andrea burns post 1

My personal ethnic and racial heritage is a bit of a mystery to me. Everytime I've ever asked, the answer I've gotten is, "Oh you're just a bit of everything." Not exactly the most helpful response. From what I have officially gathered from my family is that I am part Irish, part French, and part Czechoslovakian. I know for a fact that my grandfather's parents both came directly from Czechoslovakia to the United States. Other than that, my heritage is pretty much up in the air. This may frustrate some people, not knowing where they originated from. For the sake of doing this assignment and others like it, its annoyed me as well. For the majority of time however not knowing does not really phase me. I do not identify myself as a certain race or background. I identify myself as a person and that should be enough. I've always known that my family has negative feelings towards people of certain backgrounds, making me aware of the issues of ethnicity and race the majority of my life. Comments and jokes my family has made makes it evident of their issues with people who look different, acting as though we're better than them since we have white skinned. I have always disagreed with this notion as they are fully well aware. As I've grown up, my views have not changed. I still feel that everyone is equal regardless of race, ethnicity, or color. A person's actions and lifestyle are not defined by their outward appearance.
I have witnessed an act of racism in my life, in a way experienced it although it was not fully directed towards me. When I was in middle school and the start of high school, I was in a relationship with someone who was black. Seeing as I went to a school that was almost entirely white, this stood out quite a bit. Apparently it bothered some people at the school. My locker at school was always left unlocked. One day I go to my locker and find that someone graffitied the inside. While the markings contain words I cannot use on here, I feel you can figure out what the author was trying to say. "Tilden is a ...... you nasty..... " To this day I can remember it, even though it occurred six years ago. I had to look at that everyday at school until I graduated, a constant reminder of people's hatred.