Mary Daloia, Post #1

When referring to my ethnic and racial heritage I come from a number of different backgrounds. The one that I come from the most is Italian, along with German, Polish and a small amount of English roots. Not only do I look more Italian then any other background that I come from, but my family I am surrounded by and the way that I act most closely relates with this group. My father's side of the family that is completely Italian, are more true to the traditions and actions that their relatives before them lived by. Just as their way of life trickled down to my dad, aunts and uncles, it has done the same with my sisters cousins and I. But these are just small things in my that take place in my life. Overall when identifying myself, I consider myself a white American female.
I would have to say I became aware pretty early in life of issues of ethnicity and race. I have also been surrounded by a diverse group of people since I was young. Not only has my school been diverse since grade school, but my family and friends brought about differences. Having the knowledge and understanding that there were different ethnicity's and races came along the issues with them. The complexity of these issues obviously became more known to me the older I got but over all I would say starting in 3rd or 4th grade I understood there were differences and issues that came along with them.
To be honest, I don't remember too much when it comes to being taught or told about race and ethnicity. I do know that it has always been an open and easy topic. If I were to take a good guess as to what I was told, it had to have had a positive impact on my way of viewing these two topics. For as long as I remember I have always been very open towards diversity and embraced differences in the people I am constantly surrounded by. I also know that my parents and teachers have always told me to be open to people who maybe different from you and I can say I have followed this tip throughout my life.
My views from when I have younger haven't changed. If anything my views towards race and ethnicity have grown stronger. For anything to work, it is important for people to take people for who they are and not what they may look like or act like. Not everyone is going to get along all the time, but being open towards things and people different from you are imperative.
Racism. I feel that there can be a form of it everywhere you look, sometimes it is just harder to see compared to other places. Though I can't say that I have seen it a lot, I can say I have seen it before. One example of racism that I have seen was a group of people, thinking they are "discreetly" talking about an individual, but that person can and is listening to them being talked negatively about. It is one of those things that is going to take a very long time to be close or completely gone.