Community Building Through the Power of Labels
Transcriber: Mia Tran
Reviewer: Carol Wang
Male, Female.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, Atheist.
White, Black, Asian,
Caucasian, Arab.
Liberal, Conservative,
Libertarian, Progressive.
Cisgender, Transgender, Heterosexual,
Homosexual, Queer, Non-binary, Agender.
All of these are labels,
some of which I have,
and some of that you yourselves may have.
But what exactly are labels?
Merriam-Webster defines the label
as a descriptive or identifying word
or phrase.
Since the dawn of human language,
we have come up with terms
to categorize ourselves and each other,
from simple things
such as ‘us’ and ‘them’,
‘family’, ‘tribe member’,
‘citizen’, ‘foreigner’ and ‘enemy’
to more complex labels
describing political ideologies,
religion, or even personal interests.
‘Geek’, ‘jock’, ‘soccer mom’
and ‘workaholic’ are in widespread use.
Some labels that I use
include ‘female’, ‘Asian-American’,
‘parent’, ‘daughter’, ‘sister’,
’transgender’, ‘pansexual’,
‘nerd’, and ‘airman’.
Labels have a greater power
than what a simple
definition can describe.
Looking at today’s world,
labels have increasingly led
to more division, marginalization, hatred.
According to the FBI,
hate crimes are at the highest level
they’ve been in 10 years.
People have been attacked for being Asian.
Victims of misinformation spread
during the rise of COVID-19,
or used as a scapegoat
for a young man’s inability
to control his sexual urges
in Georgia this past March.
When I was six years old,
I attended kindergarten,
I was first exposed to a variety of
racial slurs and bullying
due to my mixed Asian-American ancestry.
As I discovered computers
and I did well on math tests.
I was harassed because of stereotypes.
To this day, I struggled to escape those
that want to use this label for harm,
simply because I was born with it.
Others, like Jews, have been attacked
for their religion.
Anti-Semitism has existed
for thousands of years,
from the ancient Greeks and Romans
to the expulsion of Jews,
from multiple nations in the Middle Ages
to more recently, the Holocaust -
Nazi Germany’s final solution.
The Pew Research Center
has studies indicating a growing
partisan divide in politics.
The number of Democrats and Republicans
willing to compromise and work together
is at its lowest in modern history.
The LGBTQ+ community has faced
legislative attacks around the globe
from so-called “LGBT-free zones” in Poland
to over 80 anti-transgender bills
introduced here in the United States.
Those that are part of this community
have been particularly vulnerable.
Transgender military members
such as myself
have experienced
the back and forth in policies -
traded off like we’re
a footballer trading card,
and not human beings
that want to serve our country.
And, as we saw last year,
despite the gains in legislative equality
stemming from the 13th Amendment
abolishing slavery,
and the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
we all have a long way to go
in addressing systemic racism
and centuries of inequities
in the United States.
From integral parts of identity
such as our gender, gender identity,
sexual orientation, race and ethnicity,
to those groups that we choose
to be a part of,
such as political parties, political
alignment or religion, peace labels,
these groupings have divided us
to an alarming degree.
Labels can separate us.
They can help foster
an ‘us versus them’ mentality,
leading to unhealthy competition.
They can lead to harassment,
discrimination, bigotry,
assault, and even murder.
Labels used incorrectly can be dangerous.
And yet, our labels are entirely
without benefit.
When I was seven years old,
I discovered that my gender identity
didn’t match what I was assigned at birth.
While my birth certificate said Male,
every part of my being said
that this was wrong,
that I was actually a girl.
But when I made this realization
all the way back in 1989,
I had no idea what this
feeling meant for me.
I was confused.
I was scared.
I thought something
was horribly wrong with me.
I had no internet to search for clues.
There was no representation in the media
that I could turn to
for inspiration and guidance.
I was alone.
I struggled with these feelings
for almost 20 years
before I found the word ‘transgender’.
Suddenly, what I was
and who I was became clear
for the first time in my life.
In addition to that, I discovered
that I was part of a community:
the LGBTQ+ Community.
I found mentors, friends,
and people that I now
consider to be family.
I can go to any major city,
and in many of the smaller ones,
and with a quick search on the internet,
I can find community centers
and social places that are focused
on making my community safe and welcome.
This label, one that has become
so controversial in our country,
became a way for me to accept who I am
and to feel a part of something
larger than myself.
So, too, can other labels.
Members of a particular religion
can find fellowship with each other.
Street signs, social media pages,
google searches can help anyone
from evangelical Christians,
Catholics, Baptists, Muslims
to faiths like Rastafarianism,
Zoroastrianism and Wicca
find places of worship in new locations.
Those that adhere to specific
political parties or ideologies
can more easily connect
and find common ground.
Places such as Reddit
have communities for people
that follow nearly every political system
and ideology that has ever existed.
Professions have their own labels.
One that I earned in my life is Airman.
I enlisted in the United States
Air Force in 2004,
and having that label has tied me
to a group of individuals with many
shared goals and common interests.
I have been able to connect
with currently serving service members
and veterans,
and we find support through those others
People with shared cultures,
shared histories
can come together and celebrate
that which makes them unique.
Major cities host cultural days and weeks
where all members of the local area
can gather and enjoy music, food,
clothing, dance, and other aspects
of many different cultures.
Labels, at their worst,
can drive divisions between us
when they foster
an ‘us versus them’ mentality,
when they turn into a categorization
of people like me are good,
but people not like me are the enemy.
Labels lead to negative, such as
harassment and discrimination.
They separate us
and lead us to live lives
that are empty of the good,
that different perspectives spring,
But at their best,
labels describe those things
that connect us to one another.
When we work as a team,
when we adopt the label teammate,
we are capable of accomplishing things
greater than we can when we’re alone.
My own transgender label has connected me
to a community that has accepted me,
given me mentorship, and helped me
to acknowledge who I am.
Being an Asian-American,
and more specifically a Korean-American,
ties me to a deep and rich culture
that broadens my own perspectives,
and allows me to teach
my own children about their roots.
Labels allow us to bind together in groups
and communities that allow us to grow
and become more knowledgeable
about our histories, our cultures,
and how to develop strategies
on how to be more successful.
Labels are not all good or bad.
Like any tool, they can be used
to build and create wonderful things,
highlighting what I consider to be
one of the greatest things
that humanity has developed:
community ties.
But, misused,
they’re also capable of causing
a great deal of destruction.
If we, as individuals,
choose to use labels responsibly,
we can achieve greater things together
than we ever could on our own.