ISCORE Sessions!

This Friday we went to various ISCORE sessions and discussed issues involving race and ethnicity. I could only attend the last 2 sessions because of my class schedule but I went to as much as I could. The first one I went to was called "Stop Actin' So Black!" It was about the stereotypes of African Americans. The one part of the presentation that struck me the most was their analysis of the Trayvon Martin case. It was a murder trial where the suspect shot and killed a 17 year old black male because he looked suspicious. The teenager, Trayvon Martin, was wearing a hoody and was going home from the convenience store. The neighborhood watch guard saw Martin and decided that he was suspicious and started to follow him. After Martin saw that someone was following him for an extended period of time, he felt unsafe and tried to get away from the guy who then shot him. The only things found on Trayvon was a bag of skittles and a can of ice tea. The presenters then described how stereotypes can predict our decisions before make them. Because the guy was suspicious of Martin and followed him, Trayvon reacted in a way that reinforced the man's expectations which led to the shooting. It really opened my eyes to the subconscious results of racism.

The second session I attended was a group of graduate students that have talked at ISCORE numerous years in a row. They discussed their experiences at Iowa State as multicultural students. The main thing I learned from this session is that they said it is important to create a support group of people similar to yourself as soon as possible. Creating a group with students that you can relate to will guarantee that you will always have at least one place where you feel like you belong.