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?
             Almost immediately, I felt it necessary to not only answer the aforementioned questions for myself, but to raise awareness about the discrimination and misrepresentation of the Afro-Colombian. The general perception of the average Colombian is that he bears the same or similar skin tone and belongs to the same race as the rest of his fellow citizens. Not many know that there is a large population of Colombians who were products of the African Diaspora, and therefore have African ancestry. 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. I contacted one of my history professors, and asked him if he would be willing to particip...