The Caribbean Students Association along with the help of the other diversity organizations put together a discussion open to all students, called “Smashing the Stereotypes.”
The point of this discussion was to inform students about other cultures.
The discussion promoted equality between all nationalities and urged students to learn about a culture before making judgments.
Khristy Nguyen, an active member of the Caribbean Students Association, started the presentation off with an activity to identify the main beliefs people have about other cultures.
Six envelopes sat at the front of the room, each with a name of a nationality written on it.
The six nationalities used were African, Indian, Asian, American, Caribbean and Hispanic.
Everyone who attended had to write down the first thing that came to mind about each nationality and put it in the specific envelope.
Afterwards, Ngyuyen read aloud the words inserted in the envelopes and many responses were repeated.
Participants then could gave their opinions on the stereotypes.
Common responses for Americans were that they are obese, arrogant, closed-minded, lazy and patriotic.
Africans were described as loud, black, poor, wild and not good at speaking English.
“There’s so much more going on in Africa than people dying and climbing trees and stuff,” responded a student.
The stereotypes for Asians were intelligent, bad drivers, short, good at nails and martial arts.
Indians were seen as always eating curry, strict and attending ivy league schools.
“It depends where you are and your family background,” stated a student, referring to the stereotype that people of Indian heritage go to Ivy League schools and have strict parents.
Common responses for Hispanics were that they were illegal immigrants, many family members live in one house, they’re “mouthy” and that they were all landscapers.
One student defended his heritage, saying “Last I checked, we have a supreme court justice who’s Hispanic. I don’t think she cuts grass for a living.”
The Caribbean heritage was linked to stereotypes such as they all smoke marijuana, if you’re from the Caribbean you must be from Jamaica, they spend all their time on the beach, they all listen to Bob Marley and they are all black.
One student of Caribbean descent replied to the comment about music, “I listen to Vanessa Carlton. I wake up to VH1!”
“I hate when people come up to me and say, ‘Ya mon!’” said another Caribbean student.
The presentation ended with the statement, “We should always be open-minded.
If you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.”