Resource Fair

I participated in a resource fair today. School project, only had a week to prep. Me and my group did Big Brothers Big Sisters. We organized a meeting with the representative there and everything. Today we put up a triboard and some other display stuff and answered questions. Since nobody knew what to do with our triboards after we finished and nobody wanted to lug it around all day, I got to keep my group's display. I've got it set up in my room right now. My room was looking pretty plain, so I've been trying to decorate it a little. Although this new decoration looks out of place displayed next to my chick magnet...

I'm taking better care of my room this year. I don't know why. I got everything clean and sorted. Last year, I gave up on the effort a couple months in.

Remember, I mentioned that I signed up for a job at the info desk? It's been awhile and I thought it was a no-go, but I just got offered an interview, either for this Friday or Monday.

I think I'm the only white person in my class. In Social Service Systems, we watched a video sample on oppression. It was an experiment done on school children, where people with a certain colour eyes were deemed superior one day, then inferior the next. It looked at the speed of transformation in attitude, it looked at test results between the oppressed vs. the privileged groups, etc.

After class, me and a group of people discussed what we had seen. I was speaking from the white perspective, then took a moment to reflect on some of the cultural references people in the group had made, and asked "Am I the only person here who associates as white?" Answer was yes. Everyone else was Latin American.

Told this story to another group of people from my class, then told them I was going to the Aboriginal Services Office for lunch. They asked if they could join me, and maybe introduce them to some of the people there. Turns out everyone in that group was Metis.

I was also surprised to see three other classmates show up in the Aboriginal Services Office, all of them being native. And another classmate was Metis.

Why can't I tell what race people are?! Turns out another guy was black. I guess I didn't think he was white, but I would have never been able to guess his race otherwise. Saying you're "colourblind" or denoting everyone as being the same is a contested perspective. Looking at how societal perceptions based on race influence people's development, and accepting our own prejudices and looking toward them critically is supposed to be the way we do things now. "Colourblind" is a frowned upon term in my field. It's looked at as a form of denial.

But I literally have difficulty seeing it. I might have all kinds of prejudice that I need to confront, but when it comes down to the visual aspect, I'm just... not too perceptive. Other people are way better at it than I am.