People think my name is “quinoa.”
Keona Logan,
Houghton, MI
People don’t know how to say my name.
We Created Race, Then Change It
Brent Vuglar,
Houghton, MI.
Just like any controversial subject where people do not see eye to eye, people tend to be close-minded to others opinions. This development of tension plants a seed of anger to one another. I myself grew up in a not so very diverse suburb, and when I was younger I believed that everyone was given an equal opportunity to achieve the mythical “American Dream”. Now we are set in a place where entitlement and inheritance are placed on a higher pedestal than, hard work and respect of one another.
Rather than acknowledging race as being a bad thing and comparing differences, we need to individually go out and be accepting. The fact of the matter is there are good and bad people in every culture and community. The sad fact is we cannot change every persons opinions, but the more people that accept that EVERYONE is different and that we cannot change biology, acceptance naturally follows. It is not one voice that creates change, it is an orchestra of them.
Typical white, middle-class male…privileged
Greg Miodonski,
Houghton, MI.
Growing up in a mostly white, middle-class neighborhood, I took a lot for granted. I never realized how much privilege I had for simply being white. As we become older and recognize these vast, senseless disparities created between groups of people, it seems like we should use our privilege to help bring about equality for those who can’t.
I will not be a statistic
Kyle Glasper
Houghton, MA
Everything I feel I learn in sociology is telling me that as a black male, life has doomed me to the pits. A third of us have been incarcerated or will be and the half of the rest won’t ever go to college. It’s been this way for a while now and I feel like nothing is changing. Is it the system at fault or the people? This is a question I’ve toyed with for a while and in all honesty it’s a bit of both. By society being okay that this happens the mentality of many black males are that it’s okay for them to act in that fashion because society expects themselves. For those in tune with sociology it’s a major case of the looking glass self and I for one refuse to be a statistic. Being black should be anything but a hindrance. It should be empowering that you can rise above odds even if they perpetually seem against and saying ‘I did it.’
Watch me pay for this
James Henderson
Houghton, MI
I’m a black man. There is this stereotype, that all black people steal, so whenever we walk into a store we are followed around the store and or watched from a distance. I have money and don’t need to steal form anyone. Watch me pay for this.
Most white college students don’t care
Gene Gruber,
Houghton, MI.
College students don’t seem to care about racial inequality, On campus, there is a lot of racial diversity but off campus is mostly dominated by white people. There is even a place where “the Asian people live.” Nobody ever seems to try to mingle outside of campus though. I wish there was something I could do but there doesn’t seem to be any support from my peers.
Sometimes I feel underprivileged being white
Allison McLeod,
Houghton, MI.
There are large amounts of organizations set up for assistance to minority groups, but the middle class white families often get left out.
It’s not racist, it’s segregated here.
Amanda Rae,
Houghton, MI.
I go to college in a very predominantly white city at the northern tip of Michigan. Here the student population is massively more diverse than the town around it. There are few black people but many Chinese and Indian students. There are no rules separating the different groups but we see little mixing. Each area of the library, groups on campus, or even parts of buildings are common for separate races. Here there is less outward racism than the systematic. There is a complacency with the separation and an expectation for it.
Hispanic name in a rural town
Elena Rodrigues
Houghton, MA
Living in a small town in the UP of Michigan and having a fairly Hispanic name can sometimes bring out the worst in people. Sometimes it shows how some people view a person from a different background in a negative way and other times it can be positive. I have been asked before if I speak Mexican in a small town in Michigan. No, I do not speak Mexican, nor do I even speak Spanish was my response. My Dads family is from Brazil and then even he is half Canadian. Experiencing these questions shows me how some people can be so uneducated about the rest of the world about race and ethnicity.
