Identity, there are many different kinds of identity, all in which shape each other and mold one another into being different, just shifting the way these identities are. Speaking of identity, you of-course have the kind of identity that is controlled and modified between your ears, this kind of identity is your personal identity. It is the identity that you only see and feel, it is the identity you can either choose to show to the public eye or you can keep all of your personal identity locked up inside. Which is totally up to you though. On the other hand, there is your social identity, the piece of identity that you are observed by, the kind of identity that other people see you as. Therefore, it describes the type of person you are and it is what people will describe you as when asked who you are. All in all, this is the type of identity you need to make sure you pay close attention to because this social identity can alter the way you think about your personal identity as well.

These two types of identities both alter, shift and change the way your mind thinks about yourself or about other people, which in the long run may affect the type of relationships you develop, which can also alter your life and your life goals. You see how this is like a trickle down effect? Reasonably, that is why it is so important to make sure all of your identities are healthy, whether they are just thought or if they are the real you that people see. If I am not mistaken, everyone wants to live the American Dream with the big happy family, steady job with a nice paycheck, nice neighborhood for your kids to build lifelong friendships, and everything is all peaches and cream everyday. Sadly, some kids, some mothers, some fathers and some people just are not able to live those kinds of lives. Whether it is the specific environment they grew up in, the relationships they have with their parents, work, fear/violence, etc. Accepting that reality, these people may not ever become the person they personally want to be, these people may have both of their identities diminished to the point later down the road where they don’t know who they are anymore. 

All of these things that people go through in their lifetime can really alter a person’s life, it can happen fast or it can slowly escalate over time. Consequently, after a while of having to reassure or check your social identity and your personal identity it starts to diminish your mindset and outlook on a lot of things in your life. In response, some people change their physical appearance, some people confuse their true self compared to their false self and they may expose their false self to the public, which is bad for both parties. For instance, Yoshino dealt with a lot of racism and people deteriorating his race and all of that, so Yoshino went to “covering” which is, “To tone down a disfavored identity to fit into the mainstream,” (Yoshino 479). In more broader terms, covering is the act of hiding your true self from the modern day society because you feel as if you will just be bashed for what you believe in or what you look like. This is bad not just because it is unethical as a human to have to hide who you truly are because you are tired of being verbally, physically and mentally assaulted because of your beliefs. But this is a bad thing because after a while of “covering’ you may get your true self and your false self mixed up and you will personally diminish your personal identity along with your social identity.

These kind of people use things like athletics, school, or work. Maybe, even a hobby that someone is truly passionate about. People use these things to crawl their way out of the troubling times they are dealing with, whether its racism, rough neighborhood, or a troubling experience from the past. These people end up having remarkable stories because of the simple fact that the racist people, the people who do bad things, or just the neighborhood they come from gave them a whole lot of motivation to make a move and make their way out of the situation they are in. “Some people who managed to write their way out of the working class describe the classroom as an oasis of possibility. It became their intellectual playground, their competitive arena. Given the richness of my memories of this, its funny how scant my recollections are of school”.

All these different problems that these normal people with different beliefs go through can really psych someone out. Which I think is a huge problem especially in the US, simply because there is so much racial tension no matter where you go, I personally come from a rough place and it completely changes the man I wanted to become because of the simple fact that i’ve seen and done things that most men never see in their lives. So it’s kind of like im scared by the things I have seen and I personally can’t be the person I want to be because I feel like I can’t show emotion in front of people because they can use it against me to hurt me, I can’t sit in public restaurants with my back open because I like to see what is in front of me, I am not the same. I share some problems with these people and something else I noticed is that it completely alternated my idea of the “American Dream”.

At the end of the day this wide variety of issues that people like myself have to deal with in a regular day basis are things that mess with our minds, identity and our lives. The only change that could make this better than it already is, is the people have to change it because there is no law that can be made that will change people’s feelings towards another race, color, or beliefs. This paper is just a small portion of the problem at hand, and there is so many more ways this can be avoided or just stopped but it starts with us as the people. I wish I had the power to at least try and enforce a law, or bring the problem at hand to more people’s knowledge.