It is interesting to think that the salience and centrality of one’s racial/ethnic identity is built in relation to the other groups. Minority groups usually have to deal in their lives with many more situations that are clearly related to their skin color or ethnicity. Because of this, individuals from minorities groups end up having a racial/ethnic identity more salient than people who do not have to think about this is issue frequently. Still, it seems important to me that the awareness that people are judged by their skin color or ethnicity must go beyond the groups that are submitted to these situations. In this sense, I agree that the costs of racism exist also for white people. I believe that being in contact, interacting with different people increase our awareness of people different from us, but also and mainly about ourselves. In my experience, having to deal with my cultural values, and even my ethnic identification made me become much more aware that people can experience different things and hold different values and still it does not mean that they are wrong because they differ from me. Beyond that, being exposed to different positions related to my ethnicity and skin color constantly makes me think about how I identify myself and how this is related to the attitudes and behaviors I assume in my life.  

I believe that have to build an identity that was not part of your life is a big challenge. I personally think that it is a difficult and sometimes tiring task. At this moment in my life being in a position of discovering new values, norms, and ways to behave in a new context is complex especially because many times I catch myself unaware of how to behave and how the values I hold impact it. Sometimes it is needed to be pointed out by others so I can realize that I’m “more Brazilian” than I thought of. This happened to me couple times. I guess I just haven’t realized how “Brazilian I was” in the North American context. This made me try to be more careful about my behaviors, since I don’t want to offend anyone. Reflecting on this issues make me think of the centrality and salience that being Brazilian and Latina have in my life here, and how I have to learn how to deal with it. It is important to say, however, that I think that this process of building identities is not monolithic; being through this process in different contexts have many nuances for different groups, in different circumstances, and in different stages in life.

In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges in the process of development of an identity that in not part on the mainstream society is learn how to “switch repertoires” and behave in a certain way that conform to others’ values, but at the same time do not confront your own values. This is a tough task that demands the development of some strategies to face this situation of double standard of values and behaviors. This kind of situation may bring up ambiguous feelings like you have no place; you don’t belong to anywhere. Although I believe that this is part of the process of my identity development right now, it is difficult to me to get a position about anything without bringing up all my experiences and background and sometimes try to relate the new experiences to the past ones. This sometimes let me feeling as my experiences make no sense to the other people, since it is not easy to contextualize and to explain or expose it in a way that I feel fully contemplated.  

 Overall, I think that we are only able to actually do something, either in an individual level or a social level, if we recognize that the problem of racism and prejudice involve many silent mechanisms that are hard to fight and recognize. Of course we can change many things from our personal position, and we do have huge responsibilities in stopping the cycle of racism and prejudice and acting pro equal opportunities and treatments; feeling guilty may be a process of getting aware of the society racism and prejudice but should not block people in acting and critically thinking of the reasons they feel guilty and in the broader process of racism and prejudice. I feel that many people get stuck in this position and try to “compensate” minorities somehow. One of the most important things, in my opinion, is to be able to assume that sometimes we do not know what is better for others. I believe that imposing our way of life, not thinking outside of the box, is one form of oppression that is hard to be aware of and it reflects our lack of ability to understand others point of view. We have to take in consideration what people have been through and what they think about their condition. In this sense, it is crucial to have a healthy dialogue about race and ethnicity to promote situations that enable people to think critically about themselves and others in relation to their racial/ethnic identity, as well as to acknowledge the history, dynamics, and mechanisms of prejudice and oppression present in the society.