Minority Report

I am the only American in my masters program. Half of the people in my classes are from various countries in Africa such as Uganda and Tanzania, and the other half are from various Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as Syria, Pakistan, India, Bahrain, and Malaysia, with one or two people from England. Although I love the diversity in my classes, it often makes me feel a little self conscious about being American.

Today in my Perspectives on Development class we were discussing the politics of development and why there is need for reform. My professor, who is Italian, peppered her lecture with comments like, "The United States has the largest military in the world, and therefore they do whatever they want" and "The United States is the only member of the International Monetary Fund with veto power, so these international organizations are not perfect," and, "Mexico's problem is that they geographically positioned under the U.S.," and part of me wanted to stand up and yell at the class, "Well, I'm sorry if my country is so awesome and powerful!" and the other part of me wanted to start saying things like "Doing good, eh?" and telling people I'm from Canada.