In “Behind the Black Ears”–and Up Front Too? Dominicans in The Black Mosaic,” by Ginetta E.B. Candelario, the idea of “the box” is presented. The box is the idea that racial identity is more important than national or ethnic identity. A Dominican woman, Carmen Quander, said,

I am a person of color and very proud of it but you cannot stay in that box.

The article discusses the reluctance of Hispanic Caribbeans to identify as “black.” This is due to racism in America, and how anyone seen as “black” we subject to the same discrimination, and segregation laws. Many who came to America were unused to the harsh treatment and emphasis on race.

Race is, according to Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s article, “Racial Formation in the United States,” created by society to categorize humans based on their bodies. Race is defined by law; race is based off the idea of who is white and who is not. And as we see with those who refuse to identify as a certain race, some have used nationality as an answer. While this is a debated practice, the mention of this issue reminded me of this:

In modern times, the way people ask about background is by saying, “What are you?” It’s a product of “the box.” People only ask this if they are unsure of race, and they want to people to peg you down. For some reason, not being sure of someone’s race is apparently equivalent of not knowing their name. One just simply must know! But why is it so important to know?

Furthermore, this question can be answered with a race, or a country. But as the box confirms, the fact that the answer is either a race or a nationality is very limiting. And really, the answer people want is race. They accept a country only because they link race to nationality, as if all from one country are the exact same race. I have noticed that it limits the way we see race and nationality.

For example, if one says that they are Asian, many times the on asking the question imagines that the latter has firm roots in, say, Japan. And while this person may be of Japanese descent, the person could actually be Brazilian or Trinidadian. In other words, people erase nationality by imaging that race means one is from one country, and one alone. People don’t see both being important, but one or the other. Furthermore, it creates the idea that people from certain places all look one way, thus going against the reality of diversity, and racial prejudice faced by those who don’t fit the mold.

Is that how we are to define others? By only their race?  Although race is something to be proud of, is that all a person is?

Will people ever stop fixating on the idea that certain races appear only in certain regions or countries? And can “the box” be closed, and people can delve deeper into the  harmful assumptions about races and nationality and ethnicity that still exist today?