Opinion | Grafton and Milwaukee: Far Apart in Diversity

I’ve found that when you’re uncomfortable you’re doing something right, and that’s because stepping out is uncomfortable. I come from a town that’s a couple of skips away from Milwaukee, but it couldn’t be more different. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Grafton WI is compiled of 95.5 percent Caucasian people. This statistic is lacking something, and that something is diversity.

When I came to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee I faced two things: that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was a diverse campus, and that Milwaukee was the most segregated city in the United States in terms of race and poverty. These two statistics were hard to comprehend together, but analyzing them separately would just complicate the problems in front of my new home. Here I came to believe that you have to be open to change, to change. This change would be of the mind, and of the possibilities of others.

At the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee there are organizations, and cultural student success centers for African American, American Indian, Latino/a, and Southeast Asian students. In my freshman year I entered a student organization that met up on Thursday nights. When I walked through the doors, I noticed one very different thing. I was not part of the majority. The room was made up of about 40 percent white, 50 percent Asian, 4 percent African American, 3 percent Latino, and 3 percent mixed- race people.

This at the time made me uncomfortable, and I recognized this. While it’s important to feel uncomfortable it’s more important to understand why.

This was the first time that I can remember that I was the obvious minority. Letting the feeling of uncomfortability not overwhelm and stunt you is important. Not talking about race is like acting that racism doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard.

While at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee students are told to embrace the diversity while maintaining segregated lives by things such as race. In the past I didn’t want to discuss it because I didn’t want to be wrong, but now I see how important conversation is to understanding. Now, I take uncomfortability as a learning experience one where I get the chance to take a step to learn about other cultures and hear their stories.

And this is a privilege.