Skin Deep
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Skin Deep
In the ideal world everybody is equal. In the real world there is racism. Situations stemming from racist feelings and conflicts between ethnic groups remains a serous problem. The video Skin Deep brought together college students of different races to express their feeling and beliefs about racism. The video supported the idea that the environment you are raised in is an influence on beliefs and feelings you might have towards other races. Daves grandfather was a confederate. He grew up listening to his grandfather talk bad about other races. Daves best friend is Mexican, and he said he can not bring him around his grandparents. Marc comes from a good Italian family. His father has some strong views about people of other races. Marc adores his father, but hes not sure if he agrees with him. In fact, Marc loves to sing and when he joined in an all Black gospel choir, he did not tell his father for several months. Most of the other students expressed that they had the same upbringing, to discriminate against other races. Even though it was wrong of our grandparents and parents to raise us in such an environment, I can understand why they did. Some of our grandparents lived in the days of slavery and war and had to deal with the experience first hand. Their experience is all they knew to teach their young. I think our generation can look past how we were brought up and recognize that it is wrong, and teach our children better.
Tammy made a point that the black students at her school often did not get involved in events. She said that when she went to school meetings she made an attempt to sit by students of other races, when she tried to make friends with them by sitting next to them and making conversation, she could tell that they did not feel comfortable sitting next to her. This made her feel uncomfortable. The Black students felt that they were often left out of groups and schoolSkin Deep 3
events so they decided to have a graduation ceremony for Black students only. My first thought of this idea was that it was only splitting the races up even more. After listening to others thoughts in class I understood more why this was so special to the Black race. One reason was because for most of the students, they were the first to graduate in their family and that is something to take pride in.
Judith is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. She grew up working in the fields with her parents. Judith is very angry with society and how unfair it is. She feels that she does not get the same opportunity in life as other races and that she is not offered the same resources to succeed. She is very skeptical about justice in America. Tammy who has the resources and support to go to college feels the same way. She said when she wants something bad enough, she just hast to work hard towards it and she will get it. Tammy feels that this is not true for all races. I think that the opportunity is their no matter what race you are. I do think that it is harder for some people to go to college. Not because they are not smart enough to go, but because all odds are against them. For instance, a person who comes from a poor family might not be able to attend college because going to college would mean that they might not be able to work as much. That person has to bring home money to support the family so college would be out of the question. What determines if you succeed is your goals and ambitions. There is poverty, broken families, and hard times no matter what race you are.
One student who is biracial, Latino and White, spoke about what she deals with on an everyday