Just to get your mind going...

So I am taking this class on Race, Gender and Education in the U.S., and today we talked about the connotations of the word minority. Not minority in the straight up statistical aspect, but in the connotations and the cultural insidiousness of the word. In our minds, we see someone, and based on our experience with a group that is not our own, we innately draw stereotypical connections of what that given person should be or how they should be have. We tend to forget that people are different! Whether it be nature or nurture, percentages or w.e., u seriously have to give me people a chance because you'll learn that there are so many different ways to be human. I recently met this white guy from south carolina who was actually surprised that I was talking to him because he said that based on his accent and his skin color, people automatically assume he's racist. Overall, I'm just trying to emphasize just how we've gotten so psychologically used to "boxing people in"  and forming conclusions based on limited experiences. As a population, we have become comfortable with our ignorance and the worse part is that we do not even realize it. I believe that race relations seriously need to be improved in this country. If neighborhoods would diversify (despite the prejudice real estate system) and if people learned to be comfortable with people, not just those who look like them, we will eventually progress towards a society in which the color of one's skin is as significant as the color of  someone's shirt.