ISCORE

The Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE) was an event I heard about last year but I did  not really know what it was all about, even though it's in the long title, so I did not attend. This year, I went to the conference and I actually really enjoyed the experience. I believe the reason I did not attend last year was due to a fear of listening to people blame other races for things that happened to their race. The sessions I went to did not have any aspects of blame in their presentations.

The session I attended first was Addressing a Colorblind Approach in Schools. Before college, I believed that being "colorblind" was a good thing. I have learned through out the past two school years that the colorblind approach causes more harm than good. By saying that you are colorblind, you are stating that white is the normal and instead of seeing a person for who they are. Race and Ethnicity makes us who me are whether we like it or not. Other people should embrace and celebrate different races and ethnicity because it brings diversity. The speakers discussed situations between staff and students, students to students, and staff to staff interactions in the Ames Middle School that have come up over time due to race. The speakers developed a program to embrace race and to educate staff on the most beneficial ways to do embrace diversity.  

The second session I attended was Fly in the Buttermilk. I really liked this session. The speakers, one which is a friend of mine, informed the audience about the affects of integration and  discrimination on African Americans at Iowa State through out history. The speakers had people from the audience tell their stories of discrimination here on campus. The stories really affected me because I did not realize that discrimination is still a really big problem here at Iowa State and its not just students contributing to this problem. I believe that since I am a white person I do not see discrimination as often as some people from other races might and I have not felt discriminated against because of my race. People with privilege tend to not know they have it. 

The information I gained from these sessions will help me not only be a good peer mentor, but also a better person. The sessions made we realize just because we do not see the problem all the time does not mean it does not exist or that it is just a small problem.  Diversity should be embraced and not hidden or discouraged!