On January 1, 2016, Niki, our friend Joy from Landstown High School and I went around a shopping center asking random people questions regarding our backgrounds. We had Joy ask people what they thought our ethnic background was, what associated religion would we be, if they know anyone of a similar background and what other knowledge they had about our ethnicity (perceived and actual). Based on the article, Is race perception automatic?, people tend to quickly judge and lump people into groups with little knowledge about the person, and we wanted to find out what others thought of us.
When we asked people what ethnic background they thought Niki was, everyone were quick to assume that she was Hispanic and with that, they presumed she was also Catholic. When we told them that Niki is actually Persian/Turkish and Muslim, only a handful of people knew what that was (Persian Rugs) and only one person could tell where those countries were on a map. When we asked people what they thought about me, a majority of them assumed me to be Indian and a few people had absolutely clueless and didn't want to guess wrong. When we reviled my ethnicity being Ethiopian, many people were surprised and had no clue what Ethiopia was. About two people knew that Ethiopia was in Africa and one girl actually knew some facts about Ethiopia that I myself never knew.
While asking these questions, a few participants were interested in our project telling us how they see ethnic stereotyping hindering our community. Especially there was this one man explaining to us how he experienced prejudice for being African American. Many African Americans are seen as dangerous and criminals, making it harder for them to find jobs and stay out of trouble with law enforcement. We as a society get educated about other people of different backgrounds and help defeat the social issue of ethnic stereotyping.
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