In the RAPP Scrapbooks we recently unearthed are many wise quotes from my many wise predecessors. Needing a moment of inspiration to go ahead and respite from the hecticness that is retreat prep, I looked back through the RAPP XII one.
Here's a quote from Maria P.P. Root included in the scrapbook by Azizi C. As we're prepping for exploring the social construction of race and as we briefly touched on the issues in "marking boxes" when one's identity is multiracial, this one stuck out to me as quite relevant to our current work. Spoiler alert to current RAPPers, but I also think it complements well this video we'll likely be watching at the retreat
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to be responsible for people's discomfort with my physical ambiguity.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify.
To identify myself differently from how my parents identify me.
To identify myself differently from my brothers and sisters.
To identify myself differently in different situations.
I HAVE THE RIGHT...
To create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiracial.
To change my identity over my lifetime - and more than once.
To have loyalties and identification with more than one group of people.
To freely choose whom I befriend and love.
Poetic and on point.
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