Diversity Day
Today was Diversity Day at orientation. In the morning, we "traveled" around Detroit and learned about the different ethnic communities. It was fairly interesting, but I can only take speakers for so long, and 2.5 hours was too long. We walked down to the New Center Building at lunch, but Gina, Tsoguik, and I decided to go back and get food from McDonald's. It was incredibly busy, and an experience in itself.
In the afternoon, I got incredibly pissed off. Now, in case you didn't know, I am very passionate when it comes to treating everyone fairly. I just think it should be done, no thought to it. The social studies woman from Tuesday was back, and I wasn't too happy to see her. She and a colleague were presenting on African-Centered Education. I knew I'd probably disagree with it, but I thought I'd be alright. I was fine, until we did the activity...
The activity consisted of imagining that we were told we were born to the wrong parents, and were supposed to be born black. In order to correct the mistake, we would become black at midnight. The question was how much we would request as compensation for the mistake. Now, this is normally going to stimulate quite the conversation. It was fine, until it turned a little ugly when I think a girl took something the wrong way, and took offense to something that was said, which was bound to happen. However, I got very angry when the woman started making generalizations about white people, while telling us how it's bad that people do that to her and other black people. She took one look at me, and saw white privilege, and never looked back. She actually said that most white kids can just call Mommy and Daddy when tuition or rent is due, and they'll just write a check for us. While yes, I am very fortunate that my parents were willing and able to go into debt to pay for my education, they do not just write a check everytime I ask. And my parents worked hard to ensure that I grew up upper middle class. That was a step up for my family. And I am extremely proud of that. But because I'm white, and I go to Michigan State University, and I'm from the suburbs, she knows what my life is like. And she also tried to tell us that the reason why her car insurance is higher living in Detroit than if she were in West Bloomfield is because she's black. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that it's because she lives in Detroit. Where there is a ton of traffic, and car thefts are not unordinary. I felt attacked, and that I had to apologize for being who I am. But I haven't done anything wrong, and until people can just see that we can all live together, and not everyone has preconceived notions, our society will continue to be stuck by our race relation problems. We blame the adults for putting notions in kids heads that are racist. But guess what. When you hear someone talk that is that negative, and is not willing to believe things have changed, you start to second-guess your opinion that things have changed. And I might have walked out of there confused, if it weren't for two reasons. One, I have a strong sense of right and wrong, especially when it comes to stuff like this. Two, most everyone my age had the same confused look on their face that I had.
The other presenter, while we were discussing how we wouldn't really need compensation, asked us about our new lives, where we would have to make new friends, and wouldn't we want compensation for that? The general reaction was a collective "what?", as we had been told we'd be the same people. And yes, I realize there are some acquaintances that might not want as much to do with me. But my closest friends, the ones that mean the most to me, love me for me, and not what I look like. And they have told me that. So if I were still me, they would still love me.
The other presenter led the discussion on their African-Centered Education curriculum. The curriculum stems from research saying we all originate from Africa, and continues from there. While it is said to be all-inclusive, they way it was presented, it didn't really seem to be. Now, no one has to convince me that curriculum, especially social studies curriculum, needs to be changed to reflect everyone, not just European-Americans. I am upset with the fact that I never learned more about African-American, Hispanic-American, Japanese-American, etc. history. And absolutely nothing about world history. But that means we have to give time to everything. And work to truly integrate all history in. Because you never know what is going to spark a kid's interest. Maybe a young black child will become fascinated with ancient Chinese empires. A young white woman will fall in love with Africa, particularly South Africa...oh wait, I know that girl. But once we call it something such as African-Centered Education, we start to eliminate people from the "in" group, even if we don't need to.
We ended today with a speaker from the Detroit branch of the NAACP. He was very interesting, and made some good points. He was also very open, which I enjoyed. He recognizes that we need to be able to talk about some topics that may usually be uncomfortable to talk about, such as race relations and affirmative action.
Let me end by saying that as a member of the group that is currently benefitting most from affirmative action, that I am in favor of the MCRI. I believe not only is affirmative action reverse discrimination, and I do own the fact that discrimination happened, and still happens, and I consider it unfair and will do my best to end it, but I also believe it is outdated. There is really no way of guaranteeing based on race or sex, who has had more opportunities in life. I recognize that I have been blessed, and that I do not need as much help as someone who attended public school K-12 in a rural school district, or a struggling urban district. I feel that socioeconomic status is probably a better statute for deciding some things, and that other opportunities, such as many scholarships, should be based solely on merit. While it may seem unfair, because I chose to get an education at the #1 university for my field, I will also be in debt. If I had gone to one of the smaller state universities, I would have probably had most, if not all, of my education paid for. In all honesty, I do not know what more I could have done for more scholarship money, except if my parents were not as well-off.
