post ix: race

Growing up, I did not really pay attention with races. I was surrounded with Filipinos and I was aware that there are other people because there are other countries. Moving here, I was very amazed and excited since I was exposed to a bunch of people with different ethnicity. I made it my goal to get closer to Europeans and Asians and know things in their culture. Freshman year, I was with Europeans. My friends were from Greece, Russia and Moldova. It was a completely different thing from what I was exposed with but it was really interesting since I was the random Asian. They were not mean, since people would say Europeans are arrogant and mean. They felt more comfortable in speaking with their own languages. Come sophomore year, I made it my goal to get closer to Asians and so I surrounded myself with Koreans, Filipinos and Chinese.They were not nerdy. It was a strange experience since they were very white washed and Asian at the same time. And the more white washed a person is, the cooler the person is. I noticed that they would dress up like "white people" and would play "white" sports and would do "white" people things. It was a really interesting group of friends but I could relate with them more since I have some sort of connection with them.  Junior year, I wanted to be closer with Europeans again and so I did. I was with Brazilians and Bulgarians. It was another amazing experience since they were so foreign yet Americanized. I was able to relate with them and they looked like they were not from other countries since they managed to assimilate pretty fast. Being surrounded by "white" people, I always felt uncomfortable around them since they intimidate me. Everyone made them seem so cool and it is really hard to not want to be like "them". But as years goes by, I did not realize that as I was trying to be one of them that I was really losing my Filipino side. I dress up like them, I eat things they eat and that is me being like them. I was never bullied with my race since I never saw any problem with being Filipino. But my Asian friends were bullied back then for being Asian and that is really stupid. I don't think people were born racist and biased to some race. Sometimes, they think they are greater than other races and that is where conflict starts. No matter how many times people say everyone is equal, it will never be a true phase. Some people will always be greater in different aspects.One example was the article where two different people took some food from a grocery and the white ones were "picking it up" while the darker toned was "looting". It will never be equal because in the eyes of people, some race are going to be "higher" and more "dominant" than the others.