Diversity

For Honor's English, I had to enter a writing contest for first term. The topic of the contest was Diversity Means. . . And I wrote a poem talking about how racism and ignorance about a certain race isn't always from other people. Sometimes people even go as far as to 'bash' themselves. Like an example I hear just the other day: "...I should probably do something more Asian." Since when do people do things because they're Asian? You shouldn't let your nationality define you. I'm about and eighth Native American, Cherokee to be exact, yet I don't wear moccasins and have my hair in a long braid with feathers. It's alright if your tastes correspond with the usual tastes of your nationality, just don't say you like those things to make you appear more 'Asian'. (Or whatever nationality it my be) It also bugs me that we have certain stereptypes. We think that every tall African-American who walks by is a star basketball player. We also think that all Hispanics are poor and that they all work as Landscapers or work at McDonald's. Even though it's not usually true, we still rely upon these stereotypes and often follow them ourselves. I'm a white girl, so I don't have much firsthand experience with racism, but I know a lot of people whose second language is English. I have friends from the Phillipines, Brazil, and Mexico. I have more friends of different nationalities who were born in America, and they seem to bash themselves more than my friends who immigrated. Racism is such a big problem, and has been for such a long time, yet all we are doing is promoting it. We treat people with different features badly, or sometimes better than people who are like us. I've been made fun of for my wide feet and shoulders, and teased because I'm an 'Indian' with blonde hair. It doesn't bother me enough to go crazy and rant about it, or even resort to violence, but it's still stupid. Don't people always say that individuality is a good thing? Then why do we make fun of people who are different than us? What does it matter if it's their skin color or their personality that's different? I think that people should stop cracking jokes about 'how Asian he is', start accepting that they are different, and move on. Also I believe that some people use their nationality to gain popularity. Why should you be higher than other people on the social ladder becuase you're Brazilian? or because you speak Spanish? It makes absolutely no sense.