One
of the most exciting scientific accomplishments of this century is Human Genome
Project which is the cataloging of human genes. This will lead to great
understanding of the human body and advance medical science. One of the most
important findings is that while human beings differ in outward appearance, the
genetic structure of all human beings is 99.9% identical. These researchers
agree that there is only one race, the human race.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity, and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been discriminated against because of your ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity, and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been discriminated against because of your ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced discrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
I have many times where I have been discrimanted againt by many groups and races of people. I am a mixed ethnic/raace child. I am both white and asian. My experience is that people don't know what I am and guess in many different ways. People who are white think I'm mexican and make racist comments towards me in relation to mexicans. To more stuck up asians, they don't accept me typically because they also think I'm mexican or white. They don't classify me as asian simple because I don't have slanted eyes or high cheek bones. I am simply who I am. Those who are more accepting are typically other mixed race children who face the same problems. What is great is that alot of children from my generation are mixed. Luckily, I am born in a society that is generally more accepting but there are certainly alot of times where things don't go right. The worst time for mixed chilren are middle and high school. In the beginning, no group particularlly accept you at a face value. I was not accepted by the white group (which I honestly had no interest in because my mother was the asian one so I grew up mostly with an asian culture, or specifically, Filipino-Chinese.) But by asians, they would expect me to be a chola or just a weird mexican. But I am who I am and I have found that intermediary group of people who don't care about that luckily.
ReplyDeleteI also do have sympathy towards chaldeans as there have been alot of passes at me from midguided people. All of them were mexican jokes at me or just for being female but its something one can get over. Times change and people find where they belong. People who do judge you are just like sand paper. Their words can only polish you to be a better person because they show you who you don't want to be with. These people guide you towards a better support group.
I like your comment about people who judge are like sand paper and their words can polish you to be a better person. Too bad that there is still so much lack of appreciation of diversity in our schools.
Deletean instance when i have experienced discrimination is when people always use the work "nigga" im Filipino and im not racist or nothing but a lot of people that i know just have the audacity to say it like its cool or something. i have seen random people say it around the black part of society and if people hear it it still snaps their neck and just attracts their attention to the point where its almost scary. i know people play around but i can imagine that it is really not acceptable to be using that term loosely like saying "i love you" to everyone you have sex with. i guess people say things just to be categorized into a group because of their own personal attractions.
ReplyDeleteThere was an incident where I was walking through Grossmont with my friend and there was a Christian lady and she asked us about our religious beliefs. My friend said he was a Christian and I said that I was a Catholic and she basically said that being a Catholic isn’t the right way to live your life and stuff like that, I didn’t really take offense to it in a way that most people naturally and rightly would have. It is just disconcerting that people act that way and feel the need to unjustly critique and criticize a culture that I don’t even present to the world around me. These sorts of situations are divisive because for no good reason people will become un-accepting in a rather tribal way, which ultimately does not lead to accepting diversity. In my opinion people should stop being so dogmatic and judgmental towards other people. When I say stop being judgmental I don’t mean to say that people should avoid each other to prevent disagreement, but people should come together have honest conversations about their beliefs and how they perceive reality, and if there is a belief that cannot be justified then they should reconsider their point of view.
ReplyDeleteTo touch on the comment above I have witnessed this as well. I am not catholic but too many times I have seen Christians try to belittle or discriminate against others that are not of the same religion. If God is who everyone says he is then he is accepting of all people and those claiming to be Christian should not be acting this way. I have also witnessed people stereotyping Chaledeans. I can see why people think of all these people as one group, considering the tragic events america has experienced, but that doesn't make it right. As we know not everyone is the same. There has been many crazy Americans that have done terrible things, such as the shooting at the batman premier. We would not like other countries to think all Americans are crazy and could go on a killing rampage. So we should not associate all Chaldeans with 9/11 or other terrorist attacks.
ReplyDeleteGood point that there are violent people in all cultures.
