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Back to Subjects - Acceptance Essays

Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes I decided to adopt the voice of an African American male to gain a different perspective of my society. Every day I live my life as a white female and perform everyday activities without a second thought. Never do I stop to think what it would be like to be black or disabled in my surroundings. Ever since I was young, I was taught not to discriminate against minorities and not to judge the handicapped. But, never was I taught what it was actually like to be a minority, be homosexual, or be disabled. I can honestly say I am not a racist and that I’m sensitive to the needs of others. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I know what it is like to be a minority or struggle with a disability everyday of my life. This assignment opened my eyes to the wide variety of people within my society and helped me try to understand another person’s perspective in life. To better understand the voice of an African American male, I searched the web for information, interviewed someone with my voice, and pretended to think and act like that voice for one day. The first web site that impacted my previous white female notions was a site entitled BlackFamilies.com. The site contained information pertaining to African American families like current news, family issues, and other happenings. One item that I found particularly interesting was the baby name page. Here, one could view the list of black baby names and even submit their own favorites. As a white female, I have only browsed through “white” baby name books. I’m aware that many black Americans have names unique to their culture, but I never saw a name book designed specifically for them. Once again, I was only viewing the world through my own eyes and experiences. I’ve always wondered how Blacks “find” the names of their children since they are usually so unique and different from what I am used to. I also enjoyed reading the names and trying to pronounce them on my own. There were many other links to sights similar to this one, including more black baby names! Secondly, I talked to an African American male who is a student at La Salle University. We discussed what it was like to be a black male on our campus and within the city. Marcus attended a mostly white suburban school throughout his childhood. We talked about growing up in a town where you are a minority and how it felt to always be the “outsider.” Marcus told me how textbooks are geared more towards the White culture and tend to ignore Black history and events. He informed me of many important inventions that Black Americans contributed to our history and events that have been glazed over in traditional textbooks. I tried to imagine how it must feel to learn so much about one culture during grade school. I would have felt left out and confused about my voices contributions to America. Where were my people during these events? What was it like to be a slave? What really happened during the Black freedom movements? These questions would arise since they are so important to my voice’s culture. Marcus gets along with both Whites and Blacks here at La Salle and has many friends from different backgrounds. Our discussion led to many topics, which I have never considered. Our interview was beneficial to me personally and will help me in the future when I’m communicating to people of another race. The last thing I did to better understand the perspective of my voice was to pretend I was a Black male for one day. I have to admit that this was a little difficult, because I found myself always reverting to my comfortable White female goggles. Throughout the day, I kept reminding myself who I was and trying to think how everyday encounters would affect me differently. The first thing I noticed was how I felt in the classroom. Suddenly, I felt extremely self-conscious and shy when I noticed I was the only Black male in the entire class. I felt like I was a sore thumb in the class because of my skin color and facial differences. Then I realized we were talking about cultural differences as the topic in my Consumer Behavior class. During class, we focused on cultural differences and how race affected purchase behavior and marketing strategies. I felt a spot light shine down on my head every time the teacher said, “black” and African American. I could not help but feel awkward and “obvious” to the students sitting around me. Throughout the entire day, I seemed small and unimportant. It was a very strange feeling to be the only Black person walking on campus among a group of thirty to fifty people. Now and then I would catch a glimpse of someone of my race, but the frequency was all too small. Experiencing this perspective through my own eyes and body was a lesson that could never be taught. You can never feel what someone else is feeling or know what they are thinking, but I believe I came one step closer during the course of that day. After the experience I had pretending that I was an African American male, I saw many “ordinary” things within our society that would impact me differently. Three main things that affected me were television commercials, print advertising, and greeting cards. One thing that I noticed right away while I viewed life through my voice was TV advertising. Practically 97% of the consumers portrayed on TV are traditional White Americans. I imagined how I would feel if the tables were reversed and 97% of the people on TV were African Americans. It was very hard to imagine. Advertising would affect me differently because I would see people unlike me buying and using products. I’m not happy to see so little of my race being portrayed on TV and in television shows. It would be hard for me to relate to the people in these advertisements since our cultures are different. We may have different values, morals, and beliefs that would affect our behavior towards a product or advertisement. My voice’s needs should be met just as easily as a White person’s wants and needs. I’m a paying customer who’s feeling count. As I paged through a catalog for wedding cake decorations I noticed something very upsetting. There were very few Black figurines to decorate the wedding cakes with. Do less African Americans get married than do Whites? So, why was there so little choice for my voice to choose from? Why should my choices be limited because of my skin color? I never took the time to notice things like this before because my White race was always portrayed in this print advertising. It was quite shocking to realize how ignorant I have been to this discrimination and favoring of the White culture. It is not only Blacks, but also other large populations of minorities like Hispanics who are not fairly represented. It is just recently that I have been seeing more African American dolls in toy stores around my area. I thought about how I would feel if I wanted to buy a Barbie for my little girl when there were no black Barbies available. Fortunately, marketers are realizing the large market they are ignoring by producing only white dolls and figurines. I have noticed this trend slowly changing for the better. The last important thing that would impact me differently would be the simple act of buying greeting cards. I went shopping for a Birthday card for my friend and realized how few Black cards there were to choose from. I literally had to search to find a couple cards that featured African American couples and families. When I finally found a few cards, I did not even like them enough to purchase them so I was completely dissatisied. As a White female, I spend an ample amount of time searching for the perfect greeting card for my loved ones on special occasions. Then I thought how long my voice would have to search to buy one for his wife or friend. I have noticed a “black” greeting card section at my local Rite Aid, which is smartly targeted towards African American culture. Every card company should cater to the needs of minorities since they make up a large consumer population. I can’t believe I never realized this problem before when looking for greeting cards. Then again, this was not a problem for me since I view the words as a White female. It is only through the eyes of the Black male that I saw this injustice. This exorcise taught me many things about the many people who live around me. The best part about this experience is the fact that I learned this through my own eyes. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1497