ISCORE!

I was able to attend two sessions at the Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity on Friday.  The first session I attended was Nine Digits of Freedom: Analyzing Inherent Privileges that Come from Being a U.S. Citizen.  One of the main topics the student panel discussed during this session was the view of Latinos in this country.  They discussed how many people in the U.S. believe that illegal aliens are Latinos who don’t want to work or pay taxes.  This is all untrue.  The majority of illegal aliens currently in this country are not Latino.    Another large topic was the Arizona SB1070 law and how it seems a lot like racial profiling.

The next session that I went to was Dumb Things We Need to Stop Saying and Other Practical Steps to Increase our Effectiveness around Diversity.  Luiza Dreasher discussed four different concepts that can help you to stop saying things that may offend people without you even realizing it. The first concept was Intent vs. Impact.  This is a concept that has been a reoccurring theme at the last few conferences.  Concept two was the Pile on Principle which is when one thing upon another weighs on the person.  One thing you can do to help that person is to demonstrate empathy towards them.  The third principle was to recognize our privilege.  It is important that we recognize that our privileges give us a head start, but the most important thing is what you do with that privilege.  The fourth and final principle Luiza discussed was Raising the B.A.R.  B stands for breathing.  Taking a break to breath not only relaxes you, but it also buys you time to choose a better way to respond in a situation.  For example try to talk while taking a deep breath… you can’t do it.  A is for Acknowledge.  You should acknowledge the other persons points by asking and clarifying what they are saying.  Last, R stands for responding.  This is different than reacting because you need to think before you respond.

I enjoyed ISCORE and I wish the best for Kat and Sebastian at NSCORE this Summer.