New Ignorance

As I read this article, I can't help but feel ignorant. Not ignorant that I do not have experience in a diverse community, but ignorant that I was raised in a very diverse city (Allentown). It's a new sensation for me. Here, all along I believed that I have been fortunate enough to have had my most influential years surrounded by an array of different cultures, but just now I see that I am very naive as to what American Society is really like. I have grown in a very tolerant community, so to speak. Race Wars do not exist, at least to my knowledge. Yes, we have gangs, but as far as I know, race is not a dividing factor. But, as Kim is pointing out, atleast to what I have read up to this point, racial division is very prominent in much of our society. I am not ignorant in the least bit to a multicultural society, but I am ignorant to the fact that race still effects much of the country. I had the belief that race was an ancient idea. Atleast to America.

I was always told and always believed that I am more prepared for a life in a diverse society. But, as I read this, I am becoming aware of the fact that society is not as ideal as I have perceived. I am not an idealist. Infact, I have always considered myself a glass-half-empty kind of girl. Have I been unexposed to the truths of racial diversity? Or, is Kim dramatizing the idea? She, it appears, has been educated in a more secluded system. "My American education offered nothing about Chicanos or Latinos, and most of what I have been taught about African and Native Americans was distorted to justify their oppression and vindicate their oppressors." It seems that Kim, as with much of the older generations, is victim to a closed-minded education.

Perhaps, and most likely, I am wrong. I'll admit it in a second. Maybe this country has not advanced in the disintegration of 'racial hierarchy' as quickly as I have believed. At this point I consider myself too young, not in age or mind but in worldly experience, to know the truths of society. Once, I get out there, which I plan to do as soon a possible, I'll let you know what I find.

p.s. I really enjoyed this article. It was very enlightening.