When you are in the public eye as a person of color, you are given very little room to mess up.
Yara ShahidiRead
My mama is African American and from Wisconsin. My baba was born in Iran. My parents have stressed the idea of creating your own path, and creating your own identity is part of that. That's why embracing these two cultures is important to me.
Interpretation
Embracing multiple cultures helps shape one's identity and fosters individuality.
This quote by Yara Shahidi highlights the importance of cultural heritage and individuality. It reflects her experiences of growing up in a multicultural environment and emphasizes that creating one's own path involves recognizing and valuing different aspects of one's background. By embracing both her African American and Iranian heritage, Shahidi illustrates how diverse influences can contribute to a strong sense of identity.
In practice
In a speech about diversity at a school event.
When you are in the public eye as a person of color, you are given very little room to mess up.
I'm an actor. Since I was a teenager, I have had to play different characters, negotiating the cultural expectations of a Pakistani family, Brit-Asian rudeboy culture, and a scholarship to private school. The fluidity of my own personal identity on any given day was further compounded by the changing labels assigned to Asians in general.
For a while, I was feeling like I was always playing characters that weren't specifically Korean or specifically Asian, even - that they were characters who were originally written white, and then they would cast me. And I used to consider that a badge of honor because that meant I had avoided stereotypes.
Growing up, I knew I was different. But I didn't know what it meant to be Aboriginal. I just knew that I had a really big, extended family. I was taught nothing about who we were or where we came from.
I think, as a kid, turning on the television and seeing that everyone seemed to be wealthy and white made me feel like an outsider, lesser than. I was not wealthy. I was not white.
I always assumed that my otherness was a curse - that I would be held back by my Asian and queer identities.
I am trying to make my accent so it won't bother anyone, but I am not going to drive myself crazy trying to pretend I am an American girl when I am from Colombia.
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