Personal Narrative: A Positive Paradigm Shift

I started to realize the stereotypes and beliefs my family instilled in me were not true. However, the real change came when I did my summer reading for my freshman year at North Carolina State University. Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, forced me to analyze my beliefs and what I thought to be true. Reading Just Mercy changed my entire view on people of color and minorities as a whole. The book replaced my racism with empathy and sympathy. I gained knowledge and

When I was young I didn’t really realize the impact of being African-American until high school. I went to a predominately white school for elementary and middle school. I was just like any other youth. I had my group of friends who were white; I was active in school activities and clubs. I was a student athlete and I got along well with my teachers. Everyone saw me as an upbeat person with a bubbly personality. Surprisingly, race was never brought up it wasn’t an issue for me during that period of my life. However, as I got older I realize there was a difference. As an adult I could really see the prejudice in others. I recall working a on a special project for the

My parents and my extended family has always made sure I knew my culture and that my race was different from other races such as Caucasian and Asian children I went to school with. I also always knew I related to a different race due to my family skin color versus the other people who were around whose skin color is different from mines. As a child when I was growing up I heard adults or older kids talk about issues such as different races and people they have interacted during the day. Another thing exposed to me as a kid was the different political issues especially George Bush administration and racism as general. Being exposed to many views on how the color of your skin will affect the way society sees you and places you in the social system put perspective on how I saw my future. Being black you often automatically deemed as you are not going to succeed in life or you are not going be educated enough to place in high

I will admit that being in college has opened my eyes a whole lot more in regards to my culture and my past. Before, I would never even ponder over how me speaking Spanish or my mom coming to the United States already pregnant with me from Mexico would affect anyone, and I certainly never questioned that there were stereotypes for me, a female, Mexican-American teenager in high school. Now that I am older I look at how sickening the things that people do are and how unaccepting people can be. I know there are people out there in this country that are genuinely bothered by the fact that I speak Spanish with my family in public, that I am a female, and above all that I come from two immigrant parents who have done nothing, but work their butts

Going to Latino community meetings and always being able to find some sort of negative stereotype that fit anyone I met there, it made me believe in the generalizations I saw on TV. The shame changed my way of thinking, I started to detest Hispanic music, the beautiful clothing of Colombian Campesinos, even the language. I spoke Spanish less frequently and got annoyed whenever my parents told me to speak it. I didn’t want to be associated with those stereotypes. I didn’t want to seem dumb, or mediocre, or inferior to my friends. It made me think that if I did associate myself with the stereotypical Hispanic on TV, that I would become someone who carried all those negative stereotypes. But, although it seems very significant, my choice to dissociate myself from my culture was a brief decision that did not take a lot of thought. At that age, around five to ten years old, I did not comprehend the importance of culture and history and how it affected my identity.

- my chest is going to collapse.. maybe more emotionally than physically but it all feels as if the pain is real and can always be felt.

Learning that race played a significant role in the life of many people allowed me to eventually grasp the fact that not everyone would accept me just for the simple fact of the color of my skin.

At an earlier age, I was aware that I was part of a racial group. Being called names as “Yellow”, “Chinese kid” or “slanting eyes” while growing up did make me more knowledgeable about my disparities. My physical appearance was the most obvious evidence that stood out and made me realized that I was different from the majority group of white people who surrounded me. Not only appearance did affect me, but also all the stereotypes toward Asians.

It was the day the junior high volleyball girls played Madison Grant! They were the only team that we lose to last year.We were going back and forth and back. It was a really good game. Who won the biggest rivalry in Frankton JH?

"Louis McClymont, the nurse will see you know."As I took the dreaded walk to treatment room B, my fear of needles began to take over, the only time I ever had a jag before was when I was a baby, and that was too long ago to remember. I took a seat on the administering table; the nurse could see my body was shaking with fear. She tried to distract me from the enormous needle that was heading my way. "You're having a jag for yellow fever, where are you going?"

While living in Brentwood, I am ashamed to say that I was embarrassed about my ethnicity. Whenever someone would ask what I was mixed with, I would tell them I was mixed primarily with white, even though that statement was false. My personality began to change and my racial shame began to increase. All that was being reflected off my views and opinions were the experiences that were surrounding me within the school and social environment of the city. My family began to notice the changes that were happening within me and became

only time we will discuss is yours, and the only applause will go to you. Many self-help books bring in other people, but I call that baggage. If it’s not your personal baggage, then it’s too much luggage.

It was a bright and sunny day on June 3, 1995. Such a good day that I was in the mood to become something different, something that no one would expect to become, but what I had in mind wasn’t what I was hoping for. It was nice out and Brandon and I had some unfinished business we needed to take care of. We got mad at each other earlier that day, got into a big fight and ended up messing up moms’ big day. On top of that, he blamed the whole thing on me which I can never forgive him for, but I can also never forget what happened to Brandon.

I worked at the same place for two years. Although I had a sense of normalcy, my position changed overnight. I have been promoted from an Ohio Thrift employee to a manager. During my first official day of becoming a manager, I endured multiple tests on what it takes to run a business. Along the way, I acquired responsibility, authority, and knowledge.

Everyday race is in my social life. I myself make certain choices based on my racial characteristics. When I was first put into a school, my classmates are all of the same race as me. At first I had no idea what race even was. Eventually, the more levels that I would move up in school, I started to realize that there were people of different color. I didn't want to friends with those people of different color. It sounds bad, but it's the truth. I was still young and I only wanted to be with people that looked like me. It wasn’t until around middle school I realized everybody is the created equal. By then I believed it was too late. I already had white friends and only white friends and I didn't think I had any chance of having a