Race: Skin Deep?

According to the Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Race is defined as any of the different varieties or populations of human beings distinguished by a) physical traits such as hair, eyes, skin color, body shape, etc.: traditionally, the three primary divisions are Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid, and the many subdivisions are called races, b) blood types, c) genetic code patterns, d) all their inherited characteristics which are unique to their isolated breeding population. When someone hears the word �race’, they usually just think of the color of someone’s skin; but race is so much more than that. Your race defines not only what you look like but even some of your personalities. People tend to be drawn to people of the same race as them; for example Italians will hang out with Italians and Germans will hang out with Germans. Most people are drawn to people who are like themselves, which isn’t always a bad thing. It becomes a bad thing though, when you don’t come outside your comfort zone and met new people who are different from you. It is extremely important to expand your horizons and met new people.

I went to a very small high school. I graduated with seven other Caucasians, like myself and one African American. If you would talk to him today, he would say that he loved us all and we were like a family to him. We never looked down at him or thought of him as different. We loved him the same and we truly were like one family. In our high school, there were a couple Indians, a few African Americans, and one girl from Thailand. With a school that small everyone knew everyone. Caucasians were the majority by far, but personally I never looked down on the handful of students that looked differently then me. To me, color was always skin deep. I would get to know the real person underneath the skin and then form my opinion of them. I hate when people assume something about a person because of the way they look and then they refuse to get to know them because of something they heard. They might have missed out on a great chance to meet someone who they could have been great friends with. But they missed out because of what someone else said about that person.

When I started looking at colleges, diversity was one of the many reasons I choose SUNY Old Westbury. I love having the different cultures, races, and ethnicities all around me. I went to a Christian school so everyone was Christian. I love being in a class filled with students who are Muslims, Jewish, etc. I love learning from them about their culture and their own lives. In my private school, I learned all about Muslims, Hindus, Jewish people, and people of all religions. I could tell you the facts about the religions and the history of almost any main religion. But I don’t think that is the important part. I think it is much more important to know why someone believes what they do or why they choice to live this certain lifestyle. You can only learn so much from text books, the important things you need to know about people comes only from getting out there and getting to know people.

Some people are scared to be placed in situations where they will be the only one who is different. I love being in situations were I am the only Christian and I have the chance to talk to someone about my faith. When placed in situations like that, I have to remember to be open- minded but never compromise my own faith. I am confident to be in situations where I am the only Christian because I know I’m not going to back down on my faith. To me the main think about me is my faith, it isn’t my race. I don’t define myself by being Spanish and German. Everyone has different ways to define themselves. Some people define themselves by being Puerto Ricans or some people will even define themselves by being very wealthy. People who define themselves by their social class place most of their pride in having material objects. The main problem with that is one day they will be gone and they will have nothing to show for their life. Some people who have nothing will define themselves by being poor. They will think that’s all they are and won’t even try to make their life better.

I think going to private school was great for me, but it definitely placed me inside a вЂ?bubble’. All I knew were Christian teenagers, who were just like me. All my friends up until now were Christian teenagers, who all had the same background as me, had parents just like mine, has grown up just like I did, and practiced the same religion I did. Now I have classes were sometimes, I am the only Christian. I even have a class were I am one of the two Caucasians. Race to me isn’t a way to judge people; it’s an opportunity to learn about someone who is different from me. I have met some of the most interesting people since I’ve started college here and it’s not even the end of the first semester yet. One of the most interesting people I’ve met is a girl who is Muslim. She has been married for almost five years and has a daughter who is two years old. We are both freshmen in the same college but I can’t even imagine how different our worlds must be. Here I am worrying about what to wear tomorrow for school and what I should eat for dinner when her more common worries are about what to feed her child or what is the best way to raise here. She worries about things I don’t even think about yet. One of the first readings we did was from Plato called The Cave. It is about men who live in a cave and they see shadows on the wall and this is what they believe is reality. “..Human beings living in an underground den…have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them…above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distances…over which they show the puppets.” (Plato, 3)

They don’t know anything beside these shadows and when they get to leave they want to come back to the shadow. Their reality is shadows or �puppets.’ It’s not even something tangible. They are so uncomfortable outside there �bubble’ all they want to do is come back. We have to get outside our �bubble’ to learn and experience things outside our own little world where everyone and everything is the same.

With so many races, come so many stereotypes. People think less of people who are different from them and they look down upon them. For example, it is thought that all Irish people do is drink, all Italians are loud, all Jewish people are cheap, all Mexicans can do is mow lawns and work at 7-11. No one should