Ethnic Scrapbooking

Since the beginning of this semester I have noticed that topics I’ve discussed in class have followed me out of the class, and into real life. I feel as though I am much more observant than I was just a few months ago. I have begun to notice more biracial students on campus, at work, and just meandering around town. While on campus I have taken notice and appreciation of the student body population and how integrated the many cultures and races are. Many groups consist of a myriad of people from different backgrounds, and it seems to be of little concern to any of the group members. In fact, during a recent job fair, there was an emergency restoration company that must have had an employee of every ethnicity represented in their company. I believe they do restoration services for people’s homes, when they experience, fire, water damage and so on. They seem like an awesome company to work for so if any of my local readers are interested, their website is phoenixwaterdamage.org. Anyhow they were running a demonstration in front of a large group of students, and it was awesome to see how much fun the employees and students were having and how there was not any sort of acknowledgement of ethnicity, even though most of the employees were predominately foreign with noticeable accents. It’s moments like these where I think how beautiful our multiracial world is when everyone just accepts one another, and sees each other for their similarities and not their differences.

In the past few weeks I have learned a lot about the multiracial community as a whole, and a lot about its components parts. In my classes we have discussed the ways in which the multiracial community sees themselves, as well as the way others view them. We have also looked into where they have come from socially, and where they are heading. It has been a sad story on some accounts, but also an inspiring and powerful one on others. We as people of this generation are watching history unfold right beneath our very eyes, as the multiracial community struggles, but ultimately prospers in the 20th century.

America was not always what it is today; a free country and a country proud of its many cultural differences. Like many are aware, it used to be a country founded on protestant and puritan beliefs that put the white man on a pedi stool. Not that I believe America is perfect at this point in time, for racism still lingers, and is actually very prominent in certain areas of the country today. But we have come tremendously far from our beginnings.

While watching a film in one of my cultural classes earlier this week, we as a class were able to take a first hand look into the lives of a few citizens living multiracial identities. We were introduced to the term Hapa, referring to someone who is half Asian and half Caucasian, and able to take a peak into the trials and tribulations of being a hapa in today’s society. We saw people who struggled to identify to a particular piece of their heritage and completely abandon the other. For in this search of self-identification it seemed far easier to associate with one race rather than two.

The world in which we live in is far from perfect. The streets are littered, the oceans polluted, the banks are corrupt, and our society is out to get one another. All of these topics have initiatives in order to help the cause. We attempt to clean our streets, clean our oceans and receive justice from economic executives, but the one topic we are hesitant to address is that which applies to our society. Which ironically enough, affects us the most. Everyday many Americans are harassed based purely on their skin color, though no real effort is made to aid this epidemic of thought and action. Maybe it’s because it is not profitable or seems unchangeable. This is the backbone of society though, acceptance and unity is key to the success of the whole tribe (humanity). We are strong as a whole, not as individuals, as much as we aspire to achieve individual greatness, it is the success of the whole, which defines us all. Once we come to recognize a common bond between one another we will be able to live in a world without race.

As a white American growing up in the United States I have experienced a lot of privileges, and a lot of luxuries some of my colored brothers and sisters have not. During the course of my life, and in particular my current college experience, I have seen and heard a lot of things I wish I could forget. However, the knowledge of what I have seen and heard has strongly shaped my view of the world, and most importantly my stance. I see the world as one big whole, comprised of many intricate parts. Similarly to ecosystems, our our society is comprised of many different parts, different genders, ethnicities and cultures. They are all part of the same thing, but as individual parts that can appear and act very differently.