Reflective Essay: Diversity In The United States

New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the nation. You have individuals from different walks of life. I am one of those individuals. I am a Hispanic-white young woman who grew up with developmental delays and a speech impediment. I grew up in Canarsie, a predominantly Caribbean neighborhood. I went to three schools where I was the minority, meaning that I was not around people who were from various backgrounds. While I was in high school, I was told from others about how diverse the student population is in college. As a result, I began to yearn to go to college. In my junior year, I began searching for colleges where diversity is the highest. During my search, I discovered that Brooklyn College was extremely diverse, which is what attracted me to apply there; I got accepted and decided to attend there. In my first year at Brooklyn College, I have met a lot of people who were different from myself in terms of race/ethnicity, gender identity, sexual …show more content…
We were volunteers for the ITS department to market CUNYfirst for the spring 2013 semester. During this time, D was writing notes to his friends to thank them for being a good friend. It was not until L and I discovered the biases D held prior to his friendships. In D’s letter to L, he mentioned his first impressions on L and his disability, which included “what can a person in a wheelchair do>” While we were reading that letter, we were surprised at what D wrote. D was (and is) a kind person, but what he wrote was not well-worded. He is an individual who cares a lot about diversity. Because of this fact about him, L and I knew that D did not mean to hurt anyone. We saw that he had good intentions; it was not communicated as well. As a result, L decided to talk to D about what he wrote. When I asked L about their conversation, he said that it went well and that D apologized for what he stated in the