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PREJUDICE-REDUCING
EXPERIENCE
Robert
BACKGROUND
Sex: male
Ethnicity:
Caucasian
Born in:
Ankara, Turkey
Parents born in: Unknown
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 I
was raised as a military dependent and I had cultural
experiences within cultural experiences. My larger cultural
experiences had to do with living in other countries. I was
born in Turkey. Afterwards I lived in these places in the
following order: Scotland, Illinois, Maryland, Japan (three
different places), Indiana, Monterey, and finally San Diego.
I think that living in other countries helped me really
appreciate the USA without devaluing other countries or
cultures. I think people who have never spent a significant
amount of time in another country miss an important
perspective.
My other cultural experience was while living on a military
base in Misawa, Japan. A significant part of the population
was African-American. So I didn’t grow up being afraid
of or separate from Blacks. I still feel a sense of surprise
when I realize how significant a rift there is in this
country over skin color.
I can't remember having a significant prejudice-reducing
experience with regard to a particular group, but when I was
in sixth grade our teacher, Miss Noonan, wanted to make a
point about the effects of prejudice. She told us that for
the first part of the next day, brown-eyed children,
blue-eyed children and green-eyed children were not allowed
to play with each other. It was a very difficult experience
for me, so much so that I was nearly in tears by first
recess. A lot of children must have been feeling the same
because when we got in from recess Miss Noonan asked us if
we wanted to continue the experience and we responded with a
resounding "No!" That experience has since heightened my
awareness of and my sadness about the things that can so
easily separate people.
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