DeleteI think the diversity issue hits home from all points. The Chaldean Culture in America is a long one but here in El Cajon its fairly new to this area. It’s easy to lash out at their community during these emotional times. A recent Union Tribune articles states “Since the Iraq War began, many Iraqis have come to El Cajon, which now has the largest population of Iraq War refugees in the world and the second highest Chaldean population in the United States after Detroit.” Chaldean Americans are often mistaken for other ethnic groups in the United States, specifically Arab Americans. Most Chaldeans in El Cajon are Christian, not Muslim. Chaldean Americans are a highly religious people proud of their Christian heritage. Americans have gone through this type of immigration before with Vietnam and Japan. If we want to be a community, we all have to learn to live together. We must learn to about each other. The bible says “Love thy neighbor”. Remember at the end of the day we are all children of God. We're all Americans and soon to be Americans and should learn celebrate our differences, not attack them. In the words of “Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that!”
ReplyDeleteWe can accomplish a lot by "love thy neighbor." We can gain a lot by celebrating our differences.
DeletePeople always make fun of me for being Chaldean. People always call me a camel. They also call me a shark because of my big nose and teeth. I am not bothered by it when my friends call me it because I know they are not racists, but when random people call me that I get angry. I hate when people call me a terrorist because Chaldeans do not do those kinds of stuff. I do not get when people say racist remarks towards me because I am more American than Chaldean. I no more english than Chaldean. I do not have an accent and know more about the American culture. I watch American sports and know a lot about them. Some people enjoy our food and I get compliments for it. We are striving for the same goals and dreams as Americans. I do not care when people call me names in a friendly way but not when there so mean. I believe most people who make racist remarks are not racists.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in alternative city , which is different culture, my youngest daughter suffered from the new culture especially in school . All the students were got away from her . Even in recess , she was walking either alone or sitting for reading.After that, when they noticed that she got a high grades and all the teachers admire her , they changed their thoughts and tried to be closer to her . Initially, she suffered from them , but I was encourage her and told her to respect them and they will change. When they knew that we will travel to the USA, all the students in her class and in school come to say bye to her and they felt sorry of her , crying , giving a souvenir and feel sorry for misunderstanding her. Sometimes,when she was upset from them, I was telling her that they will deny from their hard attitude. Till now they send her messages for their missing her. I always were encouraged her do not take care about them and keep going to get high grades.
ReplyDeleteI use to encounter discrimination when I was younger. Whenever I would go into stores by myself I would be watched by employees. Just because I was a teenager many people assumed that I was also a thief. I am a good person and have never stolen from anyone. If they had time to get to know me they would trust me more. However, they do not really have a chance to do this, and I know that teens do tend to steal more often than adults, so their suspicion is warranted. I just feel insulted that I would be a suspect of a crime that I have never and will never commit. Now that I am older I don’t get watched closely anymore. I get treated just like everyone else did just because now I’m a few years older, despite being just as good of a citizen as I used to be. I suppose one way to reduce this type of discrimination would be to have everyone be more trusting of each other. People should only be suspected of shoplifting if there is evidence supporting the suspicion. They should not be profiled based on age or any other quality.
ReplyDeleteThe discrimination I see on a daily basis in this world is so heart breaking. We have come so far with technology, yet we still can't grasp the concept of love. All of these topics for this weeks have influenced my life in one way or another. . I did not and will not ever let bigotry effect my love human kind. I'm happy about the human genome project, although I don't think we needed a science project to tell us that we are all 99.9% alike on the inside. What ever led us to believe we were so different from one another in the first place? I see a terrible amount of discrimination is amongst the chaldean community. I have grown up around chaldeans as well, in fact every house around me has a chaldean family that resides there. They're culture is so loving, and caring. I get gifts from each of them on every holiday, they invite our family to all of their personal events. they have the concept of honor thy neighbor engrained in their blood. They are a cultre of compassion and love, and the media has deemed their entire culture as terrorists for a crime they didn't commit. Google Tower #7 and the 9/11 attacks and tell me why the massive amounts of coverage never said one thing about all of our money being robbed as well. Architects have demanded a real investigation and i do believe one investigation did in fact confim the damage done to the towers was a controlled demolition. It was an inside job that a whole entire culture gets to suffer for, for the rest of their lives. This world we live in is scary, and owned by people who are greedy like the rothschilds and rockefellers, which is why the media they own ( 1500 media outlets owned by 8 corporations, fact) is used to divide us. You don't make money from love, you make money from war.
