendly” question turns into a claim to land and belonging.)”. Alsultany then answers, ” My father is Iraqi and my mother Cuban,”. Her classmate answered, ” How interesting. Are you a U.S. citizen?”. The questions asked to Alsultany by her classmate about her racial background seemed be done so her classmate could confirm in her own mind that she was different from Alsultany since Alsultany apparently didn’t fit her description of an American, despite the fact that Alsultany told her she was born and raised in America like her. Alsultanys’ classmates questioning of her U.S. citizenship after she was given the information that Alsultany was born and raised in New York City, only strengthens my belief that her classmate preconcluded that Alsultany was foreign to her.
There are constant preconceived notions that Alsultany has to deal with when people interact with her, because of her mixed racial background. Since Alsultany is Muslim, when a man she meets on the subway finds out about this, he instantly assumes she is comfortable with having an arranged marriage because of her Arab and Muslim background( her Cubanness is forgotten by the man). When Alsultany is asked by a Arab Muslim man if she too is Arab Muslim, when she tells him partly on her Dad’s side and that her name is Evelyn, the man accusses her of not truly being Muslim since she doesn’t have a Muslim name. The man even chastises Evelyn for her American influenced way of dress, not seeing it fit as legitimate Arab Muslim attire. Both men Evelyn ran into didn’t factor into their thought process that she was American born or that she was also part Cuban. Evelyn shows how she views herself when a man on a plane ask her if she is “more Arab, Latina, or American”, she answered ” all of the above”. When different people see Evelyn and find out her racial background, they instantly seperate her into categories that they can identify her as. While they seperate her into these categories and start to judge or analze her, according to her anecdotes, they always seem to forget a race that is included in her that adds to the defining of who she is.Eventhoughit might not be as simple for others to accept, Evelyn is Arab, Latina, and Cuban, all in one. These different things make her the one person she is, and if one of these is left out in considering her, you won’t be able to completely understand her.
Sources:
- Evelyn Alsultany, “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” (From this bridge we call home 106-110)
- This bridge we call home : radical visions for transformation / edited by Gloria E. Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating.New York : Routledge, 2002.
