Visual cues are what people are perceived as on the outside. Whether that is what they look like, their facial features, color of their skin, height, and weight. It is how we determine what a person looks like, which also includes their race and gender. Unfortunately, people judge others for the way they look. Society has a lot of stereotypes out there that often times are attached to a person, no matter who they are. Meaning, the way people dress, talk, what activities they do, where they attend school, the types of cars they drive, the jobs they have and where they live. For example, if you see a white person in a really nice car and dressed very professionally, you assume they have a lot of money. But if you see a person of color not dressed in the same attire and driving an older car, a lot of times people assume they don’t have a lot of money. Which this person could just be more cautious on how the spend their money and want to live in their means. It isn’t fair to assume that they don’t have money when you don’t know their story. 

Personally, I see this as a problem. Nobody should be judged for the color of their skin or the things they wear, but the sad reality is that this mindset is going to be there unless we change how the way people think. I actually see it a lot here on campus but more so with females. Women are judging other women by the way they dress and the brands they have on. Iif they don’t have lulu lemon, north face, Patagonia, or other top brand, they don’t have a lot of money. At times, I can relate to this because I pay for a lot of my own things. My parents help me with groceries and other activities here on campus, but I pay for my own schooling and a lot of my own clothes, so I am more mindful of what I spend my money on. There’s nothing wrong with having top brand clothing, but other women shouldn’t be bringing down other women because they aren’t wearing the same things they wear or have as much as they do. I don’t think people do it intentionally and I don’t take it personally, but it is just the way we were raised at humans. Everyone comes from a different background which I think is the main contributor of how we perceive others. I have always been raised to not judge a person by materialistic things but the value of their character. As cheesy as it is, it shouldn’t matter what a person looks like on the outside, it is what is on the inside that counts. 

I think what has shaped me into having this mentality is because my mom used to have her own daycare when I was growing up. So, I met a lot of different people from this with various backgrounds and none of it mattered to me because all that I was interested in was playing and having fun. Often times the kids from my mom’s daycare ended up going to the same school as me and we’d become close friends for a long time. I think what parents tell their children and how they act plays a big role in how they see others. 

Rachel Dolezal mentions in her interview with MSNBC that she thought that the black culture and lifestyle was beautiful, and she was very attracted to that. She felt like she was the link between her kids that are black. And that she felt isolated all her life and identifying as a black person makes her feel better. She even said in her interview that she herself would be outraged if she was a black person and somebody was white that identifies themselves as black. I found it interesting that she said if she was rejected from the black community, she would just be herself. I think the reason why so many people are outraged by this story is because she is clearly not black. This goes back to my first paragraph that states how we identify others. I hate judging someone by the way they look, but it is difficult in this situation to see why this woman thinks how she is a different race than she actually is. 

I think the reason I am having some trouble in understanding this topic is because race is what you are genetically composed of and what is in your DNA. So, if you don’t have a certain trait or gene or nationality in your DNA, it’s hard to say that that is what you are but personally that is just how I have been raised. I guess I just haven’t ever thought about this topic before so that is why it is so interesting to me. 

Cohen, Isaac. “Watch Rachel Dolezals Long, Unbelievably Incoherent Interview with Melissa Harris-Perry.” National Review, National Review, 18 June 2015, www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/dolezal-interview-isaac-cohen/.

Freeman, Jonathan B., et al. “Looking the Part: Social Status Cues Shape Race Perception.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025107.

Yuhas, Alan. “Rachel Dolezal Defiantly Maintains ‘I Identify as Black’ in TV Interview.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 June 2015, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/16/rachel-dolezal-today-show-interview.