Analysis of Being Polycultural Article by Robin Kelly - Essay Example

? Being Polycultural Tracing the journey of cultures within Prajakta Kanegaonkar Introduction World today is one single place to be and how true is that! In the article ‘Being Polycultural’ Robin Kelly talks about issues faced by children of mixed parentage. He discusses his own problems as a child who comes from such lineage. He also brings a new point of view regarding various cultures and impact of each on the other. With the help of Robin Kelly’s article, we are going to analyse and discuss, acceptance of children of mixed parentage in the western society and how Kelly’s concept of being polycultural has helped him in his struggle for acceptance. Today we talk about child psychology and not to hurt the young, vulnerable hearts of kids and young children. But whenever we talk about somebody’s lineage and parentage do we realise that the discussion can leave a permanent scar on the mind of the kid? Upbringing of these children in the society: It becomes a challenge for the parents to keep these prejudices at bay when they bring up their children in as neutral environment as possible. However the tragedy starts when the children grow and start realising that they are someone different from the people around. The difference is only the colour of the skin they carry but they are constantly made uncomfortable in their own skin. Robin Kelly has described his life as a normal American teenager. In Harlem in the late 1960s and 1970s, Nehru suits were as popular—and as “black”—as dashikis, and martial arts films placed Bruce Lee among a pantheon of black heroes that included Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks and Richard Rountree who played John Shaft in blaxploitation cinema. How do we understand the zoot suit—or the conk—without the pachuco culture of Mexican American youth, or low riders in black communities without Chicanos? How can we discuss black visual artist in the interwar years without reference to the Mexican muralist, or the radical graphics tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century, or the Latin American artists influenced by surrealism? (Kelly page 2). In this paragraph he does not wish to describe himself as any person who stands out because of his colour. By quoting common references of every person’s childhood he establishes his connection with them very strongly. He even uses terms and phrases which are used by everyone else. Does that indicate his desire to connect with everyone around him? To be accepted as a normal person who probably thinks the same or is brought up with same ideologies as any other person in America? Robin Kelly has also described the suffering of his younger brother because of the question regarding his mixed culture. Perhaps the most sensitive and protected in the family, his younger brother might have been hugely affected by requiring constant approval and acceptance from his friends. Finally his brother gave up his struggle and chose to settle down in a completely different culture and to the other side of the world. This is sort of voluntary resigning from the situation. Even if he might have gone for his personal benefit, he might have thought of it better to move rather than have a questioning look on the faces of the people around him. This might be the most difficult decision he has made in his life. Robin Kelly’s sister got her name changed because of the same question, “What are you”. She tried to solve this problem her way by changing her name. Everyone in the family was terribly affected by the question and every one of them tried to find out his or her own way of dealing with it. How difficult it might be for the parents to create a neutral and believable situation for a healthy and normal upbringing! Refusing the acceptance and denying the existence: Examples like Robin Kelly are abundant in western society. There are so many authors who have written about mixed parentage and the reaction of the society, mostly adverse to them. Like in book ‘Life on the colour Line’ by Gregory Williams has written about his struggle of being on the boundary of colour and neither ‘black’ nor ‘white’ community accepting him as one of them. This was one of his severe problems in childhood along with others including pathetic poverty and struggling for money and survival. He went ahead to complete his law education and became a successful lawyer. The book is not only about overcoming obstacles and becoming successful in life, but also about being considered as an outcast by the society around and still managing to shape life positively. Kelly’s example is a classic case being labelled as an outcast in the society in which one grows up. He has repeatedly mocked the question of his lineage, which dogged him all his life in different ways in the essay. But the bitterness of the question stayed with me for long even after I finished the working on the essay. We empathise and feel the suffering by the second generation of mixed parents more acutely when we read books like ‘Half and Half’ by Claudine O’Hearn. Parents see love and companionship in each other when they decide to take the vows and spend life with each other. They at least have each other. However the story is altogether different for their children. The societal acceptance and social grounding is absolutely absent. What is ironic is both the societies coloured as well as white keeps these children at bay. Both the societies extensively talk about human values, fight against discrimination of every sort and want to make the world a better place to live in, but don’t want to accept marriages of mixed races and coloured skin people. This in itself is paradoxical. If at all it is accepted, it is on the surface. Kelly describes his parents to be perfect normal people with no typical accents, no characteristics belonging to a particular sect etc. (Kelly page 1). Even then the society views them with scepticism and prejudice. No one disregarded directly but as soon as the first opportunity presents itself, the refusal to accept and denying the existence automatically came to the surface. Being Polycultural and questioning beliefs: When the society around him denies him the right to dignity and respect, Kelly counter questions the existence of the society in itself. They don’t want to see the world as one - a tiny little globe where people and cultures are always on the move, where nothing stays still no matter how many times we name it. (Kelly page 2). He questions their lineages and their beliefs. He states that the world is one place. On one hand when we see the truth of the statement, we can also see his effort to assert himself in the unfriendly environment around. Kelly takes pride in being a mulatto, in having parents from different cultures and that is because he clearly sees the blend of best of both the cultures in him. We can see that this has given him a beautiful perspective of identifying various cultures within himself. As a reader I agree to the concept of being ‘Polycultural’ in an individual as well as global sense. Kelly prefers to use the term ‘Polycultural’ to ‘Multicultural’. We can understand the meaning of Polycultural if we trace the origin to biology. In Biology it is termed as blending and mixing of two species. Multicultural gives a divisive perspective and does not have the idea of blending associated with it. In this sense yes we can identify that the second generation of mixed parentage is a blend of best of two cultures through parents. Conclusion: Kelly questions the hidden racism in this essay. And this racism is not directed towards each other as ‘coloured’ or ‘non-coloured’ people. This is the deep rooted racism that has stayed within us for years and generations. This discrimination does not let us accept the concept of mixed marriages. The concept bars us from accepting perfectly innocent and vulnerable children from such marriages. The concept does not allow us to accept the existence of a human being from such marriages with respect and dignity. Kelly questions this deep-seated belief through his concepts and questions. That is why he states that no human being today can be alienated from cultures and different sects all around the world. We all have links to various cultures around the world through us. It is a proven history in western world that people from various countries and cultures have contributed heavily in the development of the societies, countries and most importantly economies. Denying a person’s or his offspring’s existence is denying the respect towards efforts, blood and sweat from these sects to the lives of the people around. Hence Kelly questions fundamentals of such people through his concept of ‘Being Polycultural’. He wants to tear away the deliberate denial with which the idea of mixed parentage is viewed. On one hand contribution to the development of the society is expected, anticipated and wanted but on the other the very existence of a sect is questioned and denied the life of self-respect and dignity. We don’t have to do away with our individuality as we would bring our own value to this world. Hence when I am thinking of losing my own individual identity I don’t give up my heritage. It will always be in me and a part of me. What I mean is I lose an individual identity to become a ’global citizen’ in the true sense because then I also learn to accept others with true dignity and love. I become a ‘human being’ who is a ‘human being’ after all. According to Robin Kelly this is what is meant by ‘Being polycultural’. References 1. The people in me Kelly – Robin D. G. Kelly 2. Life on the Color line: the true story of a white boy who discovered he was black - Gregory Howard Williams 3. Half and Half: Writers on Growing up Biracial and Bicultural by Claudine C. O'Hearn 4. A brief history of America – Tim Lambert, http://www.localhistories.org/america.html Read More