Justin Sosnowski

Dr. Harris
EDU 2322-02
19 September 2016
Reflection 1
In general terms, I am a nineteen-year-old Caucasian male; I am a member of the group
of individuals that is granted the most privilege in our society. My family does not have much
diversity in it, we are all Caucasian except for my cousin who is half Filipino. That is as diverse
as my family gets; besides my cousin who is half Filipino my family is composed of Roman
Catholic Caucasians from eastern Europe. As an outsider looking in, it is definitely evident that
my familys culture influences the majority of who my family is. Most of the family has very
traditional views that lean towards conservative when relating them to a political spectrum, while
only a handful of us have progressive, liberal views.
When thinking about the composition of my family and how the composition impacts
how the majority operates, I cannot help but think about the reading, Watching Words and
Managing Multiple Identities by Grace MyHyun Bang, about the English teacher who was of
Asian descent. The connection between the two falls in the paragraph about the cafeteria and the
Fresh Off the Boat students. I feel like my familys overall traditional, conservative values
makes them try to cling towards others like them a lot of the time. I feel like they are afraid that
if they are seen with people too different from who they are, that people from within their circle
of friends may think negatively of them. It is just like how the Asian student did not allow herself
to get too close to the Fresh Off the Boat students in fear of losing her social standing in her

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predominantly white high school. However, this comparison relates more to my extended family
because my nuclear family has never been shy in associating with whoever was around.
My nuclear family originated in a small New Jersey town called Carteret, and it was
extremely diverse. Name any major religion or culture, and it could be found here. With this
huge amount of diversity, limiting who you associated with was not an option. After moving to a
predominantly white area of North Carolina I realized my father and sister started to become
more shy (for lack of better words) with who they associated with, while this was never a
problem for my mother and I. It was and still is so surprising to see how some people limit
themselves when it comes to interacting with others simply because of racial, cultural, or
religious differences. Whenever I meet people different from myself I take notice of the
differences (not doing so would be ignorant because the only way to learn about other cultures,
etc. is to take notice of the differences) and then treat the people with the same respect that I
would anyone else. One example that particularly sticks out to me is from an experience I had in
third grade. About a quarter through the school year my class had a new student arrive; her name
was Anh, she was Vietnamese, but had moved to the United States from Poland and spoke
mainly Polish. My teacher chose me to help Anh feel comfortable in the classroom, so every day
I would help her become fluent in English. As soon as I met Anh I knew she was different from
me, but I treated her with the utmost respect.
Not everyone treats the people that are different from them with respect; racism and
bigotry in general still run rampant throughout the world. I am privileged that I am white because
in our society Caucasians do not face racial prejudice, oppression, or injustices; however, I have
witnessed racial prejudice. When I first decided to attend Winston-Salem State University I had
posted the exciting news on Facebook and would bring it up in conversation with people. Most

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people responded with enthusiasm, but a few responded in a way that left me shocked; they said
something along the lines of Oh, I hope you like it there. Its different. And Make sure you
stay safe. This small group of individuals were so prejudiced towards black people that they
thought an HBCU was less safe than other colleges and that the skin color of people would make
me not like the college. I was shocked and disgusted, but I did find it interesting that these people
must know that what they were thinking was wrong or they were afraid of the reaction of the
internet because even though they liked the post on Facebook they only made the remarks in
person. It just goes to show how complex the issue of prejudice is.
The issue of prejudice is a serious issue, so it is quite common for anti-racist activities to
take place. I have never participated in one, but a friend of mine who is a student at the
University of North Carolina at Charlotte participated in a protest that was about both police
brutality against black men and police brutality in general. The initially peaceful protest started
after a black man was shot by a police officer leading to conflicting reports in what actually
happened, but sadly it grew slightly violent. Protests against racism are necessary in our country
because many people refuse to acknowledge that racism is still a big problem. Hopefully with
continued awareness we as a country can become one that embraces and celebrates the
differences that make us all unique.

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References
Darling-Hammond, L., Garcia-Lopez, S. P., & French, J. (Eds.). (2002). Learning to teach for
social justice. New York: Teachers College Press.