Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 

 

 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

       I was involved in an incident of microagression this week when I pulled into a gas station to get gas.  I walked up to the booth and gave the attendant my credit card to obtain gas and a heated conversation pursued. I told the attendant who was of an African culture (my guess Ethiopian) for $15.00 dollars worth of gas.  He responded “(wan – fi)” and I said “no, $15.00 dollars worth of gas”.  His voice became louder and he shouted “Wan- fi” and I then raise my voice and said “$15.00 dollars, I can’t understand you!”  So finally he wrote down the number 15 on a piece of paper and then I replied “Yes”.   During this heated exchange I was thinking negative thoughts like why didn’t this man speak English?  There was definitely a communication disconnect and I realized that I got caught up with emotion and disregarded everything I had learned this week in my Perspective Diversity class. 

            This was clearly a case of racial microagression because I probably humiliated the gas attendant and made him feel like a stranger in his own land (Laureate Education, Inc, 2011).  I was shocked about my behavior because I have always viewed myself to be a very caring and sensitive person who cared about the feelings of others.  But emotion can make us do ugly things and exhibit behaviors out of the norm.   I am now feeling very guilty because I committed a microassault against this guy because I was challenging his intellectual ability (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  As I now self-reflect I grapple with the reality that I too possess some deep seated biases that I need to get rid of so I can truly show an understanding and respect to all cultures.

 

 

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved

            from https://class.waldenu.edu



Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

                    I interviewed three family members to inquire about their thoughts on culture and diversity and the thoughts were rather similar.  I think that most people associate culture with the way a particular group of people live their lives as part of society.   The people I interviewed defined culture and diversity in the following ways:

Nia (age 31 / African-American/Environmental Scientist): “Culture is a lifestyle that one group of people identify with backgrounds, traditions, and morality “.  Diversity is a variety of cultures.  Ecosystems can also have diversity.

Linda (age 61/ African American/ Social Scientist):” Culture is the viewpoint, beliefs, customs, and traditions and how they exhibited amongst people in society”.  Diversity means different.

Terreta (age 43/ African American/ Director of Marketing & Communication (college): Culture is the norms and traditions that one is familiar with including family surroundings and upbringing.  Diversity is the variety of different cultures and traditions.

          Before I enrolled in this course I believed that culture was just customs, holidays, foods pertaining to a particular group of people.  I am learning so much more about deep culture which examines how people live and what things are meaningful to them.  We you learn more about different people, you gain an extra level of respect and understanding of others.  Diversity strengthens our ties to one another and makes life more interesting.  This world would be a boring place if we all looked and acted in the same manner.   I have also realized the richness of allowing students to be bi-cultural which means that they can be proud of holding on to their home culture in the classroom while also learning about a new culture.  I learned from my interviews that most people view culture from just on the surface because they are not aware that a deeper definition of culture exists. This course has changed me tremendously for the better and I am eager to find out what will come next.

 

 

My Family Culture

 

 

My Family Culture

 

          If I and my family would have to relocate to another country because of the occurrence of a major catastrophe in the US and we were allowed to take only three items, I would really have to deeply ponder about the items I would select.  The first item that I would select would be my bible because it would be a source of inspiration and the words would be written in English   I may be relocating to a non-English speaking country so it would be to my advantage to have a book written in my native language.  Secondly I would bring family pictures of my relatives that have since passed away in order to keep their memories close to my heart.  The last item that I would bring would be fruit in order to stay nourished.

            There may be a language barrier in the new country where I have to reside so I would let people know the value of these items that I brought over by drawing pictures to explain the items to others.  Upon arriving at this new place I am suddenly told that I have to narrow my choices down to one item, so I would select food because that is the key to my survival.

            Family is very important to me and I think the true gift is allowing my family to accompany me to a new land.  Some of the problems that we may encounter would be adapting to the climate, language, economic and housing system, and obtaining adequate health care.  This exercise helped me to get in touch with my feelings and belief systems.  I now realize that having a loving family is the best commodity that anyone could have.  No obstacle is too large to achieve when you have the love and company of your family