Hughes

Hughes: Selected Poems

Langston Hughes

            In Langston Hughes’ poem Cross he writes, “My old man died in a fine big house/My ma died in a shack. I wonder where I’m gonna die/Being neither white nor black” (page 594)? I’ve never really thought about people being confused with their identity because of their mixed race. I have many friends where their mother is white, and their father is African American, however I don’t think that they believe themselves to have an identity crisis. If I had parents of different ethnicities, I’m not sure if I would be confused of what race to call myself. The thought has really never crossed my mind. However, this quote that Hughes wrote reminds me of a TV show I watched called America’s Next Top Model. On one of the seasons, a girl is Asian American because her father is white and the mother was Chinese. All the time she would worry about not knowing her “true identity” and would be very vocal about it. Long story short, top model Tyra Banks, the main judge, voted her off the show because she had a problem of not knowing herself in the model industry which apparently is a huge problem for that career field.  Because of these examples of not knowing what race you belong in and I can see how it can be a problem for some people. I didn’t realize how confusing it can be to people. If someone were to come to me with that problem, I honestly don’t know with what advice I would give to that person because I’m not in that position of having to different ethnicities in my family.