Untangling Racism

                         

              UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL

I attended the Untangling Racism seminar on campus. I was happy that the school was addressing the issue with out really being able to talk about the noose incident because of pending charges.

The reason I was attracted to UW-Parkside was because this supposedly the most diverse in culture University in the UW system. I vaguely remember something similar happening like this maybe back in 2003.

        Racism is real and it's a relevant topic to discuss  

With schools experiencing these recent  shootings with multiple homicides. The most sensible thing would be to nip this in the butt and try to prevent it rather than let a incident such as this noose one go with out notice, even if it was only done for attention. We wouldn't want to be the next red dot on this map. I recently took a class here at Parkside SOCA 107 diversity circle on racism. I am extremely happy that I took this class. Although it  was a small class and only lasted 8 weeks I probably gained more useful knowledge there than in any class I have taken. This class should be mandatory for the students, it enables you to be able to speak openly about such a controversial topic. The topic of racism is a very tricky topic to cover when talking to large groups and its hard to get ones true feelings in a large group setting.

 

                        Racine to Milwaukee, Oh what a difference

I was born and raised in Racine, WI and I have always thought that Racine was pretty diverse. When it comes to schooling the district would purposely place students in schools throughout the system so that the neighborhood schools wouldn't be filled with one race. Now as an adult I moved to Milwaukee County. My children are now old enough to go to school and this was one of the most challenging things I have had to face as a parent thus far. At the seminar one of the speakers discussed the separation of races in Milwaukee County. The separation is very noticeable when trying to pick schools. I live in Oak Creek which is considered a suburb of Milwaukee so my children have never attended a Milwaukee Public School. I did do research though because I wanted to make sure my children get the best education and its diverse. To say the least Milwaukee Public Schools are very segregated as are the neighborhoods. If you live in a neighborhood near a school that's the school you go to. This leads to schools filled with one race, which causes a sort of ethnocentrism and kids don't learn the value of being diverse. Which then carries on to adulthood.

Racism starts somewhere and until the person that has these racist feelings opens their mind to view another race as highly as their own this is when the problems start.

       PROUD TO BE MIXED

I have always been super proud of my background. My mother is as Caucasian as they come with blonde hair and all and my father is African American. My mother experienced struggles from her family and the public for dating outside of her race and I'm glad she never gave up on who she loved. With out strong people like her I wouldn't be here. I hope my children are as proud of their background as I am, they are Caucasian, African American and Puerto Rican.