As a verb, other means view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. For example, "a critique of the ways in which the elderly are othered by society." (Definition source: Oxford Languages)
I remember being forced as a child to select white as my race at school. There was no other option. It never sat well with me and always bothered me. I'd ask myself, "Why don't they want to know about my Indian side?", "Why isn't that important?", "Am I going to get in trouble for lying?", "Is my dad going to be disappointed in me?". A lot of hard questions for an elementary school kid. Another reminder I don't look like I belong to the family that is raising me.
Then as the years passed, someone got the bright idea to add "other" as an option thinking this was inclusive to all mixed-race people. I must admit that I got a little excited when I first saw that as an option. But it's often left as just that. If you don't fit in a pretty little box with a bow on it, then we don't need to learn anything more about you. It doesn't matter. Your story is not that important.
Nowadays, we are seeing forms that include what are viewed as common mixes such as White and Asian, White and African American, White and Native American, and so on. However, I still have not had the opportunity to fully identify my background when asked on the forms. Yes, I can select Asian, but we all know that few people correlate that with India. Why can't a country with over 1.3 billion people be an option?
As recently as last week, I still cringed when I had to classify myself as "other". I am White and Other. Other is an aspect of me that is not worth mentioning, an aspect of me that I am forced to deny on paper, an aspect of me I'm forced to hide because it's too much to give me the option to represent my ethnicities.
So, if you work at or own a company that collects data on race and ethnicity, I encourage you to speak up regardless of your status or role. A simple update to add an open text field under the "other" option will allow those individuals to identify their true authentic selves. We deserve this and it is long overdue.
Sincerely,
Other
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