Game Of Life

For the second concurrent session at SDSU's Collegiate Dialogue on Diversity I participated in the “Game Of Life”.

It was a game of social perceptions and how social interactions produced sometimes very unbalanced and biased disseminations  of opportunities and wealth in society.  I witnessed so many injustices within the game that made some students irritable.

When we first walked in we were assigned name tags that held our classification. The workshop leaders kept the meaning of our special little name tags a secrete. As each one of us got our random designations we were sent off with a “In there Ma’am” or “Through there Sir”. Some were encouraged to cut some folks and others were told to just go in and don’t get in the way of the others. Needless to say, from the start I was very intrigued.

When I got my tag and walked in and I was greeted at the table designated as the bank, “Hello Ma’am, how can I help you?“ I replied that I needed a job and didn’t know were to go. She told me I could jump to the front of the line and get a job at the employment and housing department across the way. I did what the young lady asked and saw one of my classmates in line. It was Kariah, she showed me a piece of paper and said “ I’m trying to get a job but I don’t know what to do with this paper they won’t help me.“ I looked at the piece of paper she was holding and saw “asdfl;khj - a;diojadf;“.

I was like” damn girl sucks to be you” and I proceeded to skip her in line and just as I did, Kariah protested. Right at that moment the guy who was the policeman came and said to me, “ Is she harassing you?” I said “she was” and just like that he took her away with no hesitation. As he took her away he stated that he can't understand her and that she was going where she belonged. It was at that moment that I realized her I.D. was that of an immigrant.

I myself faced hardship too. I was able to witness in some measure what it was like to have the same job as a male but not the same compensations as a female who is just as qualified. While my male equivalents were living it up, I was stuck trying to save twice as long just to afford half the stuff they acquired with their prestigious titles.

 After a while I started to help out the down trotted who were just trying to acquired a basic education.

The whole activity was an eye opener of how important taking advantage of education can help diffuse some of the pitfalls that people of color face. Additionally they made us critically think about our own prejudgments and some of the injustices that society inflicts that at first glance seem intolerable but we ignore it on a daily basis. Good workshop.