The Racism Test

Recently in school, I took an Implicit Association Test (IAT) which measured my unconscious preference of African Americans and European Americans. After taking the test, my results revealed that I had a slight automatic preference for African Americans compared to European Americans. According to the chart below, I fall in the 6% of the IAT Web Respondents.

Personally, I feel that the this test did not represent my preferences. I feel that I have little to none preference toward black or white people. However, if I were to have any preference, I feel that it would be slightly toward whites. Since I am white, I am more likely to favor my race than another race. I think that the matching part of the IAT did not take other factors into consideration. It did not acknowledge my testing environment, or the stress of simply messing up the test. The subject of the matching test did not matter, but the fact that it was a fast subject matching test puts pressure on the test taker.

I do agree with the information presented before the exam. Prejudices and discrimination is taught, and I do agree that it is throw onto children when they are developing and learning about the world. I definitely think that I have been influenced by biases as I have grown up, but I do not reject my biases. Luckily, I have grown up in a very accepting environment, and those accepting values have been passed down to me. However, like I explained above, I do prefer my race, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc. over others because it is what I relate with in life. Even though we are all influenced by society to form our own biases, in the end it is up to us all as individuals as to how we present our biases, prejudices, etc.

"Losing Matt Shepard" Part 5

As I started to read Losing Matt Shepard, by Beth Loffreda, I went in as an obvious supporter of the gay community. What I enjoyed most about this novel was the sense of pluralism that it portrayed throughout the book’s six chapters. The novel did not openly support equality within the LGBT community, which I thought it would, but rather it focused on the tragedy of Matt Shepard’s murder, and how it affected the town of Laramie and the State of Wyoming.  But overall, it is amazing how much light shines on Laramie and Matt Shepard’s death compared to other gay murders across the country. With plays, films, and books all focusing on Matt’s death, it seems that his tragedy occurred at the perfect time. In 1998, the year of Matt’s death, Vermont and Massachusetts were the only states that legally accepted civil same-sex marriages. The other 48 states either banned gay marriage, or simply did not acknowledge the issue. Due to the timing of Matt’s death, in comparison with America’s acceptance of gays at the time, it makes sense as to why Shepard’s death received so much attention. Although it is unfair that his story is heard far more often compared to America’s other gay deaths, Matt Shepard’s story shook the nation. It proved that Matt Shepard did not simply die because he was a gay man in Laramie, but that he died because he was a gay man in America. Matt Shepard’s death proved that similar crimes could have (and do) happen anywhere in our country. Especially over the past year, there have been numerous suicides and suicide attempts by those who are harassed because they may or may not have been gay.

Many say that we have to be tolerant of gays, and those who are different than us. But tolerance is merely a stepping-stone for Americans. With tolerance, we learn to live with, or not hate, those different than us. But, just because somebody tolerates another, does not mean that he or she accepts or respects that person. A very good friend of mine, who is openly gay, hates the word tolerant because it does not imply that we must accept and respect each other. Tolerance gives us the power to not kill each other. But better than that, acceptance allows us all to move forward. In October of 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, Matt Shepard’s killers, needed to learn to tolerate Matt. But, what Matt needed even more was to be accepted by them. In the end, if we all learn to accept each other, Losing Matt Shepard would never have been published. The youth of America who constantly questions their sexuality, and is harassed because of it, would not question the value of their lives. With acceptance, we will learn to move forward as a nation, leaving words like “fag” and “dyke” behind us. We will advance together, undivided, as we look out for our fellow Americans, and not shove them down simply because they have a different sexual orientation than us. Of course, this will take time. But, I believe that Matt Shepard’s death was a sign in 1998, and it still is today, that our country must move forward and reach universal acceptance.

"Losing Matt Shepard" Part 4

Throughout the investigation of Matt Shepard's death, investigators and laymen speculated the reasoning of the murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. When sergeant Rob DeBree asked McKinney if he hated gays, McKinney replied, "I really don't hate them, but when they start coming on to me and stuff like that I get pretty aggravated". Later in the interview, DeBree had asked McKinney how many times he had been approached by a gay person and McKinney said that it was his first time with Matt Shepard. McKinney's story changed several times over the course of the investigation, but it is clear that McKinney does not accept gays in his little Wyoming world. Comparing it to murders displayed on TV, DeBree emphasized the fact that McKinney and Henderson did not plan out Shepard's murder for weeks prior to the tragedy. Rather, DeBree argued that McKinney and Henderson were simply vicious people. Loffreda wrote, "To Rob, figuring out what motivated McKinney and Henderson isn't complicated: 'They were vicious people.' He can't abide the excuses, the laying of blame on drugs or childhood traumas... 'There are people that are just plain vicious, that have absolutely no remorse for anything. They're cold. I don't care what caused it. There's nothing you can do about it. You can always find an excuse, I guess, or attempt to. But sometimes it's juts that this person is a vicious bastard, and they deserve to get what they're going to get. Why give these punks credence?'" (150). Although I do not want to agree completely with DeBree, I do agree with him that those "vicious" people such as McKinney and Henderson should definitely be punished for their crimes. However, I do believe that there is a bit of good in everybody. Of course this is me acting a bit naive with my youth-driven heart, but I truly do believe that although McKinney and Henderson consciously murdered Shepard, I would like to think that there is some sense of humanity still inside of them. But, from what I have gained from reading Losing Matt Shepard, I agree with DeBree that Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were down-right vicious the night that they caused Matt Shepard to slowly die in pain.

