International PR - Diversity Calendar Event

For my Diversity Calendar Choice, I chose the Tim Wise "White Like Me" presentation. The presentation/lecture focused on prejudice , discrimination and people who dont believe that these things still exist. I chose this presentation/lecture because I felt that prejudice does still exist in the world and I wanted to know how many others disagreed or agreed. The views presented in the lecture/presentation were humorous at times but the message was very serious. Tim Wise tried to present the information in a humorous way but also let the audience know that these are serious issues. Tim Wise presented a tremendous amount of useful information. I will share some of those thoughts in my blog today.

The audience was made up of many different kinds of people. There were Blacks, Whites, Chinese, Koreans, and many more ethnicities. There also were differences in cultures, sexualities, and of course educational background. The audience was very active in his lecture. There were times that the audience would say positive things during the presentatin, and times that they said negative things. Tim Wise stated in his lecture that he had presented at Georgia Southern University before and that the Multicultural Center wanted him to speak again because of the positive feedback from the audience. I could tell during his lecture that he really enjoyed presenting at Georgia Southern.

I believe that he did an accurate presentation of the culture. Tim Wise made it known that prejudice still exists in the world today. Although many people dont believe that it is still prevalent, it exists. He also shared many beliefs, not just on one culture, sexuality, ethnicity, or educational background. Tim Wise made sure to not be biased during his presentation. He made the statement that there were a group of white males that destroyed the economy but noone wants to blame them. The blame is put on the blacks, in which had nothing to do with the economy. Tim Wise truly presented the culture accurately because he is a white male himself. He did not upgrade his culture because he was white, he just told everything truthfully and unbiased.

I would say that I did not learn a tremendous amount from the event because I have heard majority of the information before. Here are some things that he mentioned in his lecture that stood out to me:

• You have to be careful what you name your children. Ethinic names can hender them from getting a job. People take one look at the resume and judge you before you walk into the door.
• Most Blacks believe that racism still exists , most Whites do not.
• When Cops see Blacks in a nice car , they pull them over more quickly than two Whites in the car. Cops tend to believe that the Blacks stole the car or bought it with illegal money. Whites are believed to have been given the car by parents. This is not true for every Cop but it has been seen by Tim Wise to be true in some cases. He said that he spoke to a Cop who told him that this is what he does when he is patrolling an area.

I would attend the lecture again, I really enjoyed the presentation. I believe that racism and prejudice still exists today and to see others there who believe the same ,or that may have changed their mind after the presentation, means a tremendous amount to me. I wish that the people who dont believe that racism still exists, would research and find out that is is still prevalent in the world.

I would compare this to a event during Black History Month. Although, we only get one month, the same things are discussed every year. The main thing discussed is "Why do blacks only have one month?" , or "Why is racism still prevalent?" These questions have never really been answered and will continue to be asked until they are answered.

I felt very accepted in this lecture. I felt that i was welcomed and I felt at ease. I did not feel uncomfortable in any way. His lecture made me feel that I could ask /say anything that i wanted to .I feel that I would attend another lecture presented by Tim Wise , if given the chance to do so. His lecture really taught me about how others think. Although, I knew a tremendous amount of information that he presented, he taught me statistics and why these acts of racism are happening. If anyone has a chance to go see this presentation, please do so. I looked on YouTube and found a couple of videos of Tim Wise speaking at another University, and thought you might find this interesting ,so I included it on my Blog. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ewdZRy78Y, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvCWATr26s,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNDH5sxlmw,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GFVEch4mOMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNDH5sxlmw,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GFVEch4mOM..

Also , here is a link to his blog , where you can find his appearance dates as well as more information on Tim Wise. Here is that link :

http://www.timwise.org/