Greek Life Interview Research Paper

Being a freshman at a large university such as Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville, the thought of putting yourself out there and meeting new people is very nerve wracking. After I made the decision to attend this university, I also made the decision to join Greek Life in order to meet new people. Although I have been in a sorority for over a semester, I still have yet to meet every single member. When this project was first assigned, I knew I wanted to relate this to my sorority and seek the diversity within. My interviewee, Kiana Stevenson, and I met up one afternoon for lunch and to get to know one another. At first we talked about our sorority, which was our common ground, and then we pursued a conversation about diversity. She is a twenty-year-old student at SIUE and, just like myself, she is in Alpha Sigma Tau. We are in the same socioeconomic level, have the same sexual orientation, and have no common disabilities. Although our descriptions seem to be very similar, our ethnicities differ.
Stevenson is a

one-fourth African American, one-fourth Native American, and one-half Caucasian woman. Her mother is a Caucasian red-head while her father is one-half Native American (Lakota Sioux Tribe) and one-half African American. She most recently met about ninety-percent of her father’s side of the family about a year ago. She visited this side of her family once when she was about the age of three and they visited her one other time. Growing up without being introduced to this side of her family, and their cultural customs, caused her to not practice any of the Native American or African American cultural customs but to practice customs of her own (K. Stevenson, personal communication, February 17, 2017).
Since being multiracial, Stevenson’s life has consisted of many advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages she has been exposed to are scholarship opportunities as well as many conversation starters. These are a few of the many things that Stevenson appreciates about her ethnicity. The biggest disadvantage of being multiracial is all the prejudice, racist people in the world. Many people are raised believing that the mixing of different races is a crime. When these judgmental people come in contact with other individuals that are slightly different from them, they direct all their hatred for the action on those who are not guilty for this “crime.” After hearing that racial discrimination is one of the few disadvantages that comes with being a multiracial individual, I pursued to question Stevenson about this topic.
When asked if she had ever experienced racial discrimination in her lifetime, Stevenson reacted as if the answer was obvious. She explained that she had never experienced racial discrimination in a professional setting but definitely in a social setting. She described witnessing racial slurs that were occasionally about her, having awkward conversations with significant others’ family members, and even family members of her own have mentioned demeaning things such as “you’re going to grow up sad and alone because neither white or black people will accept you.” After she had mentioned family members discriminating against her, I continued with further questions, asking her to describe her family’s reaction to her parents being married and having children together. Her parents got married around the age of 18. During this time, her mom’s parents were living in the same town as the two and her dad’s parents were living on their Native American tribe’s reservation in South Dakota. Both sets of parents were very happy and supportive about their marriage while many other family members were not. Most of the family members on her mom’s side did not approve of this marriage and refused to attend the wedding. After having a few kids together, they filed for a divorce in which her mom’s side was very pleased with. When the divorce was final, her mom’s side of the family became more active in her and her siblings’ lives.
As I think about Stevenson’s life and compare it to my own, I see that there are more differences between us than just ethnicity.

As a child, she grew up not knowing the half of her family members in which half her ethnicity had come from. Along with that, her mom’s side of her family disapproved of her parents’ marriage and choice of having children which resulted in a form of disowning. I, on the other hand, grew up knowing every member of my family on both, my mom and dad’s side. We have family members, from both sides, over almost every weekend for no special occasion and we consider family closeness to be extremely important. Although there is a significant difference of importance between our families, I believe this is due to our ethnicities and the racial discrimination within Stevenson’s family. Some members of her family felt as if abiding by their hateful beliefs were worth more than having a strong relationship with one

another.
Overall, I believe that understanding and having a common knowledge of the issue of diversity are extremely important. The textbook provides its readers with a better understanding on how race is usually perceived. Individuals form perceptions of other ethnicities based on “common ancestry or decent” (McCornack, 2016). After interviewing Stevenson and learning how race is usually perceived, I stress this project on other individuals throughout the nation. This interview assignment allowed me to take a step out of my comfort zone and meet an individual who has different life experiences than myself. We were able to meet by having a common ground and from there we were able develop better insights on each other’s lives. Not necessarily does anyone need to recreate an identical project, but as a nation, we all need to begin perceiving each other’s differences as unique rather than inferior and learn from these differences rather than degrade them.