"Losing Matt Shepard" Part 3

For me, one of the most disturbing passages of this book was in Chapter Four. Jim Osborn, a member of the LBGT Association, spoke with Loffreda regarding his disappointment with Human Rights Campaign (HRC); HRC works for equality within the LBGT community.  Loffreda wrote, "Jim notes that the HRC has fund-raised heavily using Matt's image but that otherwise Laramie lies on the margins of their interest: 'Their spokespeople spoke in Fort Collins and Denver, but they never came to Laramie... I think they used Matt as a political tool, that bothers me. He was not a person to them. He was something they could use one month before the election'" (97). Although this only shows one perspective on HRC's use of Matt Shepard's image, it does show a bit of disrespect that HRC had for the town of Laramie. It was noted that Judy Shepard, Matt's mother, had worked with HRC and that the organization did have the family's cooperation. However, even though lots of money was raised with Matt's face as an image and symbol, I feel that HRC should have acknowledged Laramie and its struggled. HRC did not visit Laramie, except for when Elton John performed a concert in the town, and the proceeds were going to HRC. From what I received from the information that Losing Matt Shepard provided me, it seems that HRC was more concerned with raising money on behalf of Matt Shepard, rather than comforting the town of Laramie and its tragedy. Although it is crucial that HRC raises money in order to provide funds for their programs, I believe that their warm heart needs to be spread everywhere, including Laramie, in order to continue to succeed

"Losing Matt Shepard" Part 2

I admire Beth Loffreda, the author of Losing Matt Shepard, because she provides multiple perspectives to not only the tragedy of Matt Shepard's death, but also to the State of Wyoming's multiple personalities. In the beginning of Chapter 2 of Losing Matt Shepard, Loffreda stressed that the town of Laramie, and Wyoming itself, is not its own culture. All of Laramie or Wyoming's citizens do not reflect the same beliefs views, identities, attitudes, or stories. So, to call Laramie, the town where Matt Shepard was murdered for being gay, a hateful and homophobic town is simply inaccurate. It takes more than the loudest voice to make up a town's culture, and unfortunately Laramie's homophobic community made up the loudest voice after Matt's death. Even though throughout her writing, Loffreda defends Wyoming and claims it to not be all bad, not all of here contributors to the novel agree. One supporter of the LGBT community rold Loffreda, "There is a tremendous xenophobia here. Wyoming is run-now not everybody here is like this-but Wyoming is run by people who have a great deal invested in making sure nothing changes. And that includes civil rights" (61). It seems that, even though not all of Wyoming's population shares the same views, the state's leaders chooses to not move forward with society and accept equality for the LGBT community. With a state of less than 600,000 people, the state is one that is caught in the past, and needs to move forward with marriage equality, and LGBT acceptance.

Family Photos

At the end of Winter Break, when I came home from a trip to Florida, I was glad to see generations of family photos hanging around my house. Like most people, I love looking at old family pictures, including those from before I was born. All around are pictures of my siblings and I at all ages, my parents as children, and my grandparents at young ages as well. These photos give off a warm feeling to my house, and it makes everything feel more "homey". However, it seems that the unravelling of these family photos in my house has unleashed a photo diseases, as my parents keep unveiling more and more photos. Multiple times a day there are new photos to look at in enjoyment. At every dinner that we have had since I got home, my dad keeps bringing up more and more old photos. Even now, as I type this blog post, my dad is hanging up more and more family photos around the house. But overall, I really do love the new additions to my household, and I am glad that my parents have decided to add them to our home's appearance. They bring more love and warmth into our home, and it is satisfying to have the ability to look at my family's past whenever I choose.

Invisible Children & School Chest

The three weeks in between Thanksgiving and Winter break are always extremely chaotic for me. Not only is it the height of all of my activities, but it is also the time in which School Chest takes place. School Chest is a three week charity drive hosted by my school in which we raise tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a charity of our choice. This year, the school chose Invisible Children, as the 2011 School Chest Beneficiary. Invisible Children is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending the use of child soldiers in central Africa. For the past twenty-six years, a man named Joseph Kony has been using his rebel-terrorist group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), to abduct children from their homes, and force them to become child soldiers. Many times, the children are forced to kill their friends and/or family, they may be mutilated, and brainwashed to never escape.
The amazing $97 thousand that we raised during School Chest will be used by Invisible Children to expand  upon an early warning radio network in remote areas of central Africa. Overall, this year's School Chest seemed to be a very heated one for my high school. Since Invisible Children was our first international charity for School Chest, it is hard for many students to connect with the progress of our involvement and fundraising. I feel that the majority of students at my school support Invisible Children, there are a lot of students who obsessively support the organization, but of course there are skeptics who do not agree with their tactics.
Since I consider myself to be very involved with the organization, I feel that many of the skeptic students are missing out on key details of how our School Chest is being implemented in Invisible Children's Protection Plan: a multi-step plan to rescue and rehabilitate Kony's child soldiers, and to apprehend him and the rest of the LRA. However, even though many students feel don't feel that they have confidence in Invisible Children, I very happy that Invisible Children, and the LRA conflict, is well known in my school and community. It is a cool feeling to talk about issues regarding the LRA and Invisible Children with my friends and classmates at school, and to know that we understand each other. Overall, this year's School Chest was great not only because of the enormous financial success that we had, but also the amazing awareness success that came along for the ride.