The way I define social diversity is by how many different social structures and societies there are and how much they differ. The social units like race, gender, sexual preference are things that are ways people can be categorized in society. I define multiculturalism as the combination or tolerance for more than one type of culture within a society. Social diversity is important to all societies, especially the United States because we are sometimes called 'The Melting Pot' of societies and cultures. Social diversity is something that should not be suppressed in societies, it should be encouraged. I like learning about new cultures and different ways people from around the world do things. To me, culture is a live representation of a people's history and if a people's culture is suppressed it will eliminate that people's history forever. One main issue of diversity that is difficult for me is my past and experiences. I believe someone's past is just as troubling and someone who faces most other types of diversity issues.
Someone that has been really influential to me by shaping my ideas about these issues is my friend and neighbor Neal. He is my age and is African American. He has a great sense of humor and is not offended easily about his race. I have always heard excuses from my black friends that they get targeted by police because of their race. Being ignorant and not wanting to believe them I always thought of that as a poor excuse and just playing on stereotypes. To keep a long story short, one time Neal and I were at the mall in a pretty pricey clothing store. After spending a good amount of time in the store, we head out. But at the main door is two police officers claiming they got a call from the store we were in that there was a suspicious person that they believed was shoplifting. It was outrageous to see this first hand. He gave no reason that he was going to steal and was in a store that carried clothes he wouldn't be caught dead in. Seeing that the clerks got nervous based on his looks was a big eye-opener for me.
On of my favorite subjects in social justice is racism. It is so important to me because we as Americans still have preconceived notions and prejudices against certain people. Americans take a certain persons culture and makes stereotypes against them. I'm not arrogant enough to not believe that all stereotypes come from some sort of 'fact'. But I still see a big problem with racism today that needs to be addressed. Being a criminal justice major I think race is a pretty important matter. Cops NEED to use stereotypes and 'expected behavior' of certain people so they and the suspects can be safe.
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