1. Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise
FYS 100
Jerry Kitchen
In my opinion the blue eyes/brown eyes exercise causes people to think about race relations
and discrimination in a personal way. Many people have never been subjected to racism, prejudice,
bullying or other forms of mistreatment in their lives. By participating in this exercise, both blue and
brown eyed people begin to have a sense of what it is like for those of a different color or social status.
People from all walks of life are confronted by things that many deal with on a daily basis.
One of the sad effects of racism is that those who are mistreated sometimes begin to see all
members of the race of people who have carried this out as racist. Members of that race are categorized
as racist without the slightest amount of evidence to support this assumption. This in effect results in
the original group of those who were mistreated perpetuating the cycle by practicing their own form of
racism.
It should not matter to anyone if someone has different color skin, or if they are poor. It should
not matter what ones social or economic standing is, all that really matters is what kind of person they
are. There are good and bad people in every race and level of society. We should not categorize them,
but this is difficult if you have been mistreated by a member of that race or group. Racism is more often
than not fostered or perpetuated by adults. When I was 10 years old I attended a school with a larger
ratio of black to white students than I had ever encountered. In 1970 there were still protests and riots
during the civil rights movement, and inter-racial tensions were high. The thing I noticed during that
time was that there was never a problem due to race among the kids at school. The kids got along better
than the so-called adults did. We had our disagreements as children do, but got over it and still
remained friends. We came from different backgrounds, some were poor, and some were well to do,
but skin color did not divide us. We shared lunches and played together at recess. During lunch time, we
would take a record player outside on the covered walkways and listen to music on 45 records that had
been brought from home. Some of my friends even taught me to dance to recordings of the Jackson Five
or other Motown artists. I remember sitting in the cafeteria and playing blackjack, using the treats we
had brought in our lunches to bet with instead of money. An observer would have seen a sea of black,
brown, and white faces, having fun and laughing as kids will, having a good time, because race did not
matter to us.
We cannot allow who and what we are to be dictated by the words or actions of others. Respect
for others begins with respect for our self. We cannot control what others do or say. We must, however,
control our words and actions. I think it would be good for everyone to just look at each other as

2. people; not black or white, red or yellow. We need to remember that God made us all, and if we can’t
love one another down here, we sure aren’t going to get along up in heaven, because we will not be
there.