On Friday, I was able to attend two sessions at iScore.  I knew that the event was all about diversity, but I wasn’t aware that I would learn so much. 

The first session I attended was called “Where are all the Men of Color?”  This session was all about this group on Iowa State campus, and just men of color in general and their successes.  I found it very interesting to know that as a minority on campus, it can be hard and maybe even a struggle to find your identity in order to achieve success.  Many men of color expressed in the session that they would rather other races (or the majority race on campus) not ignore the fact that they come from a different culture.  They felt that they should be able to embrace their culture, and we shouldn’t be afraid to talk to them about it.  Stereotypes are not at all fair, just as anyone wouldn’t like to be stereotyped or judged.  I really enjoyed listening to all of the discussions in this session.

During the second session, I gained a lot of useful insight towards race and what multiracial means.  I had always thought of multiracial as lots of races coming together in an atmosphere, such as Iowa State being an atmosphere of many races.  This multiracial session was all about racial identities of people that come from more that one race (multiracial).  At the beginning of the session, three pictures of toddlers were shown.  We were asked to discuss with a partner about what different ethnicities we thought that the children were.  At the end of the session, they revealed what different ethnicities they were, and I was surprised to hear that two of them had a very diverse background, and one a background that I guessed completely wrong on.  This ties together with the main point of the session, asking,“What are you?”  The students leading the session described what it is like to be asked this question.  Just because someone looks of a race, doesn’t mean they are that race.   Judging them by this makes them feel uncomfortable and disrespected in a way.  It’s okay to discuss ethnicities with them, maybe share some of your background too, if you know it.  Just remember that just because someone looks different or has different skin than you, it does not give you the right to ask them, “What are you?!”