These categories often include our race, class, gender, income and education level. Most of the time we are generalized based on the category we fall into. However, these categories are what society sees us in, but they are not what defines us as people. “A friend claims that Americans struggle between the 'historical self' and the 'self-self'” (Rankine 104). We can say that our “historical self” is what people see us as. Not only is it the category we fall into, but it is also the stereotypes that have managed to travel through time and stick with us regardless of the fact that we did not live during the time they were initially created. Our “historical self” is how we are perceived by people who don't know us. On the other hand, our “self” is the person we initially are. He is the person our family and closest friends know us as. It's our personality, our attitude and who we really are as a person. However, our “self” has no power to protect us from what we are actually seen as. “yet, sometimes your historical self, his white self and your black self, or your white self and his black self, come with the full force of your American positioning.” (Rankine 104). We may tell ourselves that society is not what defines us, but there will be times when you realize that people see you as nothing more than the label that society puts on you.