ELP journal

Yesterday we talked about racial descrimination in class.
First we started to look at the U.S. consensus and its questions on race.
It was very interesting to see the changes in the varietion of racial types which are on the questuioneer, and one thing that I knoticed was although many of the races gradually varied in to smaller categories, such as Black became african american and negro, the white always stay as white. I thought the reason behind it was that white wants to stay to be the most superior race so that they do not want to create conflict among themselvs. We didn't think of the answer in the question, so if we get some time, I would like to hear other opinions about it.
I also didn't know that the U.S. government uses the sensus to detect possible threats to the country, such as cuban and arab terrorists and so forth.
I do not particullary think that the methoud is efficient, because people can easily lie about their race, but I also learned that in the past, there were peopel actually coming to you and determine your race... The fact that this kind of sysytem was invented by the government frightens me.
I do not know the purpose behind the national senses in Japan, which is held at this time, but I certainly think that there are some political reasons.
Through my 4 years of experiences abroad, I've been having chances to encounter people from different background and that really made me to get over with some of the stereotypic images that I had. For example, I did not have good impressions toward Koreans and Chinese before I made friends from these countries in my high school in Canada. I think by talking and becoming friends with them, I finally understood that there are no difference between me and them. We have emotions, feelings, thoughts, and above all, we are all human beings.
Therefore, I believe the best way to overcome stereotype and descrimination is communication.
Even if we learn everything about human rights and different cultures, without having real conversation with peole who are different from you, you cannot really understand and accept them.