Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 Every day in our society people are treated a certain way because of their race or gender. Actions can send messages of how people feel about people who they interact with.

 My sister took her car to this mechanic to repair what she thought was here wheel bearing. So she expressed this to the mechanic. The mechanic did not check to make sure that this was the problem he just replace the wheel bearing so on her way home her car was doing the same thing it was doing before come to find out it was not the wheel bearing but it was her breaks. She had to pay for two repairs. I think the mechanic did things this way because she is a female. I do not believe this would had taken place if a male had taken the car.

 

My daughters and I went groceries shopping because we were going to have a family cook-out. We had a grocery cart full of things we needed. When my daughter got to the checkout the cashier asked my daughter if she was paying with EBT my daughter stated “No with cash”.

 

My mother –in-law came to the hospital to see my youngest daughter in the nursery when she was born. To my understanding there were other people there to see other babies. When they brought my daughter to the window someone made the comment “This baby is so cute her daddy must be white, just look at her color and hair. My mother-in-law (a lady who do not hold her tongue) replied.  “This is my son’s baby, my granddaughter and both of her parents are black”.

 

These examples of microaggression made me and my family members feel humiliated, disrespected, and devalued. Reflecting on these incident has brought about my being more aware of my interactions and communication with people. In my professional role I will continue to work with a more diverse population therefore I must be mindful or the messages I communicate verbally and non-verbally.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE

 The three people I chose to question for this week assignment are a 47 year old African American man, a 55 year old (acquaintance) Caucasian woman , and a 28 year old  female( family member)  African American.

The African American male define culture as” being your beliefs, religion and other things that are in still in you from your  up bring, something’s which are passed down from one generation to another”.

 He define diversity as the differences between people from the same background or from different ones”.

My acquaintance define culture as” your way of life, and a person perspective of who they are and who other are as well. Diversity is the difference that a group of people may have.

The 28 year old family member define culture as" being the event , foods, and holidays a person  celebrates that represent their culture".

Diversity as being an "variety of differences".

 When I asked these people about their definition they all had to think for a few moment and seem to struggle with expressing their definition.  This assignment reinforced my belief that culture and diversity are very vital parts of understanding the children and families we serve in the educational profession. People are aware of the surface culture someone may have but not aware of the deep culture that identifies who we are as well.

My Family Culture

                                               

My Family Culture

If my family and I were told we had to leave our country and move to another country that had a different culture this would be very hard for us leaving other family members and friends. It would be very difficult to choose three small items to take along when there are so many item that have sentimental value and apart of who we are and now you have to leave all this behind. However I would take the family bible because I know we would need the strength of God to take us through this situation and we would also need encouragement which we would get from the word of God as well. The bible also have recorded in it the birthday, marriages, and death of family member. The second item would be a photo album which has pictures of my great grandparents, pictures of my grandchildren and other family members. The third item would be the folder in which we keep important papers. After getting to the new country and being told we could only have one item that one item would be the family bible which we would use to continue to teach the word of God to the strengthen my family. The bible also have important dates in it. We would have to carry a lot of our family memories would in our hearts.

Everyday many families have to make these difficult decision, many leaving their country and family members behind I know this is very emotional and frustrating for them coming to a new country whose culture is different leaving all the familiars items and places and even some people behind.