Tony Miller, Jr.

Autoethnography Part 2
Multiculturalism on College Campuses

Cultural Identity Influence

Cultural identity plays a major role on how we as people interact with one another. Even
in cases of people being of the same race and ethnicity. Meanings and interpretations vary
amongst people that we may not understand. Making assumptions that people know what we
mean simply because we know what we mean causes many problems in our society. One of the
most difficult things people will encounter during our lifetime is understanding the reason why
people do what they do. If we do not understand the reason for someone doing something
differently than what we are used to, many of us start to cast judgments and criticize them for
their actions. Our society is so ethnocentric, and we feel if it is not done the way we learned it or
in a way that is familiar to us, then it must be wrong.

One of the biggest problems many people

have is that we too often judge a book by its cover and never open the book to read the story. So
many embarrassing episodes can be avoided if we simply asks questions in order to find an
understanding and sincerely be willing to learn something new.
As mentioned in part one, my beliefs are embedded deeply into my psyche and by nature
if someone challenges me or my beliefs I will defend them. There are many people in the world
that react and respond in the same manner, however there are also many who are not as
outspoken or defensive about their beliefs and their feelings are hurt because someone has cast
dispersions on their beliefs, culture or heritage. My parents taught me to treat everyone equal
and most of the time I strive to do so. I am human and I make mistakes as we all do, and we are
all influenced by our friends and the many stereotypes we hear about. I also believe in giving
everyone the benefit of the doubt and sometimes to a fault because I trust in people so much.
For instance, I am often shocked by behaviors of other people when I find out they have
done something I would define as out of their character based on my interactions with that
person. This happens to me personally and professionally. Honestly, my way of striking up a

Tony Miller, Jr.

Autoethnography Part 2
Multiculturalism on College Campuses

conversation may seem intrusive to a race or ethnic group that tends to be less intrusive and of a
quieter tone. I am not wrong and neither are they, it is just what we are used to. As I have
progressed through life, college, and now graduate school I see that people act different in
different settings and they also act different around different people. I believe that being nice to
someone is the proper thing to do and honestly the only thing to do when you first meet a person.
In my personal and professionally life my acts of kindness have been taken into the wrong
context or even taken for granted in both venues, but mostly personally.
For example, when I am/was single and found a nice girl that I may be potentially
interested in getting to know more, I would be a perfect gentleman, carry on good conversation,
and learn more about this person as time went by. However, if I realized I was no longer
interested in this person in that capacity I would still be nice to them and carry conversations, but
they often times took my continued generosity as a sign of deeper interest. I have always been
taught and believed in being honest and whether or not I told them I was no longer interested in
them in that capacity, my actions always spoke a little louder and often got me into trouble as
time continued and the truth had to come out.
Professionally, especially being a new professional, your kindness can be taken for
weakness and I have realized that many people are going to try and get away with whatever they
can before they stop doing whatever the problem is. I think most of my beliefs are right by
nature, but they have gotten me into trouble and even got my feelings hurt due to
misunderstandings with other people. And I have learned that my beliefs can and does affect
people whether it is in a positive or negative way.
On a more broad cultural identity basis, I know that as an African American male my
identity and culture is and can be perceived differently by many other races. Along with my
culture as well as every other culture in the world comes stereotypes. I believe there are some

Tony Miller, Jr.

Autoethnography Part 2
Multiculturalism on College Campuses

positives for each culture and also some negatives for each culture. As an African American
male, I am almost expected to do certain things because of my race. As an African American
male, I am mostly viewed as being athletic, fast, strong, amongst a couple of others. These
stereotypes or expectations are viewed as mostly positive for most African American males.
However, we have negative expectations or stereotypes as well. For instance, we are known to
be poor, thieves, unintelligent, irresponsible, amongst other negative traits. One such as not
being able to swim or being afraid of dogs that do not belong to us are not really seen as a
positive or negative, but come with the territory. Also, since I am a short male as well, there
comes other expectations because of that characteristic as well.
As you can imagine, there are positives and negatives to both sides whether they are
viewed as good or bad. In most cases if an African American male were to walk into a gym or a
field amongst people of other races, usually they are automatically viewed to be good at
whatever sport is being played. That can be good and bad because it gives us a chance to play
earlier, but if we are not as good as they expect, they are disappointed and honestly feel let down.
On the contrary, being seen as a thug, irresponsible, or unintelligent provide the negative and no
examples are needed. Nevertheless, positives are surrounded by these situations. If an African
American male can dress nice, show responsibility, or make good grades, it can help the image
of the African American male. These negative stereotypes can also serve as motivation for
African American males to prove society wrong and help them to prosper individually and as a
race itself.
Honestly, I have actually enjoyed the advantages of my beliefs and my experience of
being an African American male. They allow me to look through life in a different lens and even
paint my own picture of how I want my life to look. It also gives me a chance to see how people
really are and although there are nasty stereotypes about everyone floating around, they are not

Tony Miller, Jr.

Autoethnography Part 2
Multiculturalism on College Campuses

always true, which allows me to continue to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until I see
otherwise, but still not be shocked when they do something out of character.
I have not really read or studied any authors or literature regarding diversity until I
enrolled in this class this semester. I have learned that diversity has become more and more
important as the years have gone by due to the melting pot the United States is. Even while
working in Residence Life at my alma mater, I did not understand how important diversity was.
I really thought diversity was just about different races being brought together to work together.
It was not until I started working at the University of Memphis and attending class that I started
to truly understand what diversity really was and what it was all about. I never really understood
how serious diversity really is. I have been learning about how important diversity is in Student
Affairs and on college campuses, but it has also been showing me how diversity works in the real
world as well. This semester in my Multiculturalism class I bought a book entitled Multicultural
Competence in Student Affairs by Rachel Pope, Amy Reynolds, and John Mueller. This book
does a great job in helping Student Affairs professionals identify exactly where they are at when
it comes to multicultural competence and how important it is. It gives you some theories, ways
to help you improve your competence level, and examples on how to practice effective
multicultural competence in the workplace. My favorite thing about this book came in chapter
one and chapter two. It identified the core competencies of multicultural competence, but it also
identified the characteristics. It breaks it down into three parts: multicultural awareness,
knowledge and skills. These parts and the characteristics of each allow us to see where we
started and what we need to improve on in order to become better at what we do. This is the
only book that I have read that deals directly with diversity. I agree with a lot of what it says and

Tony Miller, Jr.

Autoethnography Part 2
Multiculturalism on College Campuses

I think it can help me as I progress into the profession and also help me be able to help others
with their level of multicultural competence.
I am aware that my definition of diversity is not only vague, but is very narrow and does
not cover everything in which diversity is about. I am smart enough to admit that my level of
understanding of diversity is not very high. The level has grown a lot since I started attending
the University of Memphis, but I still need to acquire more information. Sitting in class and
discussing what diversity is will help me learn more about the topic itself, but if I want to be able
to effectively communicate what true diversity is and what it looks like, I am going to have to do
some more research and studying on my own. With any topic, commitment must be a priority if
we really want to learn about something and be able to speak above the surface level. Diversity
seems like it is a simple term and it probably is. However, the word and its meaning
encompasses so much and the range of the word can stretch so far. Race is not the only thing
that matters when referring to diversity. Race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and
other things are all a part of diversity and without diversity this world would be an even sadder
place. However, if we continue to educate ourselves on what it really is and how we can
implement practices to make other aware of what it really is, universities along with business and
even our country as a whole will be able to work together much easier.