Reflection On Ethnicity And Culture

Society today classifies people based on their ethnicity and culture. Growing up in Crystal City, Texas, I was never really exposed to different ethnicities or cultures. The reason is that my town and most of the surrounding areas are predominately Hispanic communities. I did spend one year at a university in Brownwood, Texas and this is where I was exposed to different ethnicities and cultures. But before that, my knowledge of ethnic and cultural differences came from my teachers in the classroom. This is why I believe it is important not to have biases towards different ethnicities or cultures as an educator. Television was key in showing me that people are different. I first became aware that people were different racially or ethnically

For me, I do not feel different from other people as a person. I know that racially I am different from other people, but personality wise I feel as though I can relate to anyone. I am a social person and this quality makes me feel as though I can talk to anyone regardless of their race or ethnic group. Over time this quality has allowed me to make friends with people of different races and ethnic groups as well as people of different backgrounds. Being Hispanic can have its ups and downs. Sometimes you are proud to be part of the ethnic group and other times you wish you were not. The time in which I was most proud to be part of the Hispanic ethnic group was when I learned about La Raza Unida Party in school. La Raza Unida Party was formed by a group of Mexican Americans during the late 1960s and early 1970s to fight for the rights of minorities. I was proud to learn about people of my race standing up for injustice and making a change. I was also proud, because La Raza Unida Party was started by people from my hometown. The time in which I was least proud to be a member of the Hispanic ethnic group, was when the drug cargos began to gain notoriety in Mexico. Even though we are of different nationalities, we are a part of the Hispanic ethnic group. The actions of the Hispanics in Mexico have put a bad bias on the Hispanics in the U.S. People are starting to assume that all Hispanics

My life experiences were somewhat limited to these differences. But the experiences I did have taught me some valuable lessons. Even though we are classified by ethnicity, it does not mean we must treat people different based on their ethnicity. This is a problem that our society is trying to fix, but is still present. Society must begin to look past the outward appearance of a person and instead look at the qualities of the person. Once our society begins to look at what is inside a person rather than what is on the outside, then we will have a successful