I know first hand that diverse populations in groups matter to underrepresented minorities and multicultural groups in society.  I believe that diversity in communities is important. Representation of the underrepresented and diverse is vital everywhere and especially at school where students are looking for safe spaces and environments to make a home away from home.  Students should feel safe at school, not overcrowded with questions from anxiety or worry. Will I make close bonds? Who will understand me? Will I be close to people who look like me? Will I be ostracized or made to defend myself constantly in situations that fit our current social climate?  Everyone should be included and should have somewhere to go when they need help. We should all make diversity and inclusion a point because these things are important to people like me. Let’s all educate ourselves for the betterment of all people all throughout the year.

Assimilating other cultures is also just as important.  Every experience with someone outside of our culture or of what we know as normal is important to developing character and allowing diverse populations to grow.  The partaking and enjoyment of other groups enriches America; all of our differences are what makes us the best, but anybody that lives in Missouri knows that we are overrun with: generalization, prejudice, racism, toxicity, ostracism, and fragility.  These things are hard to clean up because they are deep-rooted in what we know- our cultures and surroundings, but that doesn’t make it impossible. It takes people to call out the unacceptable and WRONGS in our environments and attempt to educate others into knowing the RIGHTS to make a better society.  It takes conversations to reach better acceptance or even better understandings. Studying and experiencing other communities benefits your community, advancing it socially, economically and educationally.

I’m a strong believer that we should accept, love, and embrace the cultures that we come from before someone else’s to improve our communities and decrease suffering within them.  Knowing where you come from is important to your development, it is the soil from which your family tree grows. Our country is stronger when our individuals and communities are stronger. Then, we can support each other and break away from boxes that don’t define us or simply come together to celebrate the things that do define us.  We all should strive to be surrounded by multicultural people and live our lives full of diversity.