Brigit May, Post 1

Hello everyone! Okay so to start off my heritage is mostly German and Italian, and I am also a bit of Irish and English as well. On my mother’s side of the family, my Grandpa is 100% Italian, and on my father’s side both of my grandparents are mostly German. Neither side of my family really identifies with our heritage nor is it ever a big topic of discussion, although my grandpa does make excellent Italian sausage every Christmas, which is probably the one “Italian” thing that he does. I would just have to identify as Caucasian American, and that’s basically it.
Thinking back it’s hard to pin point the first time I became aware of the issue of ethnicity and race. I guess learning about slavery back in elementary school was the first time I was ever taught about the issues of race. When I was growing up my parents always taught me to be nice to everyone and treat everyone how I would want to be treated. I can never remember my parents saying racist comments, and they always taught me to accept everyone. I would agree with what my parents taught me, and I think acceptance is such an important thing. I remember my mom saying to me quite a few times…just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I agree with what I was taught growing up, and I would definitely raise my children with the same understanding and respect for everyone.
I would say my views have for the most part stayed the same over time. If anything I have grown to accept more, because I have seen and lived through more in my life. Growing up I lived in a majority white neighborhood, so I didn’t really interact with many people of other races or ethnicity. However as I got older, traveled to more places, and went to college, I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of people from different backgrounds. One major turning point for me was when I did a field placement in the Dunkirk elementary schools and the classroom I was in was mostly students whose ethnicity is Hispanic, and 90% of them qualified for free and reduced lunches. It gave me more of an appreciation for the way others live, and if anything it allowed me to open my mind to the fact that there are different norms everywhere you go. I can’t think of any one instance when I’ve experienced racism at the moment, but I am definitely not naive to the fact that it’s out there and still a huge problem.