The image above showcases hair that was may have been similar to Sam's. Due to this light colored skin, Sam was only recognized as "black" through his hair, so he staked his entire identity on that, eventually breaking down and shaving off his hair--his identity. (Photo by Fineas Anton on Unsplash)

“Effigies” follows the story of Samuel Bernard Monroe, an esteemed professor in African studies at a prestigious university. He leads a conference in African studies, but he is quickly called out by one of the attendees for there being only one female at the conference. After this, he is challenged by the president of the university on whether or not he is actually Black, due to his light-colored skin. This causes him to verbally assault his mother who has dementia to “prove” that his father was Black. She rejects him and calls him out on his misogyny, which leads him into having a breakdown and he shaves off all of his hair. Sam is a half white, half black individual but he appears white. His hair, which is the only feature on his body that can be black coded, is his “passport, his weapon, a winner of arguments, a diadem” (Roy 49) and his entrance into black society. Due to him being mixed and appearing white, he doesn’t easily have access to one side of his culture, and this hurts him. He suffers so much that he decides to overcompensate for his “blackness” by discarding his “whiteness”. He is overly sensitive to others critiquing his identity and stakes all of his self-worth in his ability to “pass” as Black. He gains a complex with power and internalized misogyny to fit stereotypes about Black culture and to compensate for how powerless he feels for something that should be simply accepted. He overly performs “Blackness” simply to be seen as adequate for the Black community. This acute awareness and sensitivity to how he is perceived is known as “double consciousness”, which will be discussed in the next section.

The image above showcases an individual who is gaining la facultad and coming to understand that their identity is not defined by others; they are gaining freedom and stability. Eventually, they will be the new mestiza, someone who exists proudly even as a contradiction. (Photo by yulia pantiukhina on Unsplash)

"Borderlands/La Frontera" -- Gloria E. Anzaldua

Anzaldua’s essay “Borderlands/La Frontera” delves into the notion of la facultad, which is almost like a sixth sense, an ability to perceive things that are not readily available to most people. Anzaldua asserts that only those who undergo deep trauma and have faced oppressions on all sides can develop this supernatural ability to be “excruciatingly alive” (Anzaldua 3025). Sam has yet to reach la facultad in this story, but this is the ultimate goal of mixed individuals. After becoming hyper aware of their surroundings, mixed individuals—aware of their own performance to fit in—transcend to become the new mestizas.

The new mestiza is someone who “copes by developing a tolerance for contradictions, a tolerance for ambiguity. She learns to be Indian in Mexican culture, to be Mexican from an Anglo point of view. She learns to juggle cultures” (Anzaldua 3030).

Sam, if he manages to overcome the adversities he faces, will become comfortable with his existence, the contradictions present within him. He will trust himself and his identity. He will learn to live in different worlds and in a world of his own creation. He will be able to “sustain contradictions… [and] turn the ambivalence into something else” (Anzaldua 3030). For mixed individuals in America who are forced to perform like overworked puppets to attempt tp gain admittance to their respective cultures, they will find freedom and stability in gaining la facultad and becoming the new mestiza. When they can accept who they are and have trust in themselves that they are enough, then they will be enough and they will find relief. Gaining the mestiza consciousness--being comfortable with being mixed--will allow them to transcend to their new role in society, which is becoming the future.