I am a 44 yr. old European American female who was happened to be raised by equal rights advocates. And although I admit being uninformed about privilege and the realities of racism, I do not feel that Helms’ contact is completely accurate for my 1st stage, or status. When my father says he “doesn’t see color” he means it as he feels it genuinely should be. I grew up knowing that he marched with his black and women friends for equal rights in the 60’s. At no point in my life was I raised to believe that being white was superior, or that racial and cultural differences don’t matter. I grew up in a rural setting and there was a few us around the same age. Latricia Burden, who was African American, her family was wealthier than mine, and …show more content…
I would say it was then when some of my perceptions were shattered, experiencing disintegration. I became aware of the relevance of racism, and the guilt of its existence became uncomfortable. My high-school was predominantly white when I graduated and still had diverse friends. Right after graduation, I was 17 and to Jamaica with my boyfriend. While there we were the minority, and I remember not thinking much of it until I realized that was why my boyfriend was having a bad trip. This may be strange, but his being uncomfortable made me uncomfortable, however, I still manag0ed to interact with all sorts of fun people. I also remember being shocked went I visited Indiana ten yrs. ago at how prevalent racism still was. Seeing separate cemeteries for ‘colored’ for example, was astonishing for me. I had a black boyfriend for a short-time, but he got into trouble with the law. When I lived in Lancaster County about a decade ago, I could be considered to be passive or in the 3rd phase called reintegration. This is because there wasn’t much diversity, and other than the Russians, I didn’t actively seek it