Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
Students and faculty members explored individual experiences of race and stereotypes in the most recent diversity dialogue, “Let’s Talk Race.”
Several students found the expectations associated with race to be powerful in shaping how we learn about and view race.
“I feel like we’re programmed to what a specific person is supposed to look like, saying things like, ‘well he’s from Africa he’s supposed to look black, or he’s from Canada, he’s supposed to look white,’” junior Cortez Wallace said.
Dr. Richard Danford, vice president for student life, also noted that individuals frequently make assumptions about nationality based on the color of an individual’s skin.
“I used to teach Spanish and Portuguese, and I can’t tell you the number of times I would have students or people I’ve known in the community who have expressed to me their surprise that there are Hispanics who are white,” he said. “They don’t see that diversity exists everywhere in the world.”
Senior Darnell DePriest expressed his frustration with the assumptions individuals make about his activities and capabilities based on his race.
“I don’t like that people assume what I do based on my color and my size,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been dealing with my entire life, from all colors of people. That and the connotation that a black athlete has a low IQ compared to everyone else. Just because I’m a football player and I’m black, some teachers think that’s two strikes against me.”
DeJuan Mitchell, coordinator for diversity and inclusion at Marietta College, also pointed out that there are expectations for how certain individuals should speak that emphasize the difference between races.
“I went to a Minneapolis public school, and I was told I talked white,” he said. “I talked like a white boy, and I didn’t understand what that meant, but because I was talking proper, my peers associated that with being white.”
The discussion of expectations regarding race led several students and faculty members to analyze racial stereotypes.
Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. Lauren Thompson has experienced the negative impacts of stereotyping.
“I’m afraid people think I’m uneducated, that I’m dependent on a man, because when I first got here in August, someone asked me if I was one of the coaches’ wives,” she said.
Senior Jon Fitzwater agreed that judgments and stereotypes can be damaging, but questioned how much power we have to change them.
“There’s a limit to what you can learn about,” he said. “I can’t know every single thing about every single person in this room, let alone everybody in the world. The way that it works is your brain makes a judgment based on what it sees, based on what it understands, based on what it can gain instantly. That’s how your body works. You’re not going to stop that, not entirely, at least.”
Mitchell acknowledged that we have a natural inclination to stereotype, but suggested that we also have a choice about how to use our judgments.
“As human beings, our brains automatically stereotype,” he said. “That’s how we operate, period. The issue comes when you’re using that to group a bunch of people.”
DePriest agreed that though it is difficult, we must attempt to overcome the tendency to stereotype.
“If we keep letting things happen and assume that its okay, like, ‘oh, he’s white, so he must come from money, he must be from the good side of town,’ that’s my fault for thinking like that,” he said.
According to Danford, one way to overcome stereotypes, judgments, and expectations based on race is to discuss them and learn about others, just as the participants in the diversity dialogue did.
“One of the most powerful things we can do is recognize that we do make snap judgments,” he said. “Recognize when it is happening, and stop yourself, challenge yourself. The more you learn about people, the more you learn about yourself and how you sit in relation to other people.”
