In this video they tested to see if people could guess other peoples ethnicity based on their appearances. This was the true test to put stereotypes to the test and base them off of the difference between race and ethnicity. The producers gathered four people who have all different backgrounds of ethnicity. The people also have no background or professional experience with ethnicity or race. These people than had to guess who is white out of a random group of people. The people who were evaluating all went at separate times, so they had to use their own opinions to guess who is white. First they lined up all of the people who are getting evaluated and then the evaluator went down the line person by person. When they evaluate the people to guess if they are white or not they asked them questions or ask them to preform something for them. The four people who were evaluating the line felt very awkward asking and assuming every ones ethnicity. They brought up that it is very taboo and rude to assuming peoples ethnicities. Through out the process they had to ask questions to get background on them. The questions they asked mostly dealt with stereotypes like, shoe size, hair type and color, and if they have an accent. By the end they actually found out who was white and who was not. The results were very surprising.
In class we discussed the difference between race and ethnicity. For some people they get these two terms mixed up, or at least for me I did not know the correct definitions for them. Race is physical features that you cannot hide for example your skin color, and ethnicity is your cultural family history. Most people look at a person and assume their ethnicity based off of their features. When people do this then they start to assume things about their background instead of asking politely. We also brought up the idea of how to politely ask someone their ethnic history and how to ask the wrong way. The best way to ask is to ask about their ethnic background and the wrong way is to ask what are they or where they are from. This is where people can get their feeling hurt and is also were stereotypes become a huge issue. Stereotypes are based on specific ethnic groups and are usually bad. So next time when you are in that situation be careful how you word things and be respectful to that person. You do not know that person just because of stereotypes.
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