I Am White And I’m Not A Racist

The United States is a country full of immigrants. There is a lot of history in the 239 years that the United States has existed as such. Something I recently discovered was that out of the 239 years, we as a country have been at war for 222 years of that. Through all of the war that the nation has seen, there is more hardships that lie within it. The group that I align with is white. I grew up in a small farm town with less than 500 people for its population. Being that it was a small town in the middle of the country, there wasn’t much diversity. There were a handful of Latinos in the school but there were no African Americans until my freshman year of high school. At that time, there was an African American family that moved into the town, increasing the population by 5. On top of my hometown being so small and lacking diversity. Along with me being white, I am straight. It is to no surprise that just like it was predominantly white, it was also predominantly straight too. When I was growing up and all the way into high school, I didn’t think much about what it meant to be white and how that affected me and society as a whole. This was not brought to my attention until I began my freshman year of college here at Western Michigan University. Being white, I have never faced discrimination or racism. I however did not see it happen to others either. Once I began college, I started to learn more about what happens to others and the tragedies they face on a day to day basis. It is sad that there is so much hate in the world.

Unlike what the media portrays, not all whites are racist. I can proudly say I am one of those people. Growing up, I was raised in a Methodist family. Going to church every Sunday was just something we did. After church we would all gather at my grandparents house for a family dinner. This continued until I got into my last couple years of high school. My parents were divorced at this time and our schedules were very hectic. I would still try to find time to go with my grandparents at least once a month. Now that I am in my third year of college, I still am a Methodist and have not lost one ounce of faith. One thing that has changed is the amount of times a year I go to church. Being that Western is 2 hours away from my hometown, I don’t make it back there much. In regards to what define the subgroups I identify with, I would have to say it correlates most with how I was raised. I didn’t choose to become a methodist, even though I love the religion, it was just something that my family decided for me.

In being the way I am today, I think it has to do mostly because of my family. They had a huge influence in my life growing up whether it be big life decisions or just questions I had about life. Then when it comes to me being a female, I don’t think I was influenced by anyone. That is something that one is born with. However, I do think there are different degrees to being a male or female. For females, you can be a girly girl or a tomboy. Being raised in the country, that is how the majority of the women are. Now I am not against being outside and being dirty but I would rather go shopping or craft something. I would say I fall in between those two types of woman. Growing up, I was always taught not to judge and if I didn’t have anything nice to say then to say nothing at all. Of course there were a couple people who were negative towards others that were different. But I didn’t think that was right.

I think I was about 9 when I realized I belonged to these subgroups. In school we were talking about Martin Luther King Jr and all of the monstrosities he faced along with African Americans. At the time, it felt horrible to know that people before our time were treated like that and were segregated. However, as I grew older, I learned that even though it was a horrific time that African Americans had to endure through, that it was not something myself ever wants to return to and that we all need to look forward and act as how we all want and hope the future to be. This is when I personally made the decision to not judge those who I do not know. It also made me realize that focusing on the past would only hurt progression to what we all could achieve. In the past, these cultural factors didn’t affect my family as much as it did others. Throughout history, being white, there has been less hardships that they have had to face. Many times, them being the oppressors.

Today, I find it sad that whites are still associated as the oppressors. Just as there is a stigma of certain races being bad, there is one on whites for being racist. Stereotypes and prejudices toward groups different from myself that I have developed over the years is that Asians are smarter than other groups and thus have more money. Asians drive nice cars and they are all doctors. Another is that Mexicans all come to the country illegally and work on farms for little to no money. To overcome these, I will not believe just what the media says or what I have heard from people around me. Another way to figure out that these are simply stereotypes and hold no truth is to get to know someone of a different race. Just by having a conversation and getting to know them for them is a great way to overcome these prejudices. One thing that makes me proud to be American and white is that we as a group have over came so much. Whites have colonized America. If that had never taken place, we would not be where we are today. Another is all of the medical and technological advances that have also been made. On the other hand, the fact that we killed and took over so many Native Americans land is terrible and something we will have to face for the rest of our lives. By doing that, we almost wiped out a group of people completely and those who survived were limited to a small area of the country. The geographic region that I was reared in was an extremely rural. There were fields everywhere you turned. To get to a grocery store or any store other than a small market, you had to drive at least 45 minutes. This made for a very sheltered lifestyle. Being that my hometown is in a desolate area, you only knew the people that also lived in town. That made for everyone knowing what was going on in your life and they were always in someone else’s business.

Now I live in a bigger city. Before having to drive 45 minutes, your entire day was spent driving to and from. Since I am so close to everything, it takes 2 minutes to get to any store, and one can make it home with time to do something else with one's day. Even though I would love to live in the country again, being so close makes life a lot easier and convenient. In regards to the attitude my subgroup has in approaching issues is head on. My group is all about comforting those who are down and solving things in an efficient and fast way. This has made for a great upbringing. However, this does not deter me from receiving help and services from people of different backgrounds. I would be comfortable with anyone of a different background assisting me as long as they had my best interest in mind. Being open to people who are different than me allows for me to learn from them and get to know more about them and in turn learn more about myself. Learning about others is a great experience just as it is to learn more about myself. I grew up in a loving household, this allowed for me to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. It was never a difficult decision on whether I wanted to be myself or pretend to be something I wasn’t.