So much for Equality

Last night Auster and I watched an episode of “What Would You Do?” (not sure if it’s a rerun) where John Quinones and his crew set up an experiment to confront racism in America. This experiment involved 3 actors, one playing a racist fast food chain cashier and two actors posting as non-English speaking Latino laborers. They were trying to see how other customers would react when the cashier refused to sell food to the two laborers after failing to state their orders in English. Some costumers sided with the cashier, stating that they should learn how to speak English, some even went as far as accusing these laborers to be “illegal” aliens. Others showed compassion and tolerance to these laborers accusing the cashier to be racist and inhumane. Some costumers could not stand the “racism” going on and just left.

Except for some ocassions when I got mistaken as a sales associate at the mall or a waitress at a Chinese buffet I have not experienced blatant racism. Some of my friends are not as fortunate. One of my friends even had an experience where someone shouted to her “Go back to your F-ing country” and flipped the bird.

Here in this melting pot we call, America diversity has become a buzzword. In some school admissions or application for tuition assistance, you get an edge over other applicants if you can contribute to the diversity of whatever institution you are applying for (i.e. you’re a minority). The same is true when applying for a job. In research, millions of dollars of grant moneys are awarded for researches looking at diversity or disparity, specially so in healthcare. Despite all these, racism still lingers on.

By 2050, it was extrapolated that the ‘minorities’ will dominate America (US Census Bureau), with Hispanics (Latino-Americans) estimated to constitute a whopping 30% of the entire US population. African-Americans at 15%, Asian-Americans at 9%, Alaskan and America-Indians at 2%. Multiracial Americans will also dramatically increase. All in all by 2050 ‘minorities’ will be more than half of the US population, 54% to be exact. What all these numbers are saying is that, the diversification that the US is going through is inevitable. We have to keep an open mind. We have to educate ourselves about our countrymates. Like a roommate, you don’t have to like them, you just need to be able to tolerate them because if you don’t have any other options you’ll be living with them. We need to get over ourselves. The world doesn’t revolve around us or our own ethnicities.

How you can educate yourself about other cultures:
+ Read books on different cultures to learn about their way of life, language, religion, customs, norms, cuisine, & music
+ Learn a second or third language
+ Interact with people of different cultures
+ Travel/Become an exchange student

To learn more about diversity/other cultures visit:
+ Global Gateway: World Culture & Resources
+ Countries and their Cultures
+ Cultures: Social Studies for Kids
+ African Cultures
+ World Cultures from Washington State University
+ Experiencing different cultures Stories from teens who lived overseas in Foreign Service families

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