ReplyDeleteI have very little tolerance for this type of discrimination. I have been at tables at work where thesy types of discussions begin to take place. A few years ago when I was working survivors of domestice violence we admitted a woman that was middle eastern. The staff was very reluctant to offer services and had very little faith that she would "stick around". Our job is to serve clients regadless of where they are from at least thats what I thought,so I was very surprised to see and hear not one or two but three ignorant staff members assume such ridiculous ideas such as" shes got money" shes "probably knows english" "they are the worst clients to work with". I have come to realize in y life that I can not go around arguing with everyone and trying to correct them,what I can do is not be a follower and live by my morals. The little things I learned back in kindergarten "treat others as you would like to be treated", some adults especailly the ones with this negative attitude should go back to kindergarten and learn something. I have three children all very different and my son is handicap. I would be saddened that anyone discriminate against him because he is delayed. I truly with all my heart believe we all deserve the same respect and I cant change the world but at least I practice it in my own home and teach my kids to be kind.
ReplyDeleteThrough teaching our children to appreciate diversity, we can make the world a better place.
DeleteI personally do not think there will be an end to discrimination, and it is seen on a daily basis. Religious individuals can be extremely harsh and discriminate against those who do not follow their beliefs regardless of the circumstances, because that influence controls their entire way of life. Serving in the military, and working in a prison, I have seen discrimination from all different groups of individuals, because of race, religions, and as long as there are different people, we will deal with discrimination. We discriminate against those with piercings, tattoos, and anything else that alters a persons natural appearance. We need to try out best and make everyone more tolerant with one another, but if you look in different countries, or look at extremist, its either their way or death. We will all encounter some form of discrimination and while it is not right, it is important to know the problem and try and make a change. I find discrimination wrong, but as a realist, I know that this won't change, and if I am in a situation where it isn't tolerated, talk to the proper individuals and try and make a change. Just be educated and try and make a change, and hope others will follow by example.
ReplyDeleteI left my country Iraq on 2006, because of the bad situation after the war, terrorist people are everywhere, they attacking Christian people or kidnap them and ask for money. This bad situations leads my family to move Syria and wait till our visa be ready and we can come to t United States. People suppose to be similar to us because it’s a very near country and we share almost the same culture. I got the most discrimination I have ever had in my life. People showed that we are not very welcome in their country because they think we have raised the rent prices, or even food. Many times I hear people sit next to Iraqi people and let them hear that there are many people came to our country they suppose to be in another country not here. At school I used to have a fight every day after school with Syrian guys, because they just don’t like us. Many friends of mine left school because of these fights every day. I also heard on of teachers talking with another teacher why we asked Iraqi students to leave the class? The other one answered him don’t ask him to leave, but tell the students I hope next class I will not see foreign faces.
ReplyDeleteSaralina Carman.
ReplyDelete1-The director of my school was debating to accept a child that his family was not Christian, my school is Episcopal, and the family that was seeking a place in our school are Muslims. The child was at an age that would be going to my classroom.
Due to other religions and beliefs my director doubted it was a good idea, the family was here on a study visa, and needed preschool and day care.
After many conversations they accepted the child, but wanted the child to make crosses for art project that where against their religion, I did not go along with and said to my director that we had to be respectful, reminded her that we are teachers.
I had the child make a picture frame to take home.
2-Crossing the US Border from Mexico to United States a US Customs Agent asked me what was my nationality and I responded Mexican, and then asked me what did I do? If I went to school or I worked. I responded that I was a preschool teacher in Mexico, and he laughed, and said, “ So you are going to tell me that there are teachers in Mexico?” I felt very upset almost cried, and responded to the best of my abilities, Yes just like in the rest of the world, and the officer took my documents, held me for an hour, and then came back and let me go.
This is one of the most humiliating moments of my life, you cannot argue with ignorance and badge power so I tried very hard to not be disrespectful.
