Ronnie Thomas-Johnson

Dance 1010
Class 9-9:50 AM
Life History Interview Paper
Growing up as a military brat, I have traveled around the world and seen many
communities. Going from different countries and states I have noticed people as privileged and
non-privileged. To me the word privilege means someone has a special right, advantage or
benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most. From my perspective
privileged is high class white people who feel they have a higher advantage than minorities.
People who are non-privileged suffer from high advantages in life like having a college
education, food, clothes and shelter. Non-privileged is someone who is not rich or someone born
with a silver spoon in their mouth. I feel people who are non-privileged do not have the
opportunity to be a high up in a chain of command in a company to know that information. When
I go walking downtown to go get some food and I see a non-privileged person who is homeless
asking for money to feed them. To me seeing a homeless person, handicapped, or someone who
does not have the same expectations as I do are considered non-privileged.
I have been living in Utah for almost two years now. I come from a very conservative
family who believes you should live by the bible. I grew up in a small town called McAlester,
Oklahoma was everybody knows everybody. I went to a southern Baptist church where I went to
church every time there was service. By my religious beliefs I was raised to believe
homosexuality is not expected by any circumstances because its a shame to society and god. In
my perspective I do not believe my parents values because I do not care who someone chooses to
be with and Im not the person to judge someone.

Ronnie Thomas-Johnson
Dance 1010
Class 9-9:50 AM
Life History Interview Paper
As living here in Utah I met a guy named Kyle. Kyle is born and raised in Utah. I met
Kyle my first semester at SLCC. I described to him Im doing an interview on paper on people
who are considered non-privileged. Into the discussion Kyle told me he feels himself of being a
non-privileged person because he has to hide his sexuality. Kyle is homosexual and likes to cross
dress which means he likes to dress like a women. Living in a state where mostly everyones
religion is Mormon, people judge your life you dont live by their beliefs of what is a good
Mormon. Kyle feels he has to express himself as being a heterosexual because he does not like to
be judge by others. Kyle told me a story of him going out to a gay bar, dressing like a women
and then when he was done hanging out from the club he got beat up by this guy because this
guy did not like the way Kyle was wearing womens clothes. Ever since that incident Kyle says
he communicates with a deep manly voice to hide his girly voice from other people. Now he
doesnt dress like a woman he dresses like a man. He feels living in our society were supposed to
live the expectations of what women should be and a man. When his family found he was
homosexual they were very upset. His family is a very LDS and do not like homosexuals. Kyle
says when the Bishop found out he was homosexual he got kicked out the church. They say
homosexuals are not allowed in LDS community. Kyle has been shunned from his family and
still this day he is shunned from his family because they dont believe in his lifestyle. He says its
a very depressing life not having your family to support your lifestyle. Now a day all he has in
his life is his boyfriend and friends. He walks around with a positive attitude and tries to ignore
the negativity people give him. He says his attitude towards our culture is people judge because

Ronnie Thomas-Johnson
Dance 1010
Class 9-9:50 AM
Life History Interview Paper
they dont believe the same values as the other person. He hopes someday he has the chance to
express his feelings to his family. Its been an emotional rollercoaster for Kyle but he still walks
around with a smile on his face and positive attitude.
During the interview it was very emotional for me to see him express himself by showing
emotions. From this interview I have gain insight that non-privileged can be someone who is
homosexual, handicapped or homeless. I understand a non-privileged person has a lot of
difficulties adapting to our society. I believe our society and culture we live in is very
judgmental. People are so quick to judge someone based on their religion and lifestyle. People
should get to know someone before they start judging someone based on their lifestyle. I can
give an example of a person in my family who is homosexual. I have a cousin who is a female
who has been attracted to females her whole life. Never in her life has been interested in males.
My family disowned her for almost five years. My family was so upset that she was not
interested in males. Coming from a very religion family it was very tough on her because she felt
no one loved her and she was all alone. In December 16, 2008 we had a family reunion were my
cousin came with her girlfriend but the family gave their expressions on their face on how they
felt. My cousin came out and said she does not know why we cant expect her lifestyle and live
with it. Over the past few years I see my family coming around to acknowledge her lifestyle.
Now my cousin is a happy female with a loving family who cares about her.
Living in our society people should not scared to express them to the world. I see a lot of
males and females coming out as transgender. Even though we live in a world were transgender

Ronnie Thomas-Johnson
Dance 1010
Class 9-9:50 AM
Life History Interview Paper
is not literally tolerated the transgender community is coming out with them being happy and
they love their lifestyle. I feel if our culture came together as one we can start by making a
difference in the world by accepting others people lifestyle. I know that is just a dream because
has their own views on life.
Overall I really enjoyed this assignment. I got see someone else perspective on nonprivileged and privilege. I believe I have better understanding that there are people who are less
privileged than me.