Tomorrow we're off to the Arab-American museum in Dearborn, which should be fun. Have a good night!
In the afternoon, I got incredibly pissed off. Now, in case you didn't know, I am very passionate when it comes to treating everyone fairly. I just think it should be done, no thought to it. The social studies woman from Tuesday was back, and I wasn't too happy to see her. She and a colleague were presenting on African-Centered Education. I knew I'd probably disagree with it, but I thought I'd be alright. I was fine, until we did the activity...
The activity consisted of imagining that we were told we were born to the wrong parents, and were supposed to be born black. In order to correct the mistake, we would become black at midnight. The question was how much we would request as compensation for the mistake. Now, this is normally going to stimulate quite the conversation. It was fine, until it turned a little ugly when I think a girl took something the wrong way, and took offense to something that was said, which was bound to happen. However, I got very angry when the woman started making generalizations about white people, while telling us how it's bad that people do that to her and other black people. She took one look at me, and saw white privilege, and never looked back. She actually said that most white kids can just call Mommy and Daddy when tuition or rent is due, and they'll just write a check for us. While yes, I am very fortunate that my parents were willing and able to go into debt to pay for my education, they do not just write a check everytime I ask. And my parents worked hard to ensure that I grew up upper middle class. That was a step up for my family. And I am extremely proud of that. But because I'm white, and I go to Michigan State University, and I'm from the suburbs, she knows what my life is like. And she also tried to tell us that the reason why her car insurance is higher living in Detroit than if she were in West Bloomfield is because she's black. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that it's because she lives in Detroit. Where there is a ton of traffic, and car thefts are not unordinary. I felt attacked, and that I had to apologize for being who I am. But I haven't done anything wrong, and until people can just see that we can all live together, and not everyone has preconceived notions, our society will continue to be stuck by our race relation problems. We blame the adults for putting notions in kids heads that are racist. But guess what. When you hear someone talk that is that negative, and is not willing to believe things have changed, you start to second-guess your opinion that things have changed. And I might have walked out of there confused, if it weren't for two reasons. One, I have a strong sense of right and wrong, especially when it comes to stuff like this. Two, most everyone my age had the same confused look on their face that I had.
The other presenter, while we were discussing how we wouldn't really need compensation, asked us about our new lives, where we would have to make new friends, and wouldn't we want compensation for that? The general reaction was a collective "what?", as we had been told we'd be the same people. And yes, I realize there are some acquaintances that might not want as much to do with me. But my closest friends, the ones that mean the most to me, love me for me, and not what I look like. And they have told me that. So if I were still me, they would still love me.
The other presenter led the discussion on their African-Centered Education curriculum. The curriculum stems from research saying we all originate from Africa, and continues from there. While it is said to be all-inclusive, they way it was presented, it didn't really seem to be. Now, no one has to convince me that curriculum, especially social studies curriculum, needs to be changed to reflect everyone, not just European-Americans. I am upset with the fact that I never learned more about African-American, Hispanic-American, Japanese-American, etc. history. And absolutely nothing about world history. But that means we have to give time to everything. And work to truly integrate all history in. Because you never know what is going to spark a kid's interest. Maybe a young black child will become fascinated with ancient Chinese empires. A young white woman will fall in love with Africa, particularly South Africa...oh wait, I know that girl. But once we call it something such as African-Centered Education, we start to eliminate people from the "in" group, even if we don't need to.
We ended today with a speaker from the Detroit branch of the NAACP. He was very interesting, and made some good points. He was also very open, which I enjoyed. He recognizes that we need to be able to talk about some topics that may usually be uncomfortable to talk about, such as race relations and affirmative action.
Let me end by saying that as a member of the group that is currently benefitting most from affirmative action, that I am in favor of the MCRI. I believe not only is affirmative action reverse discrimination, and I do own the fact that discrimination happened, and still happens, and I consider it unfair and will do my best to end it, but I also believe it is outdated. There is really no way of guaranteeing based on race or sex, who has had more opportunities in life. I recognize that I have been blessed, and that I do not need as much help as someone who attended public school K-12 in a rural school district, or a struggling urban district. I feel that socioeconomic status is probably a better statute for deciding some things, and that other opportunities, such as many scholarships, should be based solely on merit. While it may seem unfair, because I chose to get an education at the #1 university for my field, I will also be in debt. If I had gone to one of the smaller state universities, I would have probably had most, if not all, of my education paid for. In all honesty, I do not know what more I could have done for more scholarship money, except if my parents were not as well-off.
Tomorrow we're off to the Arab-American museum in Dearborn, which should be fun. Have a good night!