Vertovec's Analysis

Humans have been interbreeding and separating until now and will continue. There has been signs in this world about the elimination of races. The writer Olson stated in his article about how Hawaii has started to develop a community with no topic of race. He states, “Hawaii’s high rates of intermarriage have fascinated academics for decades” (335). The occurrence of intermarriages has been caused by the clash of cultures that took place when the Europeans arrival. During this time, because of the transfer of dangerous diseases and conflicts a large percentage of the Hawaiian population died. This helped an increased interbreeding between humans in the society. Due to the result of interbreeding there were new generations that were mixed in race with both Polynesian and European descent. Hawaii is not the only example; every human has a mixed ancestry to some level. This does not mean all the people in Hawaii live with a high level of peace and cooperation, there are some sort of conflicts that still exist. Interaction have become little more comfortable. No race still does not mean no problem. The writer Rebekah Nathan discusses about the importance of hope and conversation in creating a generation that does not know about the idea of race, class, or ethnicities that contributes towards discrimination. Nathan explains, “diversity ideal is the hope that all students will develop friends and have important conversations with those of backgrounds and ethnicities different from their own” (324). Nathan wants her readers to understand the importance of conversation in the development of a unified community. The community should not only be unified but also diverse. Through conversation between mixed ethnicities is the only way to develop a society with no topic of race. Through eliminating race, in another way it contributes towards a stop of discrimination and misconceptions. Race only exist when

“We don’t really care about diversity all that much in America” (132). In “People Like us” David Brooks takes a logical approach through examining the demographics of our neighborhoods, our educational institutions, and he touches on an emotional approach by having his audience examine their values; he does this with hopes of having his audience question their word choice for the American value diversity, and question if the way they are living their lives invites diversity.

Many individuals interpret diversity differently specifically in the United States because of its melting pot of distinct cultures and lifestyles. In his essay “People Like Us”, David Brooks’ argues that although the United States is a diverse nation as a whole, it is homogeneous in specific aspects like interactions between people. To some extent, his observation is true; people tend to stick to what or who they are comfortable with. There are also exceptions where the American people attempt to establish relationships with others because of their desire to expand out of their norm. For instance, Brooks excludes the

The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply

There was a time when America was segregated; Caucasians and African Americans were forced to attend different restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. However, the era of segregation has been terminated; now America embraces and appreciates the various cultures and ethnicities that create this melting pot several people call home. Likewise, it is this melting pot, or mosaic, of races that multitudes of individuals have identified themselves with. Thus, race and ethnicity does matter for it portrays vital and crucial roles in the contemporary American society. Furthermore, ethnicity and race brings communities together in unity, determines which traditions and ideals individuals may choose to value, and imposes an impediment for it categorizes humans unjustly.

For two days, I observed the first ten individuals entering the Jones-Sampson building located on the JSU campus. Observing these individuals allowed me the opportunity to explore how diversity is perceived from a small sample of the campus. I believe, a college campus is the perfect setting to view the hop topic called diversity. The population at JSU includes people from various countries, social economic backgrounds, class, gender, occupations, and sexual-orientation. According to the Webster dictionary, diversity entails the quality or state of having different forms, types, and ideas about something. For the purpose of this observation, the first ten individuals encountered were evaluated based on both their similarities and differences. The factors observed

On a daily basis one has the ability of witnessing individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

In David Brooks’ “People Like Us” passage on the issue of diversity, Brooks takes a personally emotional perspective of the way in which Americans don’t appreciate how diverse our nation is while “relatively homogeneous” (Brooks 136). His argument is weakened, however, through a bias and hypocrisy that his diction conveys. He claims that grouping ourselves with those who we are most alike is in our nature to, and in doing so, we separate ourselves from those who are different. Using certain statistics as evidence, Brooks points out that the social segmentation created by society will always exist.

A man walks into a bar and begins to converse with a local—the man is not from the area. Intrigued by the unfamiliar face, the first thing the local asks is: “where are you from?” Instead of asking for the travelers name, he seeks to identify a larger organization. These simple conversations display the tendency for humans to associate with groups. Democrat or Republican, lower, middle, or upper-class, family, education, ancestry, these communal affiliations are what define an individual. Governments are run by a community of people, and those that are not often collapse, as displayed by many failed dictatorships and monarchies. Even the most intimate component of a human, the mind, is divided into a community of different selves, as explored in the article “First Person Plural” by Paul Bloom. As demonstrated by Edna Pontellier in The Awakening, the rule of one body or persona is neither permanent nor healthy, regardless of the setting; true success comes from a conglomerate of distinct perspectives with a mutual goal in both a governmental and personal setting.

of social construction and trying to apply arbitrary definitions to the diversity of the human

In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than

Diversity is an ongoing discussion in day-to-day life. Not many situations occur without diversity having a role. There are a multitude of topics that introduces or involves diversity, to include age, sex, race, gender, ethnicity and so on. Prior to participating in this Diversity Awareness class, I’ve always thought diversity was more geared around discrimination and racism. Through weekly readings and discussions, I have discovered that diversity is much broader than that. There are many countries that are mixed culturally

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the diverse experiences that I have had in my personal and professional life. Fortunately, I have had a large mix of diverse friends and experiences in my life. This paper will discuss those diversities as well as the plan to expand on my current knowledge.

Having a commonality will allow the gap in cultural, gender and ethnical differences to merge together. Example, there is an older lady that work with me who is very quiet and she is from Africa. Several coworkers whisper about her, stating “she’s evil, she’s scary, and she’s a witch”. I started talking to this lady and I enjoyed our conversation. This woman has so much wisdom that I felt like a little child sitting at the feet of my Parents. This woman stated “I know what people are saying about me and told me she’s not a witch and that she doesn’t get involved in other people business and that she sit and observe quietly and pray when she’s not working.” This woman is now known as the go to person if you need prayer. Because of this woman being different from what was considered normal she was labeled. According to the lecture for this week, “The challenge for us is to find ways to bridge the gap between groups. To do so, we have to develop certain skills and abilities. The first is to examine our own views of others, be they part of the minority or the majority group, a different social class, or a different gender.” (Bell, 2007).