Mason Parry

Taboo Talks: Immigration Reform and the Importance of Voting

Taboo talks was a panel of four people with different ethnic backgrounds and
histories answering questions by the proctor and audience. The main topic was about
immigration and how it affects everybody. They would all give their experience and view
on immigration to give people different perspectives. They would also answer anyone's
questions about immigration to help clear any confusion. They also focused on why its
important to vote and how it helps the community grow and change. They definitely
were urging people to spread the word about immigration and clear up any false ideas
people had about it.

I believe this event helps with these two Salt Lake Community College learning
outcomes: Students develop the knowledge and skills to work with others in a
professional and constructive

manner & Students think critically and

creatively. The first
one is pretty self explanatory. By going to this event to broaden my views and alter my
opinions I can more successfully cooperate with more individuals. By understanding
more cultures and differences between people I can better conduct myself to act
accordingly to achieve better success for me personally and for others as well. This also
ties into thinking critically and creatively. I like to think this helps me in developing more
critical thinking skills and to stop and understand a bigger picture than what I had
before. More knowledge means more tools I can use to help solve problems that I
wouldnt have been unable to solve or solve not as efficiently.
When it comes to our readings I believe it best relates to the theme identity and
privilege. As for a specific essay/poem I would have to go with Telephone Conversation
by Wole Soyinka. I feel like what was said a lot in the event I attended can be seen in
this essay. Specifically the part where the phone operator has to ask how dark Wole is
when hes requesting a room to stay in and doesn't want to waste his time if hes going
to be turned away because of the color of his skin. I feel a lot of immigrants face this
kind of discrimination everyday, not only by their skin color, but by their original country.
Stereotypes exist for everybody, but I believe that immigrants and other minorities have
more negative stereotypes than positive ones. And from these stereotypes people will
act differently with them and see them more as an outsider. And it sometimes isnt from
ill will, but rather a misunderstanding or unwillingness to learn why these stereotypes
exist and why their most likely exaggerated or false. A lot of the presentation was about
informing the public the falsies that existed to help improve the image of immigrants so
that they dont have to face discrimination and scrutiny.

Mason Parry

I believe this had a positive outlook for me. I cant say that much will change, but
at least I have better understanding of immigrants and minorities and what hardships
they have to endure. This makes me a more integral part to society, because iI can use
my new found knowledge to help educate others to better society. But also at the3
same time there is only so much that I can do. I wasnt expecting life changing
revelations from this event, but I can say any little bit helps.
I say that I did enjoy my experience with this event. It was very open and I liked how it
allowed people to ask questions. The format was also very casual, while I do like a well
written talk every now and then, I felt they went with the right choice going with the
panel style. And there was a added bonus of snacks afterwards that was pretty good. I
would definitely go to more of these kiind of events. They dont even have to be about
immigration, rather they could include topics like climate change, Oligopolies, Freedoms
and rights, etc I think I just liked how relaxed it was; no one was yelling or bad
mouthing anyone. Rather there was just a peaceful talk and it felt civilized because of it.
Comparing this to my pre-flection I gotta say I was pretty close. I figured it would be
more like a speech with like only one talker, but Im not complaining. It did clear up
some confusions about immigration that I had. Like for instance -- how the whole
immigration process actually works, they explained what a person has to do to
immigrate into the United states of America. They also expanded my knowledge about
how immigrants feel and how most of them dont have the choice of immigrating, but
rather have to due to situations in their origin country like war, poverty, crime, and a
whole bunch of more reasons. Unfortunately they didnt spend too much time on the
voting part that is included into the title. I figured that would be a huge talking point what
with the upcoming election. Overall I would say it came close to my pre-flection
predictions.
In conclusion I have to say that I was enlightened by this experience. It was nice to hear
a not so loud voice when talking about immigration. I liked how I got to see the
perspective of people who immigrated into this county. What they had to do and what
challenges that had to face. It gave me a more analytical and emotional perspective
view on immigration. Before this I didnt much care for immigration, I didnt stand
strongly on one side or the other. But I now realize that there is a lot more to the picture
then what the media will tell you. Hearing actual people tell their stories has helped me
move more on pro immigration side. I cant say that I would join a protest anytime soon,
but I can at least say that I wont oppose it. It was a fine event and I hope others can
experience it for themselves. If not, at least hear the other side of the story to whatever
topic youre interested in. If there is one thing Ive learned from this event it would be to

Mason Parry

listen to the outspoken. Listen to the people who dont have a voice. The people who
are not allowed to have an opinion because its about them. Be there better person and
go out to listen to the people. And that was my experience with Taboo Talks:
Immigration Reform and the Importance of Voting.