Reflective Essay On Race And Ethnicity

675 Words2 Pages

Race and ethnicity are two unavoidable facets of society, with the perceptions of these two innate parts of human culture being crucially shaped by personal experiences throughout life. Perceptions of race and ethnicity will change as an individual learns new things, has new experiences and takes in more information as they progress through life. Personally I’ve had many experiences which have shaped who I am today, including my values, beliefs and perceptions of everything within and around me, in particular my experiences have had a significant effect on my perceptions of Aboriginal Australians. I was born to two white Australian parents, and have lived in the wealthy inner-city suburb of Mt Hawthorn my whole life (1). I’ve never experienced …show more content…

Throughout my 5 years of high school I caught public transport to school and back every day, with each one-way trip lasting approximately an hour. During this time, I had a number of confronting experiences with Aboriginal people and they led me to develop a negative view of them, which was the first time I remember developing a particular perception of race. One particularly bad experience I had was in Year 9, when I was on the bus home and two Aboriginal women sat behind me and one proceeded to ask if she could borrow my phone. I made a conscious effort to decline very politely stating that I was getting off the bus soon, but she still persisted to argue with me, demanding that I lend her my phone and even reaching over to grab it. I then moved to the front of the bus thinking that she would leave me alone, but she and her friend started, shouting and verbally abusing me, calling me a girl because of the way my hair looked as I walked off the bus. Reflecting on this, it shouldn’t have been something that affected me, but I was going through a fairly self-conscious phase at that time and it did really unsettle me. Not only this but I’ve also seen a fight on the train break out amongst young Aboriginal girls, and plenty of drunk and disorderly Aboriginal men and women boarding public transport and in public

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