Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The one microaggression that comes to mind is when I was at a Christmas party for my job and there were a few people dancing.  This woman named Robin walked over to me and one of my co-workers and said “You people can really dance”.  She then said “you have a lot of rhythm”.  My co-worker and I looked at each other, we are both African American then looked at Robin.  I don’t know how my co-worker felt but I felt slighted.  I felt that she was insinuating that African Americans can dance and that is about all that we did well.  The fact that she said you people made her statement even worst, because it made me feel as though African Americans are not part of the human race; we are separate and needed to be looked upon differently.  Robin was acting on a stereotype that is well known about African Americans.  This told me a lot about Robin, she was closed minded and prejudice and I did not trust her after this incident.

All week long I listened for microaggressions fortunately I did not hear any, but listening for them put on the defense.  Microaggressions are direct insults to a person, which leaves you feeling excluded, inferior and angry.  Microaggresions are the hidden feelings or stereotypes that people believe about marginalized groups of people.  These feelings are a reality to people that holds them, that is why people can easily insult a race of people unconsciously.  It is important that as educators we deal with these untrue feelings or beliefs about people of different culture or race.  We need to have the same expectations of our children despite their race, nationality, religion or economical status.   It is vital that we maintain a partnership with the families that we service biases cause us to make assumptions about families that are not realistic.  It is important that we deal with each family individually and not put them in the same category in our minds.  Prejudice is thinking that people of the same race or ethnicity are the same.  What I have learned is that stereotypes are false and people should be related to individually. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Much of what we have studied was reflected in the answers I got from the three people that I interviewed.  Each person had a hard time at first defining culture and diversity, but their answers reflect what we have discussed in class.  The only added dimension was two people discussed history as being an aspect of culture.  When I think of history I think of America’s history regarding the pilgrims and Christopher Columbus and I would say that these aspects are a contributor to the culture in America.  I then began to think of my own history with my family coming from Guyana.  Guyana for a long time was a British colony.  I have a culture that incorporates ways of living from England.  I never thought of this before. I need to look more into the culture in England to find out more about my family.   One person that I interviewed described diversity as being able to go from the projects to the White house.  I found that to be very interesting comment.  I interviewed a couple from India and their definition of diversity was different kind of practices and cultures, different viewpoints and ideas.  I thought that was the best answer I got for the definition of diversity.

What was omitted was social identities.  No one I interviewed mentioned the different social groups that each of us belong to and how they shape and define each of us.

In listening to other peoples’ definition of culture and diversity it has made realize that culture and diversity is a hard thing to capture for most people.  Each person struggled to find the words to define culture and diversity.  They said that I know what it is but it is kind of difficult finding the right words to define it.  When I finished talking with everyone I did not feel as bad, because I have a difficult time expressing culture and even more difficult time identifying what is the dominant culture.  Each person that I talked with mentioned the foods that they eat and traditions that are followed; which in my opinion is a surface viewpoint of culture.  I have learned that a surface viewpoint can be detrimental in trying to relate to another person because we end up making assumptions that may not be true.

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country.  The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees.  You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event.  You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own and that you might have to stay there permanently.  You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you.

The three items that I would take with me to another country would be a photo album, a monopoly game and a doll from my youth.  The photo album means a lot to me because it holds pictures from family functions, such as holidays, birthdays, wedding pictures and pictures of my brothers and I while we were growing up.  There are also pictures of when I visited Guyana and pictures of my parents before they migrated to America.   The monopoly game is important to my family because we spend hours playing; it is a tradition in my household.  When we have guests over to our house we always pull out the monopoly game.   The last item is a doll that was given to me when I was about five years old.  The doll was hand made in Guyana and was given to me for my fifth birthday.  I think it might be worth some money. 

If I were told that I could only keep one of these items I would be devastated.  These items hold memories and tradition and are very important to my family and me.  I don’t know which item of the three I would pick.  I possibly might be able to find the monopoly game, but the doll and the photo album can’t be replaced.  

I never thought these items were so important to me that giving any of them up would painful.  I see that every family has their traditions and artifacts that are important to them and cannot be replaced.  It is important to be sensitive to a family’s culture and traditions because this is what makes a person who they are.