Taysir Aljumah

Ms. Lexi Almy

Sociology MWF 11:30
1April2015
I AM NOT RACIST

I do not believe I am racist. I am an open person who respects people

and looks at them as individuals. I do not have any stereotypes about
people. I look at people, and see what they know and how they behave, and
then form my opinions of them. Even if they do not know about something or
behave in a manner that is not to my liking, I do not necessarily judge them.
I know that everyone goes through tough times, and sometimes the pressure
of difficult circumstances makes people behave in ways they would not
otherwise behave. This is true, regardless of the racial background of the
person.
Since coming to study in the US about two years ago, I have met
students and people of different racial backgrounds. I have come to realize
that the US is an extremely diverse society, and has people of different races
such as Caucasian, African-American, Asian American, Hispanic American,
and Native American. I have interacted with students and people from all
these racial backgrounds. I have also made friends with people from all racial
backgrounds.

It has been a very good learning experience for me to interact and

make friends with people from different racial backgrounds. I have learnt
about their cultures, and their different beliefs and value systems. This has
made me aware of the diversity of American society, and has also made me
appreciate it. I now realize that this diversity adds to society in many ways.
For instance, the cuisines of people reflect their cultural backgrounds.
Because of the diversity of people, we have diversity of cuisines, enabling us
to have food from around the world. The clothing of people also reflects their
cultural backgrounds. This means that due to the diversity of people, we also
have different types of attire from around the world.
My awareness of and appreciation for diversity has made me open to
interacting with and making friends with people. I share my culture with
people from other cultures, and they in turn share their culture with me. This
has added tremendously to my experience as a student. In fact, I learn both
inside and outside the classroom due to the diversity of US society.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

The results showed a slight preference for people from European

backgrounds. I have to say I am surprised by the results. I do not believe
they are an accurate reflection of my viewpoint and perspective on diversity.
I am a really open person, and do not believe that this survey changes

anything. Questions alone cannot always accurately measure the nature of

the views of the person. Indeed, surveys are good at measuring quantitative
matters. They are not necessarily good at measuring qualitative aspects
such as opinions and views towards other people.
There are many problems in putting people together in groups. One
feature of the world is that people have to be in groups such as companies,
states, and countries. They are also labelled and classified according to their
groups. While this is considered necessary for many reasons, it is also quite
often random and arbitrary. Race especially is a very arbitrary category
whose boundaries are far from clear. Many people may belong to more than
one race. In fact, in the increasingly diverse society of the US, there are more
and more people who belong to more than one race. They also appear as
though they could be of more than one race.
My perspective is that for people-to-people interactions, it is better to
look at people as individuals, rather than as members of groups. This is
because what matters most in interpersonal interactions is the character and
personality of those interacting. Race as such does not really enter into the
picture. This is, for me, a good basis on which to conduct interpersonal
interactions. I do not want to categorize people arbitrarily based on race or
nationality. Rather, I want to look at people as individuals, see whether I get
along with them, and then make friends with them.

Annotated Bib
This essay is about racism. I wrote this essay April 01, 2015. I wrote this
essay because I feel there are lots of racist people in the world. I explain
what racism is and how it affects our society. This essay is written by Taysir
Aljumah