Students participate in regional stereotypes discussion

Kayla Johnson/Contributing Writer

On Thursday, Nov. 10, the Office of Multicultural Programs and Services held their fifth and final “A Love Movement” discussion of the Fall Semester. The discussion focused on how regional stereotypes are forms of discrimination that people may use to define others based on preconceived notions of behavior. Jeffrey McNamee, Associate Director of MPAS, guided the conversation.

Participants were given a map of the United States and wrote down the stereotypes that each state might be known for, shedding light on the judgment calls made about a group of people simply based on where they live.

As the conversation led to racial discrimination, students of various ethnic backgrounds sat in a circle and shared anecdotes of uncomfortable situations they’ve faced.

One of the participants, Jephthe Laguerre, a Haitian-American junior majoring in health administration, recalled working in retail and how his boss asked him to only follow African-American shoppers to make sure they weren’t stealing anything.

“To be honest, African Americans were not the main ones stealing from the store,” Laguerre said. “We ended up losing over $5,000 because there was too much focus on one particular race instead of looking at people as a whole.”

Laguerre’s story is a reflection on the harmful generalizations that are used to define a community without actually knowing who people are on a unique level.

“The way we process faster is to group things,” McNamee said. “But people aren’t things. They’re very unique and multi-layered.”

Laguerre is a part of MPAS and finds value in the ALM discussions because it brings attention to problematic social structures that continue to persist when these issues are ignored or only addressed behind closed doors.

“These discussions give people a more informed way of how to approach a situation instead of jumping to conclusions,” Laguerre said.

“Many of the problems with our current generation and generations to come is ignorance, and it has become more and more prominent,” said Vianca Crawford, a hospitality management junior.

Crawford works with MPAS as part of her work-study program and is also a part of Upward Bound. She loves being a part of such groundbreaking discussions every year because it helps to break social barriers in a time of intense racial tension.

“It’s important to have discussions like this so we can educate people,” said Crawford.

She has faith that people who once held discriminatory beliefs based on stereotypes can realize where they went wrong and change for the better.

Such meaningful debates help students open a dialogue about controversial issues and progress as human beings instead of only going online. McNamee is proud to facilitate these annual discussions because they bring forth awareness.

“You have to check yourself on discrimination,” McNamee said. “I find the best thing to do is speak about it because when you keep it quiet, it becomes something that you don’t recognize. It becomes a trait that you think is normal.”

ALM discussions allow college students to address the taboo issues in a face-to-face environment in which nothing can be misinterpreted or taken out of context.

“The more you talk about something and critically think about it, the better you will be able to develop as a person,” McNamee said. “It’s about sharing their experiences and how those things can impact your thoughts and how you treat others.”

McNamee hopes that participants realize that people are mostly individualistic despite the fact that they may have similarities with stereotypes that often apply their ethnicities and cultures.

The next discussion is on February 3, 2016 and will cover institutional racism.

 

 

Photo Credit: Creative Commons