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six students react

The Campus Echo asked six students to respond to the book "Coal to Cream"'s Prologue and to review it. (note - my teacher only asked me for a response, not a review. hence, i look even more like an idiot for not even mentioning the damn book in my 'response'. i've typed exactly what was in the paper, grammar errors and all that came with the editing, as well as them TYPOING MY LAST NAME.)

"I never thought about how we index - or categorize, that is - people in Sweden until I came to NCCU. One day we were discussing "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, somebody asked me how he would be treated if he went to Sweden.

I answered that Americans are considered "cool" in Sweden, and that he would be treated very well. He seemed content and we left it at that, but I spent the rest of the day thinking about this exchange. I wondered what my answer would have been if it had been someone who planned to immigrate to Sweden from Poland, Turkey, or Albania asking me the same question. One-fifth of Sweden's population consist of immigrants and their descendents. I would like to think that everyone is considered equal, or "cool," as in the case of Americans, but I know that that is not the case.

In Sweden people are not seen as different and foreign based only on the color of their skin. It also depends on how well you speak the Swedish language, what country you come from, and how different your last name is. I speak flawless Swedish, and nothing about my appearance suggest that I am anything but a native Swede, yet there is one thing that might present a problem for me when I return and start applying for jobs - my last name.

My father is from Bosnia. I have an Arabic last name. Recent surveys have shown that job applications with foreign sounding last names are often ignored in favor of applicants with Swedish sounding names. I might actually have a better chance getting the job if my name sounded American. - Jennie Alabasic.