By Roger Catlin — 2021
Works of art create a picture of activism and resilience, and reenforce the strength of black culture across generations.
Read on www.smithsonianmag.com
CLEAR ALL
Who owns your identity, and how can old ways of thinking be replaced?
1
Close to 11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestors don’t even identify as Hispanic or Latino.
To the list of identities Black people in America have assumed or been asked to, we can now add, thanks to this presidential election season, “Obama’s people” and “the African Americans.”
We’ve been taught to refer to people with disabilities using person-first language, but that might be doing more harm than good.
2
A grassroots civil-dialogue movement creates a new kind of safe space: one that invites students from across the political spectrum to discuss controversial issues, including policing, gender identity, and free speech itself.
Being an outsider can cause culture shock. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Conceptions of identities are complex. We have a number of identities that manifest themselves in different environments or as composite forms of background experience. So, do neurodiverse conditions like autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and bipolar really comprise a part of a person’s identity?
Like most veterans, I found the transition from military to civilian life a struggle—a tougher struggle than I had anticipated. For me, I found that one of my trickier struggles was with my identity.
Do we realize just how much of an influence music really has on us and our cultural identity?
Artists feel pride in producing work that bears their unique stamp. As a result, some resist incorporating others’ ideas into their projects, even when those suggestions address problems they’d like to solve.