Christy Moeder
Ann Arbor, MI
While taking a college course, we were challenged to learn about other ethnicities. As well, we were asked to reflect upon ourselves in our views of other cultures and whether we are diverse or not. During this course, I realized I was not a diverse person at all. I have grown up in a small town where whites made up the majority of the population and most people were Catholic. I also realized I was subconsciously quite prejudice and felt extremely ashamed of this. I used to look at people of Hispanic origin and automatically thought they must be from Mexico, but I discovered the Hispanic population consists of a plethora of origins. As well, I always used to think anyone who appeared to be of a different ethnicity must only be visiting the U.S. rather than live here as a citizen.
I realize this is outrageous, because the United States is a much more diverse country than my little hometown. Not only was I stereotypical towards people of other races, I realized I was also prejudice against people who had extensive body art and piercings. I found I would steer clear of them in public and automatically thought they were dangerous. I felt this course helped me realize how prejudice I was. It made me realize that although, an ethnicity may be a minority here in the U.S., I may be the minority in another country. I should not judge nor be stereotypical towards an individual before getting to know them personally.
