MICROAGGRESSIONS

Microaggressions:  small acts of non-physical aggression towards people of different race, gender, culture, abilities and sexual orientation.  

The following video provides a wide range of common microaggressions.

This video is an example of how we take part of a person's identity and turn it into a bad word.  In this case they ask teens to show what it means to run "like a girl."  Then they ask young pre-adolescent girls the same question.  The answers are not the same!  I guess being a girl and a mom of a girl this one touched me deeply...you might need a tissue!

In this example a Korean American woman is approached by a white male and microattacked.  When she turns it around on him and treats him the same he says she is "weird."  This is a clear example of how dangerous microaggressions are because people do not even realize what they are doing!  It is also extremely funny!

OTHER EXAMPLES:

My mother-n-law:  A Canadian hockey team was to play against a Chinese team.  Before the game the teams met and and a Canadian player asked a Chinese player, "your English is so good where are you from?"  The Chinese player responded, "London, Ontario."

Sister:  Angie went to boot camp and her Sgt. called her Army Barbie.

Husband:  When my husband and I went to Chicago to file paperwork for his permanent residency (he's Canadian) we were appalled of the treatment of immigrants!  You wait in lines for hours!  We waited all day (8hrs) got to the front of the line to tell us that they were closing for the weekend.  We were given a ticket that would get us in the next business day without waiting.  When we went in we discovered that there was a four hour line inside.  People are not allowed to sit down in line, even children!  The guards yell at non-English speakers like they will understand better if they yell it.  It was a horrible experience.  

My husband is an interesting example.  People and media joke about being Canadian all the time.  Being part of the white male dominant culture allows him to play along with little offense.  Even though these experiences accumulate they do not leave him feeling inferior or ashamed of his citizenship.  

Myself:  When I call customer service with a problem that I am already frustrated about I get more frustrated when the agent has a think accent.  I never say anything in regards to this, and I recognize they are intelligent and capable of helping, but it is frustrating none the less.

When I was in college I had an African American friend visit me from my hometown.  As we were driving through the city he asked, "where are all the black people?"  My response was "this is a nice part of town."  I was mortified and ashamed as soon as I said it.  I had no idea that these biases were so ingrained into my thoughts.  No apologies can fix statements that come out like this.  It is our responsibility to grow and become more aware and reflect on these ideas so that we don't make the same mistake again.

There are two reasons why microaggressions are so dangerous.  First, according to Dr. Sue, "It saps the spiritual and psychological energies of the person receiving the microaggressions, because it is cumulative in nature" (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).  Because these comments can be so subtle it makes a person question the validity of their identity.  It is also very hard to address comments like these without appearing to be overly sensitive or paranoid.  So recipients of these attacks must either suffer in silence or face defending and validating their feelings.

Second, the violators usually make comments without any malice or bad intentions.  This lack of awareness can not be an excuse.  These hidden biases can be even more dangerous than overt racism and other isms because they believe that their voting, hiring, and interactions are free of prejudice and stereotypes and therefore they are not open to changing.  Dr. Sue says, "microaggressions not only cause psychological distress but creates inequities in employment, in education, and in health care" (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

DEFINING CULTURE and DIVERSITY

What is CULTURE and DIVERSITY?

Response #1:

Culture-common beliefs traditions or customs held and practiced by a group of people.
Diversity-that which makes one different from another

Response #2

Culture has to do with values and norms and these are often revealed in the "stories" that are shared in literature, news, histories, legends, etc. and looking at what gets reported, where/when it's reported, what people/types of people are in the stories, etc. tells you about the values and norms. Countries, regions, businesses, schools, churches--probably all human groupings--have cultures and they are influential, sometimes even fostering behavior that is immoral or unethical. 
Diversity can be nationality, race, gender, $, etc, (any of which might be culture-based), but diversity can also be refer to differing points of view.

Response #3

Culture is a system of values with three characteristics: they're shared among a group of people, learned, and passed on from on generation to the next. 
Diversity is when different cultural, racial or other demographic systems are present within the same environment.


Reflection:

In all three examples, culture is broadly defined by values and norms established by a group of people and passed on to other generations.  I would agree with this broad definition and if asked my definition would not be all that different.  This is what is commonly addressed when we look at cultures.  When we think about sharing pieces of our culture we look at clothes, food, artifacts, languages, religion, traditions, and skills.  I have recently learned the importance of going past a person's surface culture and looking at the small things we do everyday that set us apart from others.  This shows us that even within larger cultural groups each family has their own cultural norms and they create a very specific way of doing things, communicating, and handling issues.  It is our culture that provides the lenses in which we see the world.  Janet Gonzalez-Mena discusses how the roles of women and men differ between cultures down to the way they sit (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).  This difference can be much more vital to understanding when working with diverse cultures than how they celebrate holidays.  How individuals view the roles of children (communicating with them and discipline) can deeply impact how connected a family feels to your program and your interactions with them.  In order to successfully include diverse cultures in an early childhood program for instance we must look at the deeper meaning of culture.

Looking at what comes to the minds of others when asked to define these terms I realize how important it is that we broaden our definition in order to really understand other cultures.  When we look at a group of people that all have the same skin color, wear the same clothes, and eat the same types of food we begin to overgeneralize about cultures and make assumptions about how people will react or respond to given situations.  We want to sometimes believe that culture and diversity is something that we can see with our eyes, but true culture is something much more personal and is reflected in the ways we go about our daily business, duties, and interactions.

Reference

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

MY FAMILY CULTURE...IN A BAG

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. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. 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. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

This feels like such a difficult question for me.  The most important thing to me would always be my family.  I feel like I do not live in the same generation as my mom and grandma.  I do not have any family heirlooms that represent who we are as a family for generations.  I feel like my family culture comes from all the things that we do on a daily basis.  For example, we talk about our day every night at dinner with each other.  We do this so much that as soon as we sit down at any table to eat, my 3 year old asks, "so, how was your day?"  Even if we just woke up and are eating breakfast.  So with that in mind I chose the following 3 items:

This is the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.  These two books teach me my spiritual relationship with God.  For me they go hand in hand and I can't use one without the other.  The Science and Health shows me how what we learn in the Bible is practical and can be demonstrated in the present.  This is also something that is deeply shared among my family.

My family loves to play games!  Card games are always our fallback game of choice and it has been for many generations.  My husband and I both have fond memories of learning to play euchre with our grandparents.

I don't know how I could choose just one, but I would have to bring a photo album.  I have always loved looking at pictures of when I was a child, but not nearly as much as I enjoy looking at pictures of my children when they were babies.  Pictures capture things that fade in our memories and I would be very sad to leave my many cherished albums!

If upon arrival I was only allowed to keep one item it would be my Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.  “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings.” (Science and Health, preface, p. vii:1) No matter where we went I would know that it could be filled with big blessings if we are leaning on God. 

This exercise has taught me how very little I value my material belongings as long as I have my family.  My husband and I don't even wear wedding bands.  My diamond fell out and he out grew his, considering he is 6' tall and only weighed 135 lbs. when we got married!  However, there are freedoms that we have in the United States that I take for granted like our first amendment rights for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of press.  

On the other hand It scares me how much technology has become such an integral part of our lives as well.  We listen to digital music while we cooked dinner on an electric stove while our clothes are drying in the electric dryer.  I  seriously considered whether to bring my phone as one of my 3 things, but my husband replied, "what if there is no electricity or internet?"  Hmmm, there are such places.  And with my own country crumbling how much would a phone really matter?  It would be about preserving the well-being of my children and that is how I decided on my 3 items.