South Texas Born, Melting Pot Raised
Jerheme Urban,
Trinity University
I am very proud of the fact that I was born in south Texas, a location steeped with history and tradition. It is also an area that is a melting pot of race, culture, and economic diversity- with a heavy blue collar, agrarian influence. After traveling/working across the country, I have really grown to appreciate the fact that my area of upbringing really embraces other cultures and the races that usually embody those cultures. Like all areas of the world, there are still unfortunate stereotypes that need to still need to be talked about and broken down; however, all in all, I believe that I was heavily influenced by the melting pot I was exposed to during my formative years…an environment that encouraged acceptance of another’s culture, musical taste, and career choices. We honored hard work, and realized that race had no bearing on how hard you worked.
Nothing was handed to me EVER.
Randy Shafer,
West Allis, WI.
We was raised to treat everyone the same. Most of what goes one in the world doesn’t represent the “whole” of any one race. My family has a mix of many ethnicities and our family does just fine. I can understand the way people feel and believe it’s mostly due to how and where they’re raised. I grew up in the middle of a bad part of my city and never thought I’d make it out. People need to act like people and not the anger inside. Ignore the racist and rise above them, they don’t make you who you are. We all must come together, the world is in chaos and we need each other more then ever.
Mexican hands are for farm labor.
Fred Rocha,
Huntington Beach, CA
Those are the words my parents were told by their counselors in Los Angeles high schools back in the 1940s. All they wanted to do was pursue their interest in Engineering. Instead they were told to go work in the fields. They took the anger they felt and made it their mission to push their children to maximize every educational opportunity given us and reach out with our Mexican hands to lift others up.
#Educause2018
I worked hard to get here
Michael Toth
Columbus, OH
I get that yes in theory as a white male I have a head start in life, but I most certainly did not have it handed to me on a silver platter. I worked hard to get into college and am still working hard to make the massive student loan debt worth it when I get a good job. I would not even be in college if it was not for a small (and I mean less than close to covering 4 years of college) account left to me that covers the holes left by loans, grants and scholarships. I understand that concern for non-whites and non-males is important, hell I support it. But please don’t forget that just because a guy is white, that does not mean he does not need help or that he worked any less hard to get where he is.
Boat after the Mayflower; who cares?
Merrill Mason,
Philadelphia, PA.
Being descended from early WASP settlers made my mother feel important and entitled. But I believe that suffering and endurance are human experiences, not racial ones. Stories of grit and survival should bring people together rather than create hierarchies.
Crudely Awakened from a Deep Sleep
USA.
In the novel Invisible Man, a black man in 1930s America struggles to find his identity. He starts out as hopeful and naive, believing that his hard work, determination, and intelligence will lead to eventual success and happiness. He does not realize, until the end of the novel, that the white characters and most of society only see him as a black man and that his destiny has been predetermined.
Ashamed that my white privilege stifles others
Suzanne Rogers,
Sherwood, AR.
I was born with white privilege. I didn’t know true racism until I was married. I didn’t know that supposedly “good” people could be blatant racists. I learned my own white privilege wasn’t because my parents went to college and worked hard. It was simply because they were white. No one looks at me and wonders if I will hurt them. No one shuts or locks their door when they see me. Never has a gun ever been pulled on me during a traffic stop.
I am a proud White male.
Laurence Almand,
Reno, NV.
As a White male who has worked and supported himself since the age of 18 I am sick and tired of hearing about “White Privilege”. When I worked for the SFPD in the 1980s the Black women were paid just as much as I was.
