Exposure to Race

1/13/08

So I just started this blog for my psychology of racism class. We just had our first class and even that got me thinking a lot about how my life has been affected by race. I guess I hadn't really thought a whole lot about it until we met in class.

We were asked in class to think of our first experience with race. As I tried to think of one, it became apparent that I grew up very sheltered. The first interaction I could remember was in first grade when I developed the "Asians are smart" stereotype because the only non-white girl was an Asian girl who was the smartest person in our class. My elementary school really had no people of color. In third grade, a Mexican family moved in, and I remember beginning a prejudice - it was what everyone did. Everyone talked about her because she couldn't speak English, she lived in the low-income apartments, and smelled different. In retrospect, it's sad, really, seeing children at such a young age developing such poor habits.

I had more interactions with different ethnicities as a child than different races - I would estimate that about 95% of my community is white and Christian. When we found out the new girl was Jewish, it was really exciting for everyone since she was different than everyone else. Everyone wanted to be friends with her because she was not like the rest of us.

But, sadly enough, I don't think it was until high school until I actually had friends outside of my own ethnicity, and even so, they weren't close friends. It wasn't until my first year of college that I was very good friends with someone outside of my race. My best friend from freshman year is Philippino. It's interesting that I actually had my first "real" discussion about race with her. She told me that she didn't see herself as "Asian", she felt like she was more white than Asian despite her parents being immigrants to America. It was kind of similar to what was said in class this evening. One of the students said that despite his Asian ethnicity, he felt a greater connection to being white than Asian since he grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and hung out with all white kids at school.

I realize I have grown up very sheltered, and some may say "in a bubble", but I believe my college experience is really opening me up to new types of people and new experiences. The classes I'm taking and the friends I'm making are allowing me to become more open-minded. It's a good change, and I like it.