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Diversity in today's society
Diversity in today's society
How does diversity impact not only expectations but also behavior
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There is nothing more self-deprecating than not being able to fit in with what society deems as normal. My multiracial heritage made me feel like I could never fit in with anyone because I had to belong to a certain group of people. The first time I realized this was in seventh grade, when I was laughed at for having a biracial last name and ridiculed for not being someone who was entirely one race. Then it seemed, (at least at that age), that people only saw color. I was someone whom people could not automatically classify as belonging to one, specific race. This made me realize that in our society, our labeling of individuals is rampant because we want to feel at ease through the simplistic identification of skin color with background. Associating skin color with a certain background ‘helps’ others conform to stereotypical perceptions which makes it easier to characterize another’s identity. These stereotypical perceptions are then ingrained into one’s brain and one can easily apply the stereotypical perceptions to a certain race. …show more content…
When I was in high school, the racist remarks continued. The situation got so bad that I felt I had to lie about which race I came from just to appear more normal to other people. One of my parents is of Swedish descent, and the other is from Sri Lanka. This made me feel out of place with most other students. Even at lunch, the majority of people sat with others who were of the same race, not just because they were friends with each other, but because of their skin color. People need to be more educated about different cultures and different races so they see others as individuals who have traits that they share in
From a very young age, we are taught to be color and racially blind and to be “politically correct”. We are no longer able to have our own view and opinions without having someone bash one with the word “racist”
In the world today, the globalization process happen around the world and people come together to exchange the culture, information, technology, education and knowledge, however; another side of society always try to ignore other people with different color by violent, the unawareness, and their behavior. Racial discrimination occurs in the world mainly in this area which is stereotypes, unfamiliarity, egotism, and education. The three films I had analyst on American History X, Remember the Titans and The Blind Side showed, everyone is constantly fighting to be better than their neighbor, and the skin-color stratification is just another excuse to look down on them. Many Americans think of racism as something of the past, something back when
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
Paul Haggis’ film Crash (2004), demonstrates how people can adopt a dominant and subordinate role concurrently, this is illustrated through the character Jean Cabot. When people look at Jean they see an affluent White female. As a result of the way a person looks their actions are scrutinized due to social construction. Jean is White, so people assume that she leads a charmed life. Although, Jean’s racial identity and class allows her to be a member of the dominant group, her gender she does not have as much power as White males; Jean builds her life around the racial identity that is assigned to her and participates in the social construction that plagues American communities.
When I was younger, and didn’t realize that being biracial was something different, friends made me feel like I didn’t really belong. I know now that that is not the case, and that being different is a good thing. I’ve learned that I am not half a person, and this has taught me not to “judge a book by it’s cover”, because the way people look doesn’t define who they are. I’ve also learned to be more open-minded to new cultures because that is what I’ve been exposed to. Even though two races make me unique in some ways, I am not any different from anyone else and shouldn’t be viewed that way. I may not look the same as someone who is entirely black or white, but being biracial does not make me less than one
In the world today, racism and discrimination is one of the major issues being faced with. Racism has existed throughout the world for centuries and has been the primary reasons for wars, conflicts, and other human calamities all over the planet. It has been a part of America since the European colonization of North America beginning in the 17th century. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exist in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else that social lives are occurring. It started from slavery in America to caste partiality in India, down to the Holocaust in Europe during World War II.
I classify my race, ethnicity, and culture as a white, Irish-Italian- American, woman. My mother was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and my paternal grandparents are from Sicily, Italy. I imagine being first generation Irish and second generation Italian helps me relate with my ethnicity.
According to Steinberg (1996) many believe that biculturalism is more successful than the other four. With biculturalism minority youth have access to the norms of the majority and minority culture depending on the situation.
To understand the authors’ reasoning, the reader must first comprehend the facts. In society, there is a common stigma involved in being from a multiracial background. There are “over six million people identified with more than one racial group (Jones
How would you like it if someone walked up to you and berated you based on the color of your skin? A characteristic like that isn’t even something you can control, so an insult of that nature can leave one furious and oppressed. Discrimination is inevitable in any culture, throughout history, in modern times, and even in ancient times. For example, the oppression and murder of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust, the African Slave Trade which occurred for multiple centuries, and more recently, the “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya people in Myanmar, brought on by the government of the Asian nation, all of which are tragedies doomed to happen when history repeats itself and people do not learn
Being of a different race, different culture has always created challenges while living in America. I remember hearing about the incidents of racism my parents and grandparents experienced in this country throughout the majority of my childhood as well as witnessing and undergoing such events firsthand. An incident that has deeply scarred me dates back to when I was only ten years old. I remember walking along the sandy shore of Silver Beach with my dad, when a drunk white man approached us out of the blue screaming racial slurs and other discriminatory insults. I stood still as phrases like “You don’t belong here”, “This is America”, “F*** you, Bin Laden”, “Go back to your country, motherf*****!” stabbed me in the chest. My heart sank
My culture identity, as I know it as is African American. My culture can be seen in food, literature, religion, language, the community, family structure, the individual, music, dance, art, and could be summed up as the symbolic level. Symbolic, because faith plays a major role in our daily lives through song, prayer, praise and worship. When I’m happy I rely on my faith, same as when I’m sad, for I know things will get better as they have before.
Who am I; my beliefs, values, morals, and views on society have assisted in molding me into the person that I am considered to be today. I was raced with specifics values, traditions, and norms. Being raised in a small town made being socially aware very easy. I was raised under the southern Baptist Christian religion. Church was always the same and it had a majority of women in attendance although the men and elderly people ran the church overall. It was always the same, repetitive habits and events that occurred in my town but after a while I became accustomed to always being near or known by others.
A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet on the string of their puppet-master, nor a chess piece on their master’s game board, individuals choose their own paths in life. They accomplish, or strive to accomplish, goals that they have set for themselves throughout their lifetime. Individuals are different from any other individual in the world because they live their own life rather than following a crowd of puppets. A person’s identity is defined by what shaped it in the first place, why they chose to be who they are, and what makes them different from everybody else in the world. I feel that I have developed most of my identity from my own dreams, fantasies, friends, and idols.
The oppression that African American individuals endured for years, is still being practice with racial discrimination and prejudice. One strength of identifying as African American is the increase of belongingness that gave me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. However, this was not always the case. Growing into an adult gave me the advantage to travel and meet other African Americans that I believed shared some of the same historical and ethnic background. In this time period I was introduced to what is called within-group differences, which is the differences among the members of a group (Organista, 2010). Wanting to be around individuals that I believed to have a common core with was one of my flaws, but while traveling with individuals that I thought was like me I experienced that I had nothing in common with some of my travel friends. One of my friends stated that we had nothing in common with each other, because of our different social economic status, education and employment. At first I was offended, however, after taking psychology of ethnic groups in the United States there was a sense of understanding that not all individuals that look alike, are alike. This assumption that all groups function