Most of the comment that I have received
have been directed towards my hair in
contrast with my skin or many of my
friends used to tease me with like oh
you have dark skin you also dance as
well no no
[Music]
Hi my name is Kim nice to meet you my
name is Rishidev nice - so what are
you studying here at MC
my major is International Studies and
[Music]
for now I'm just taking general ed
classes for this semester
wat about you? me I started off with a
communications degree finish those
credits and now I'm working on my
broadcast media degree with a
concentration in television so hopefully
when I graduate I will have both degrees
so what are you from though I am from
Silver Spring Maryland born and raised
in Maryland trying to travel a little
bit more trying to venture out more and
you I'm from India I came here four
years ago Wow
part of India Haryana that's that's near
Delhi near the capital of India so it's
a big state though but not many people
come from there it's usually either from
the south or either from not from really
north but usually from the south and
above the South India is there anything
that you miss from home or like what is
the difference like from all I'm still
missing many things so usually the food is
the main thing I left the food in India
it's because it's also the staple food
and I always used to eat that food
mostly was the food that my mom made at
home but because the vegetables are
designed so differently the produce
they're produced so differently there
and here the taste changes when you move
to other countries even if you make the
same dish with the same vegetables you
know another country just taste still
varies so I missed that the taste and my
family my whole family is there only my
parents and my siblings are having me
so I missed them all so what are some
things that you've liked culture-wise
that you've brought with you like from
India besides like food and other things
like that like everything that I got to
learn from our parents I'm brought back
there so how I speak how I interact with
people I think my interaction has
changed from how people interact in
India and how I interacted I think
some core values that my parents told me
that better had that is resonating some
somewhere in life in myself and I try to
follow them
What about you? me and culture was I mean
I've grown up here most of my entire
life my mother is from Suriname which is
a country that neighbors Guyana and
Brazil in South America and my father is
from Brooklyn and his parents have what
is it ties back to Puerto Rico and Italy
so they kind of ever since I've moved to
Maryland and they've kind of left a lot
of the cultural pieces out of me growing
up however as I got older I took it upon
myself to really dig a little bit deeper
especially with my mom started the culture
of her culture since I'm a lot closer to
her so a lot of her culture revolves
around African descent there's also a
mix of you know India China is also kind
of in the mix as well Japanese so that's
like kind of like one one place where we
kind of have a similarity which i think
is really cool I got think that every
every human is pretty diverse their
blood is pretty diverse it's not that all
our DNA is just one fixed from one fixed
ancestor right like as we know that we
all like initially we all were from we
all came from Africa and then moved to
other countries other continents and
then slowly they connected to each other
when we were in remote areas and slowly
globalized yeah it's not that as like
every human is unique like there are
unique but their blood is not unique
it's like we're all connected in some
way we are connected that's what I think
that's true though yeah I know that
you're born here but have you ever
experienced any stereotyped or racist
comments only a few times in my life
most of my most of the comments that I
have received have been directed towards
my hair in contrast with my skin or as
well as me just because like I look a
certain way I can't be like another like
I don't have any other ethnicity or like
nationality in my blood for example I
remember sometimes you know how high
schools have those like those what is it
the spirit weeks and I think one day in
particular was International Day in that
particular day I decided to show like my
Italian side and everyone looked at me
up and down like you're not Italian
you're not this you're not that I was
like how do you know I mean people
people come in all different shapes
sizes colors it's like you can be from
anywhere and look like X Y or Z so I
thought that wasn't that was an
interesting experience for me and a lot
of a lot of comments that I have
received have been directed towards my
hair and hair and like african-american
culture is like a really big thing and
my friends encouraged me to go natural
at the time I had a chemical treatment
which made my hair straight so after
about a year and eight months I grew it
out and then I finally just cut off the
rest of it and I can say it's easily the
best decision I've ever made for myself
it was also one of those decisions that
I had made where I took control of like
this part of my body this part of just
like me being a woman like I'm in
control of my hair like this is who I am
this is how of like this is how I feel
like I'm supposed to be those are really
big things for me too I think that is
because I've also experienced something
like that and India because of my color
it's usually this this reasoning this
thought process that many Indians have
gone into that the fair color is the
superior and I think that also is very
influenced from the British Empire which
was fair for 200 years and it's it still
resonates in many many people's mind and
I was I was a prey for many open house I
love their praise many of my friends
used to like tease me with like oh you
have dark skin and like you he doesn't
look like us that much it changed though
but when I came here I was I was
expecting that maybe I would experience
more stereotyping when I would come to
America because of many white people
okay but it was very different
experience like when I came here I
couldn't recall any moment when somebody
would have picked on me saying that oh
you have dark skin oh you look like
something you don't look like us that
was a change in my perspective also I
also perceived something different when
I was in India and don't want to say
that everyone was bad in India because
no no not everyone but I think some
people who had naive thoughts mm-hmm I
was not seeing everyone as one but more
they had limited knowledge of people and
that's how they're perceived differently
force however interactions been with
other people from different cultures on
this campus well as I said it has
changed a lot I was not expecting that
people would not stereotype or pick on
me saying oh you have dark-skinned
people have shown they have not from my
perspective I have not seen anyone
picking on me so I can say that like
even though they knew that I have
different skin I look different they
didn't
displayed that on their face that didn't
shows showed that on on their emotions
they talked to me as I was a human being
just like them it was I didn't felt as I
was different than them so that was that
was something that I applauded I was I
was very grateful that not just this
campus but even like since I came here I
didn't I didn't had any experience like
that
I mean traumatizing experience and
especially on the campus also like
professors students were very friendly
to me and even I was being freshmen I
have didn't feel like that Sun wasn't
bullying me or something it was pretty
calm yeah I'm really glad that you say
that - because it should be normal that
we come across people from all different
like backgrounds like it shouldn't be
like and it should be an everyday thing
where we come across somebody and like
they're from here and there but it
doesn't matter because we're all here to
accomplish one goal which is to get a
degree and be successful but I think
it's more the cause of this problem that
people are seeing different people
active that's different it's because
they have limited knowledge they don't
have the full knowledge of I think human
beings they just use their little
knowledge to pick out on someone and see
oh he's different and maybe they just
don't know but they should know yeah a
lot of it I do agree a lot of it does
come from lack of knowledge and that's
why it is important to have people from
all kinds of backgrounds because the
school I also feel like showcases or MC
showcases a lot of cultures through
through clubs through activities through
events that we hold so I think that the
school does a really good job in
showcasing everybody that does attend
MC well I really enjoyed our talk today
thank you so much for spending the time
with me today today to talk and I hope I
get to see you on campus thanks again
thanks for talking to me
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