Identity construction has never been a simple topic of discussion. There are so many competing personal, societal and geographical factors that tie into an individual’s “identity.” Or maybe – none of those factors matter at all. The idea of perceived versus real identity is puzzling because “perceived identity” cannot logically be a thing. You cannot assume someone’s gender or race, so why would you assume their identity? And why do we allow ourselves to presume another person’s “race, ethnicity, nationality or other categories of identification” based on where we “encounter that individual – in a university classroom, a conference room, or a five-star restaurant” and where that “individual’s position(ed) within a place” (Alexander, 3). I was having this debate a few nights ago, my argument being that identity is subjective and personal, it is not straightforward and there’s no chart or calculation that can be a foolproof indicator of identity. When Dr. Alexander writes, “I consider all racial categories to be social constructions (1986),” I couldn’t agree more. The only reason why racial categories exist is because we have constructed them and imposed them on different individuals for centuries. We felt the need to differentiate and consequently – to discriminate. But these labels play a very unfortunately salient role in our society today. It is completely disheartening to know that they manifest themselves “in individual lives and group experiences, as they impact the unequal distribution of goods, services, and as my research illuminates, of work opportunities and compensation for the thirteen million men and 9 women currently employed as service workers in the U.S.” (Alexander, 9). But how do we go about a solution?

First of all – it has a lot to do with the rhetoric behind “back of the line” employees and the Latino American community in general. One quote that hit a nerve with me was from the white, 52-year-old manager who said, “Customers like to see pretty people up front. Would they get used to some Mexicans? Sure. Customers are ultimately here for the food. But, I’m here to make my business run. If I move my Mexicans up, who’s going to run my back?” (Alexander, 16-17). I physically cringed at his use of “my Mexicans,” and it immediately brought me back to a personal experience I had about a week ago where an acquaintance was talking about her date to this party and before he had arrived, she labelled him as “her Mexican.” This is a little bit of a tangent but reading the manager use the same type of phrase infuriated me. In what world is it okay to talk like that? This is part of the issue, we completely dehumanize these people and forget that they are JUST LIKE US in so many ways. The manager wouldn’t have said “my whites” and the girl I knew wouldn’t have said “my white boy,” so why did either of them think it would be okay to use the same language in regards to “Mexicans?” This also ties into the point I was making earlier in assuming individuals’ identities. I would bet $100 that not every single person that the manager was talking about identifies as “Mexican.” It’s infuriating, the ignorance is honestly infuriating. Anyway, I digress.

I want to point out Dr. Alexander’s argument at the end of the article – “In the context of the service industry, I propose that whiteness should be examined not only as a phenotypic variable, but as a set of embodied practices associated with white (American) culture – whiteness means not only “white” skin, but “American,” speech, dress, and cultural consonance. American-ness, in contrast, should be examined not only as a set of embodied practices, but as the phenotypic expression (white) associated with U.S. citizenship – American-ness means not only “American” speech, dress, and cultural consonance, but also “white” skin.” (Alexander, 21). This point is crucial in the context of identity and discrimination. I agree with Dr. Alexander in that this is the unfortunate state of our society today, but it shouldn’t be, and it really can’t be. “American-ness” especially, for me, has come to embody so many different individuals from all different backgrounds and personally I do not associate “American-ness” with “whiteness,” but the majority of people, particularly in the service industry, do – and this is the problem.