Ethnic Minority Psychology in America

Reflecting on and changing the face of ethnic minority psychology is very important in today’s society. Race, ethnicity, culture and diversity are pressing societal issues that have existed for several years. Many people face issues everyday with their identity, which is the sense of self being independent of one’s ethnic background; empowering it and then transforming it; whether transforming is for the good or for the bad. People in our society, mainly our youth, have to deal with the pressures of being talked about when it comes down to what race they are, how many freckles they have or their face, how short or tall they are, their size as well as various other things. Interpersonal relationships are considered to have a…show more content…Although this is very unfortunate acceptance of your identity is assigned to you by today’s society. There are five different stages of Identity Development. First being your personal identity, followed by the choice of group categorization, which is the individual being forced to choose a minority identity, then there is enmeshment or the “denial” stage, which is when there is confusion or guilt over choosing one identity. After this is appreciation, when the person begins to appreciate aspects of the majority and last is integration, which is when the person recognizes and values all identities. With embracing unity through diversity, there is a strong commitment to each other and various communities of color. It is important to evaluate yourself. In doing so you must remind yourself sometimes that you are brilliant, that you are gorgeous, fabulous, and/or talented. As it was once stated by Nelson Mandela, “our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure.” If you were to absorb the contents of that passage and not mind temporarily wearing the shoe of another one would have a clearer view and could possibly relate on a mental level. Moving along being able to express and enjoy humor is largely ignored which continues to be a problem in today’s society. You can not allow someone to defeat you because you feel