Racism

     Unfortunately Racism is still everywhere. I personally do not believe that we are taught about it enough in school and/or at home. Racism/Race is an uncomfortable topic for many people to discuss for a variety of reasons. I still struggle with myself to talk about it today even just in a general conversation because I am too afraid of offending someone or saying the wrong thing because I was educated enough about their race or racial identity. While my high school was in my opinion very diverse and I was able to learn a lot about others and educate myself to some degree it is still very difficult for me to talk about because if I did not come from where they do I feel as though sometimes I do not have a right to even talk about it because I am not educated enough. While it is and will continue to be a topic that needs to be taught more I fear it will not happen because we are too afraid of offending someone. We don't only need to discuss this inside of school but outside of school too, as it is happening everywhere around us. This year alone Racism and Racial Identity has been a huge important message across the country. In May/June we had what we called Black Lives Matter Movement. This all started when a black man George Floyd was killed by a white cop. Not only do black lives matter but all lives matter but unfortunately we only tend to find ourselves to want to make a difference is when something as tragic as a man's death in my opinion. While some of us try to make a difference all the time we aren't loud enough or we are ignored cause it isn't "Newsworthy" enough to bring up. 

    Looking back on my education before high school I wouldn't even say the words lack of education is strong enough but more of well nonexistent. When I was in elementary/middle school (Same school from pre-K to 8th Grade) I went to a school that was made up predominantly white students with only one family of color. As a child I thought that this was normal and what most schools were like because this is what I was taught. So when I entered high school I was actually a bit intimidated by all the diversity around me. I came from a school full of cliques and this was not how high school was at all for me. while there were there cliques we also all accepted each other for who we were/are. However, because of my lack of education I look back now and realized I said so many things to multiple people that came out wrong not because I wanted to hurt them but because I was simply uneducated. I was taught that people of certain races were meant to look similar in one way I know that is not the case now but unfortunately that was my mindset as a freshman because I was not educated correctly.. This quote not only made sense to me but resonated with me since reading it not only in Tatum's article but also Jordyn's blog which is "I never knew it was really that bad just 35 years ago. Why didn’t I learn this in elementary or high school?" This quote really made me think back to things I could have said to others with unintentional means to hurt them but still said them because I didn't take the time to think about why I said it or how it could effect the other person. While it is never too late to apologize it is to late to take back the words that have already been spoken. Just a gentle reminder to think before you speak and how to think about if you were the other person and how they would feel. 

    This week was not only helpful for me to understand the subject in one class but in two. I am currently in my social work 325 and this has helped me not only understand my assignment for that class but vice versus and it has actually made it very helpful that they overlapped. I was confused when I watched one of the videos because I thought I did the same homework for one class twice then I realized that it was the same video for both classes. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5FBJyqfoLM) it was the short video "Why Cities are still Segregated). Also the article has helped me understand the movie I am currently watching for this class which is called "13th" which Roberto has also mentioned in his blog and I couldn't agree more with him that if you don't have to watch it for a class to still watch it because it is in my opinion really great and eye opening.