Alojzy Rembis

Dr. Jill Parrott

English 101

19 September 2025

Language of Multiethnicity

As a child, I was raised around my family and close friends, most of whom didn’t look like me. This ordinarily wouldn't have been an issue; however for those around me it seemed to be. I am biracial - specifically European and African American. In general, my family accepted me as one of them; but, if you had asked a kid named Alojzy, he would tell you all the ways they had othered him due to his features. While we were children and have changed now, that doesn’t mean I don't experience this anymore—it’s simply in a different way. I’m not “black enough,” not “white enough,” and I have to “pick one” when I tell someone that I’m of both European and African American origin.

The idea that someone is not “enough” to claim either side of their identity can make it hard for someone of multiethnic origins to connect with others from their communities. Through studying the Ukrainian language, though, I have been able to connect with both, and gain my own identity removed from the opinions of those who have judged me, giving me two places of belonging.

The phrase “racially ambiguous” is used when someone does not have easily identifiable features of a specific race, making it difficult for those around them to categorize them into a certain racial category. In my personal experience, while I don’t find “racially ambiguous” necessarily offensive nor insensitive, I do find it used as a trope for others to deny people of their very own identities, and though this might not seem like a big issue for those who do it, it does leave a mark on the person being subject to such, making it difficult for them to identify themselves.

For the phrase “pick one,” imagine you have eczema and acne, and you tell someone that you have both conditions. Rather than understanding you, they tell you “Why call them different things? Just pick one.” Sounds silly, right? Someone can exist with both, and neither lessen the severity of the other. This nuance leaves others unable to fit you into one particular box; it can be an inconvenience for them. Depending on who is saying this, it can go one of two ways: from an “outsider,” it may feel insensitive, but from an “insider,” it may feel like you’re being somehow rejected from your own space. This is similar for multiethnic people. In the Ukrainian language, Afro-Ukrainians only recently have gotten their own term; previously, they had rejected their own identities by only being referred to as “African.”

Finally, the term “whitewashed” is used colloquially to describe downplaying either one’s own or another’s non-European heritage in favor of a European one, in simple terms. It’s not a harmful phrase; in fact, it can help put into words the way someone has been disconnected from their own culture; however, for someone who identifies with both European and African American heritage, it can be a way of saying “pick a side” by suggesting I do not belong in a European American community by means of me not being “white enough.” When I began to study Ukrainian, my goal was to connect with my heritage. In doing so, I was able to build friendships with Ukrainians over the span of 5 years. We’re able to connect in having our ethnic identities denied; for Ukrainians, this is “russification,” or rejecting someone’s Ukrainian heritage in favor of a Russian one, similar to “whitewashing” for people of color. Crossing the language barrier between us has helped me learn about our similarities, uniting us in more ways than one.

For an individual going through this, it can cause an internal conflict within themselves; feeling like they are either being rejected from places they belong, or that they have to choose to be one part of themselves. And for people who feel it is necessary to exclude these people from their own communities, they may not think of it or be as affected by it as the people they’re excluding, seeing it as simply an annoyance. As for me, I had already belonged in the European American community, and learning Ukrainian only emphasized that for me, giving me more vocabulary to describe my experiences, and thus expanding my literacy.

As the author states in “The Danger of a Single Story”, “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity” (Adichie 81). Through overcoming our language barrier, I have been able to learn about not only other Ukrainians being denied their heritage, but also about Afro-Ukrainians being officially recognized only now, uniting us and helping us grow stronger in our shared identities.

With time and self-determination and confidence, you will find your people, and be accepted for who you truly are, whoever that is. Self-discovery is not immediate, and it is ever-changing; so are the people around you, and by extension society and our communities.

Work Cited

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. edited by Jill Parrott, Dominic Ashby, and Jonathan Collins, Eastern Kentucky University, 2022, pp. 75-81.

Rembis, Alojzy. “Language of Multiethnicity.” The Commons: Tools for Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric (2nd ed.), edited by Jill Parrott and Dominic Ashby, Eastern Kentucky University, 2026.