| Looking
beyond race and finding common ground
Karen Johnson |
By Karen Johnson
Spring 2003 Scholar
Posted: May 13, 2003
The most important thing I learned at orientation is that
you can find something in common with anyone.
It’s amazing that an Iranian from California can have
something in common with a Hispanic from Alabama and a black
woman from Florida.
It’s amazing because you stop seeing people as examples
of their race and start seeing them as human beings.
Race and ethnicity will influence what you’re like,
but it is not who you are.
When I start my internship, I will remember this lesson and
never make assumptions about a person’s personality based
on their skin, their clothes, their name or their face.
I will tell my assumptions to shut up and listen to the person
in front of me.
Karen Johnson, a senior at Auburn University, is a Spring
2003 Scholar at The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.
Reach her at johnskp@auburn.edu.
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