Whiteness as an "Unmarked" Cultural Category / America's Changing Color Lines

     The first of these tow similar articles was written by Ruth Frankenberg and reviews "whiteness" and all the concepts surrounding it in the United States. The second article, written by Jennifer Lee, reviews the changes in the race and ethnicity statistics in the Unites States. Together, these articles help to clarify what race and ethnicity means in the United States.
     Frankenburg's article was very relatable as I've always identified myself as being white. She begins to analyze this concept further, delving into what it means for whites to be other ethnicities. In the US, white people are so dominant that it has become a norm for whiteness to be considered the majority. She gave an example that people living in Central American may listen to Latin music as opposed to regular music - "regular" music being the music white people typically listen to. The reason she claims white people to be an unmarked cultural category is because "white" doesn't imply a true origin. The US is a melting pot full of many white people, but besides referring to themelves as "Americans," there is no one nation of origin to identify with. For this reason, white people become a category that can only be compared to other ethnicities for identification purposes, it may not be readily identified independently.
     Lee's article sheds much light on what the United States is becoming and how majorities are shifting. Just like white people having no single origin to relate to, our country is becoming more and more mixed with significantly more people identifying themselves as multiracial. These people are not just between major ethnic groups such as Latino and Asian, but between groups and sub-groups and sub-groups of those groups and so on. Basically what is happening is that we're all becoming more and more diverse with fewer and fewer majorities. It seems like eventually the majority will be multiracial people who may not be able to identify with a specific origin, much like whites are currently unable to.
     This makes me wonder what people will eventually identify themselves with. It was always my hope that people would identify as "Americans." I think this is difficult for some people who take pride in their heritage, but I wonder if it will become easier and easier as people become less a part of that original identity. It would be great if the melting pot could truly produce a new identity, one that is a mixture. This mixture would no longer be considered a mixture, rather a new race or perception of identity that lays to rest differences. It would be great for the people of the US to take pride in this nation and understand that it's made-up of nothing but different people and to embrace that. When we try to identify with our past, it makes the present and future a bit more difficult as it stratifies our current situation. A new blanket identity would be unifying and might help to truly end the very concept of ethnicity itself.