Authenticity

Authenticity is the idea that there is one way to behave in the world based off an aspect of your identity. It shapes how people within and outside of your identity (mis)construct your identity.

Eve 3.6, Jabbar Muhammad

"We broadly define Black authenticity as a cultural resource legitimized through ideologies, actions, and interactions. Black authenticity includes ideals and expectations that affects what it means to “be Black” in relation to personal, public, and cultural identities."

- Jenny Nguyen,
Black Authenticity: Defining the Ideals and Expectations in the Construction of“Real”Blackness

"Ethnic Indians can be defined as persons of Indian descent who are not members of a tribal community and often their families have not have had contact with a home community for generations. For reservation Indians, authenticity is confirmed within the local reservation community. While for many ethnic Indians and non-Indians, Indian authenticity is determined by stereotypes and images that are common within American society."

- Duane Champagne,
Authenticity: Ethnic Indians, non-Indians and Reservation Indians

"How could I have defined myself as a Latinx for so long and still have my identity questioned? Was I any less Hispanic because of my parent’s decision to make English my native language, hoping to spare me the hardships they faced when moving here? Was the shape of my tongue when I pronounced the words an instant identifier that I was a fraud?
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time my heritage has been put on trial, and not just by those within my own community. My Latin-ness has been challenged because of my skin color, my fashion choices and even my facial features."

- Leonor Fernandez,
Testing the authenticity of our Latinx ethnicities is counterproductive

"for many Filipinos, the classification of “Asian American’’ did not seem to fit their identity. One Filipino student explained, “I consider myself to be an Asian American. But some other Asians say, ‘Filipinos are not Asian, they don’t have characteristics of regular Asians,’ I hear that a lot.’’ Filipino students were exposed to a culture that set expectations for failure and delinquency. These signals were sent by teachers and other peers who made it difficult for students to maintain high academic self-confidence."

- Robert T. Teranishi,
Asian Pacific Americans and Critical Race Theory: An Examination of School Racial Climate