Why are we like this?

by: Thane McGrath

Are you an Agent or a Target? An Agent is one who is opposed to people who are mean and cruel, as opposed to a Target who is prey to the cruel. We all Identify as Agents and Targets. Albeit through different means and in many combinations such as: race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, social class, age, and ability. Since I was nine, I ha e been sociali!ed to support all people including those of other sexual orientations, racial bac"grounds and basically what it means to be an accepting person. #or the past four years, I$ e been supporting gay rights acti ely though my church and our youth group. I ha e been a member of the %%#&' %nitarian %ni ersalist #ellowship of &urango(. )y church*s first principle is, +We belie e in the inherent worth and dignity of e ery being., )y youth group, that starts with ages from -th grade and up, goes to the #ort .ewis /ollege*s 01IS) group, this is the #ort*s gay, bi, and transgender group. We participate in their meetings and do things we can to bring awareness and acceptance. I am also a member of 02AT '0re3udice 2limination Action Team(. Action is the operati e word because I participated in 02AT*s float in the 4omecoming 0arade for &urango 4igh School. Sexual orientations other than heterosexual sociali!ed me by showing me how assorted groups respond to different sexual orientations, whether that be for good or bad. A homosexual person can be a target and a can also be an agent for good. As can a heterosexual person. 1acial and ethnic e5uality is important to me because I come from a ery di erse family. I am Irish and 6ewish, I ha e a blac" uncle and my step family is 7ati e American and )exican. )y family dinner table is where most of our cultures combine. We ha e blended customs and practices such as manners and food. We learn from each other by tal"ing about how our day went. We combine food and how we ma"e it and what we ma"e. #rom my family I$ e learned why manners exist across our cultures. I* e learned how some are similar and some are different. In .os Angeles my dad used to coach a bas"etball team that was mostly blac" players8 since I was an infant I commingled with blac"s that lo e to play bas"etball. After going on trips with my dad*s team I don*t see the blac" players as African Americans, 3ust my friends. The facts of race ha e sociali!ed me to understand a person as a person not by the how they loo" or the color of their s"in but of how they present themsel es. Any person, blac" or white, can be a target of racism,or an agent against racism. 2 er since I was born, my mom has been crac"ing the whip on being a positi e person. I ha e been trained to set out for the di erse world ahead. It*s li"e I* e been gi en a light and I ha e to tra el through a tunnel of dar"ness. The light is my good side, the tunnel is life and the dar"ness is my bad side. In life it*s harder to be a nice person than a bad person. I belie e this because of the negati e conditions I ha e been exposed to on a daily basis in the media. 4owe er, I ha e been sociali!ed to be positi e to all by accepting people for who they are and being humane to all. #rom my point of iew, which is caucasian, its stereotyped by some people that blac"s are inferior. I*m here to tell you that*s wrong and it*s also wrong with gays, some say they are influenced by the de il, well no, that*s false. I am trying to show that it*s o"ay to be straight and it*s o"ay to be gay. I accept gays and straights as e5uals. Why do some people*s attitudes change when someone lo es someone of the same gender, it*s still lo e? )eanwhile in the race world, e en though I am caucasian, I accept all races as e5ual. 4is s"in*s white, his s"in*s brown and his is blac", we are all the same inside. 7othing is different. In my perfect world there is no such thing as gay, straight or bi, in my perfect world there is no such thing as blac", white or red, we are all human, and to me that is the only label that matters.

I chose to depict the reunion of Agents and Targets as a force for good through sexual orientation choices and racial e5uality for one and all. 9ne of my mas"s represents that I am open to all sexual orientations8 I show this by raising the gay flag high, as well as other homosexual symbols. The accord between gays and straights needs a metaphorical band aid because any alliance appears to be bro"en. In my mas" representing race, I used a pie chart from :oogle Images ;<<- race population data. This pie chart shows the unbalanced numbers of races in America 'i.e. there is a large number of whites compared to other races(. =et, there is hope in America for racial and sexual e5uality through the efforts of people li"e myself and the organi!ations I belong to and participate in. Targets can become agents for the greater good.