Kim Krenzer, Post #1

When I was in the 3rd grade, I had to do a presentation about my ethnic heritage. So my parents told me that I was German and French on my Dad's side and entirely Polish on my Mom's side. and that was that. I haven't necessarily forged into my family history to find out what my ancestors did. A few years later, I found out my Mom was, like, .5% Lithuanian. Which may or may not explain how easily I tan during the summer. I crisp like bacon, it's wild. I digress. My heritage is just something that I'm told I'm a part of. It's not really something that I've taken the time to really learn about or get into.

My family is predominantly white. When I was younger, I attended Catholic schools that were basically 99% white. However, my high school had a strong sense of diversity and had a healthy mix of different races. Also, my oldest sister has a best friend, Lindsay, who is biracial. And she's been there ever since before I could remember. She has been such a huge part of my life that I call her my sister. She refers to me as her baby sister. And when we tell people this, the reaction is palpable confusion. I think our relationship has been a huge influence on my views of race. I certainly believe that all diversity should be celebrated and acknowledged. But in the end, we're all just people trying to get by in today's world. And I love Lindsay as if she were actually my sister.

I am a firm believer in equality for everybody. As a woman, I have been faced with blatant sexism. As an open lesbian, I have been faced with prejudice. I have many friends of different races and sexual orientations who have also experienced some form of racism, sexism or homophobia. And I don't believe that any of us should be subjected to hatred for things that we cannot control. I believe that we should celebrate our differences, but at the same time realize that the human race connects us all. And maybe that's too much to ask. Maybe it's unrealistic. But, when we start thinking of those that are different than us as human beings, it might start changing things.