For me, Amin Malouf has written the most compelling argument for what it means to have an identity.
It is succinctly summarised in his book “On identity” (1998) which argues that your identity is not a simple consideration of your ethnicity, or skill set or social hierarchy, but a combination of every facet of your life that has lead to your current self.
In other words, it is a unique description of who you are formed from countless different factors, rather than an amorphous entity resided in something vague like your race.
Being proudly unique is celebrating everything about who you are.
Fucking own it.