Positive Social Change
I have always had a deep interest in cultures other than my own. My fascination with other cultures does not simply lie in an admiration of their cuisine, but an awareness of their political, social, and economic makeup as well. During my sophomore year at State University, I met a fellow student from Colombia. She was an international student studying at University of America, originally from a small town named Choco, a predominantly black town in Colombia. While sharing her life story with me, I learned about the prevalence of discrimination in Colombia and the census miscounts of Colombian citizens of African descent such as herself. This brought me to wonder if and how these miscounts by the government's census might affect funding for schools, health benefits and beyond, in areas heavily populated by Colombians of African descent. In a quest to define how this form of discrimination affects the Colombian nation, a slew of questions came to mind. I asked myself, how many Americans are actually aware of this situation in Colombia? Is this genre of discrimination taking place in other South and Central American nations? What can be done to change the lack of equality for Afro-Colombian students?
The turnout of this forum was a success. This man was deeply involved in the movement to raise awareness of discrimination against black South Americans for years; all he needed was motivated individuals to collaborate with him to help actualize his goals. As it turns out, Professor H of State University's history department was already in the workings to create an event to enlighten and expose the State U community to the plight of Afro-Colombian students. To increase my peers' knowledge of the racial diversity existent in Colombia, I concluded that I would need assistance on the student, and faculty level. References to the six Afro-Colombian students who despite their struggles are extremely successful are constantly made on this campus. He solicited six male Afro-Colombian University students directly from Colombia, who were interested in studying in the United States. This event truly manifested itself into a true learning experience for the audience and myself. Professor H introduced me and several of my classmates to a PhD student from Howard University named M, who was pursuing his studies in African Diaspora. This forum on the inequalities between Non-black and Afro-Colombians opened people's minds, changed perception, heightened awareness, and helped bring about change for the suffering students not only in Colombia, but in Panama, Brazil, and other Central and South American nations. These men were still proud Colombian citizens, however they embraced their African ancestry and didn't find it a sort of thing to be ashamed of. Faculty, staff and students were amazed at the information shared with them at the forum. This response acted as motivation and hope for many Afro-Colombian students interested in studying abroad. We made efforts to gather as many students in the area from other Universities as we could, to see if they would be interested in helping to raise the consciousness of the discrimination issues Afro-Colombians face.
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Acceptance Essays
