Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One example, of microaggression that happened to me, was just last week, not to me, but an elderly African American woman who leaves in my neighborhood. In my neighborhood, we sort of take turns checking on her, since her husband past away. Mrs. Stokes is a great human being, with so, many stories of her life growing up in a prejudice society. I decided to take her to get assistance with food, which she did get some help for.

It was on the way back, she made a comment and said; it was nice of white folks to help me with food, I am surprised sometimes because, of the way they treated me all my life. I started to work in white folk houses, when I was 10 years old. At first, I had forgotten how some Black elderly people see themselves in America. I always love to listen to her tales of the past, because, I don’t think she realizes how much she persevered and how strong she must have been.

That experience, last week did not change my perception about my the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people like, looking at an elderly African American that was a nanny and housekeeper for the dominant culture all of her life, an never got the respect she deserved. I am not anger anymore, when I hear these types of stories, because it is our heritage and we can’t change that, but we have to work on the future. Mrs. Stokes said however, she got to see a black president, and that felt so good watching on television, seeing him being sworn in.

 It brings me back to DR. DERALD WING SUE’s comment on why microaggressions are so harmful.  She state’s they are indeed reflected of a world view, that is one of inferiority/superiority, inclusion/exclusion or in some sense reflect an oppressive belief in, when we talk about racial microaggressions and white supremacy (Laureate, 2011).

 "Micro aggressions in Everyday Life” 2012, Laureate Media Inc.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

One person I interviewed was my friend Gloria who is African American and her husband traveled all over the world in the military. Gloria felt that culture was where you came from such as, your family and your traditions and the way you were raised.

The second was my cousin Henrietta, who is African America thought culture, included your way of thinking, food; dance and religion were all a part of your culture. There was a time when all you had was family, which included the community and the church. You developed culture based your own values and traditions from the placed you lived in.  They both felt that culture and diversity were a combination of race, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs and even your political beliefs. 

The third was my neighbor Lena, who is white and I felt comfortable asking her about culture and diversity since, she has taught elementary school for about seven years now. Lena says that in her classroom they try to teach that because, our values and traditions may differ from the culture we live in, it is so important to respect the values, traditions and experiences the children and their families come from.

The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course and what was included in the answers I received were only surface culture. Some of the aspects I think were overlooked were deep culture. Most people believe culture comes from, holidays you celebrate, foods you have learned as a part of culture. Deep culture could be gender roles, roles of children; how you show emotion and they way you speak (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010 p. 56).

In the ways in which thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity, influenced my own thinking about the topics were, people think that culture and diversity are the same but, I believe that are joined together because diversity is an acceptance of other cultures and even though we have different cultures, we should be able to understanding that each individual is unique, and recognize and embrace those individual differences

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

My Family Culture

 If my immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event, to bring them with me would be one its blessing. However, since I am told that my host country’s culture is completely different from my own, that I might have to stay there permanently and I am further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, I can only take 3 small items with me.

The three smalls items I hold dear and that represents my family culture are: 1). my family photo album. 2). the locket I have of my mother and father. 3). my DVD player and all DVD’s of my family gatherings.

My photo album goes back to all of all my family gatherings, the ones I attended and the ones when I was not born. This album would help me remember all of my family back then and now. I believe that would keep me grounded and make me smile on the days I would feel depressed. On one of my birthdays, my children gave me a locket that I wear on occasion of  my mother and father, that meant so much to me, most of all, they knew me enough to see how important it would be for me to have. My DVDs are of my family gatherings, when the kids are pulling the ropes to see who will win, the older people trying to play volley ball and let’s not forget all of the teasing we do to each other about our days as children. We have so much fun together.

My feelings if, upon arrival, I were told that I could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items I brought with me, upon finding out there is no electricity, I would have to chose my photo album, because that would be visual (something I could see), when looking at something, it will help me to never forget the people who made such a positive force in the way I see the world.

The insights I gained of myself, because of my family culture, is that I was brought up to see people for what they are and not the color of their skin so, even though I would miss everything about my country, it will not be a problem for me learn the cultures of another’s.