Discrimination is a huge problem in the world. Many people look at the stereotype, and think that every member in that group is the same. I hate how people have to conform to some sort of group just to fit in. At my high school, there were a couple of "nazi loving" groups that it made me sick. Why would you conform to something that was so hateful and to a person that killed so many people in such harsh ways. People in these groups are just followers, they don't know what they are actually doing, until something so bad happens, they can't take it back. It's a shame that we have to go through things like discrimination, because it makes the world such an ugly place.
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination is something that is very hard to reduce, people tend to get set in their ways, but I think that by increasing the amount of information everyone has on different cultures and religions would help to get people to re-evaluate their views. I think that people discriminate due to fear and ignorance. I try not to allow race, religion or anything else affect the way I feel when I meet people for the first time. I try to allow their actions and words dictate my impressions. I know that everyone is affected by stereotypes both good and bad, but I do my best to push them aside, at least until they are proven to be correct or incorrect. Whenever I feel as though any form of prejudice is creeping into my thoughts I remember that I’m not perfect and I can’t expect everyone else to be. I force myself to push those thoughts to the side and give the person a chance; I tend to find myself pleasantly surprised. I think that it is unfair that the students from the Middle East are discriminated against, but until something happens that changes face of terrorism it will continue to happen. They don’t deserve the discrimination but unless more people take the time to read up on their different cultures it will continue to happen.
ReplyDeleteI myself am Chaldean so I can actually admit that there have been some comments made towards my race, which was not very pleasing. I was born in the United States, so I have not emigrated from Iraq, but my parents were born in Iraq so I am definitely of descent from there. I have never been so horribly discriminated against in regards to my religion or ethnicity, but the comments I have heard are not good. Discriminating against races is so unbearable to hear or see, and it is something our schools and hopefully country can try and put a stop to. There are so many different types of discrimination that doesn’t even have to do with race, including looks, the way someone talks, the actions people take. We all have to realize that yes we all are a little different from one another, but that doesn’t mean you should think so highly or yourself rather than being equals. For example, in one of my high school classes, there was a topic about bombs and other weapons of destruction, and when those topics were brought up, many of the other students actually looked directly and the Chaldeans and/or other similar middle eastern races which then led to other harsh comments.
ReplyDeleteThe United States of America there are several laws that act against discrimination and its belongings, the law was passed to all of the country branches as of the 50 states. Now as a middle eastern (Chaldean) I left my country because of the bad circumstances that happened in Iraq. I moved to U.S 6 years ago to find my future and continue my life peacefully; I am now a student at Cuyamaca-Grossmont College and am not having any problem as a Chaldean student, but sometimes people take advantage of immigrant student who came from faraway and who doesn't know the laws, rules, and rights in America. I become a U.S citizen last year and I am very proud to be a U.S. A citizen and be part of this country as long as I can practice my religion as a catholic and serve the community as needed to confirm my responsibility. I am aware of everything that happen or will happen against me and I can stand ahead of my self if something wrong happen against me. I am now as an American people exactly and trying to study and learn more about the American culture for better future.
ReplyDeleteI respect a lot where I came from and I appreciate what I been through whether good or bad. I look forward to succeed in my education and get the real career that will benefit me and will be the career that will improve my financial stability for my lifetime. Sometimes I get discrimination from many different people, but I try to ignore and live my life truly honest to avoid anything that put me down or something that could stop my future from developing. I am very confident about my self and I trust God for everything that I wish to come true one day. I am willing to experience good and bad for incoming incidents I have faith to face my problems positively in order to succeed.
So I understand that we have come a long way from the Civil Rights Act but even in the year 2014 there are still a lot of discrimination going on. No matter what color you are white, black, asian, latino male or even female. There will always be a group that doesn't like you, even without knowing you. Many time one person or one small group will ruin it for everyone. I know there are many bad people that think terrible but I also believe that there are more good people. We all have faced discrimination of some sort, we may not even realize it, and we also have discriminated against others. I know I have, I live in El Cajon so yes for the most part there are many middle eastern families. I know I have generalized their culture based on some of the families I have come in contact with, some good and pleasant and some are not so much.Maybe some have just been discriminated so much that they feel they have to defend themselves so much. I'm trying to understand what they believe in and for, I don't want to be ignorant so by understanding or at least approaching everyone I come in contact with in a positive attitude I will be better off.
ReplyDelete