Practicing Awareness of Micro aggressions

Practicing Awareness of Micro aggressions

Describe at least one example of a micro aggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the micro aggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the micro aggression or when you found yourself as the target of a micro aggression?

An example of micro aggression that I have experience is as Dr. Sue states “inferiority/superiority, inclusion/exclusion or in some sense reflect an oppressive belief” (Laureate, 2011).    My experience is when I moved to Georgia and purchased a home. I worked in an all-white company but felt comfortable enough to make friends with a few coworkers. I invited two of them to my home for my son’s birthday party since we had children within the same age range. As she walked into the home, her exact comment was “wow! This is a nice house, how can you afford this”? I was taken aback by the comments because I never expected this from my coworker. My response to her was, yes it is a nice house and I saved my money for my deposit but I did not need to use my money because of a law that allowed first time home buyers to purchase a home without a deposit. I was never invited to her house but I knew she lived in an apartment building with her family. I thought that was the end of any comments or mention of my house but when I returned to work she starting making comments about my house around the other coworkers, with comments such as why is it that foreigners can come to our country and buy homes and we can’t. . I felt insulted, racially profiled, and uncomfortable by these comments. These types of comments only make a person feel as if you are not welcome in this country regardless of if you are a legal resident or a citizen. It seems that because you have achieved more than the other person, your race, ethnicity and culture is a target. The sad part of this is that it repeated itself when my son purchased his home at the age of 22; the closing attorney commented on wow so young and buying your first home. He said I was 35 and felt that was good for a college graduate. My son and I looked at him and said hard work, savings, and federal laws.

A most recent example of micro aggression was when I applied to get a gun permit. There is a form with specific requirements such as proof of citizenship; I was asked where I was from and I said Georgia then I was asked for my license and proof of citizenship. I provided my passport card and sat down for my form to be processed when a man came in to get his license. The court clerk asked him where he was from and he said Iowa, but she never asked him to show proof of citizenship. So I approached the desk and asked if there were different forms for people and I was told no, so I asked why didn’t you ask him for proof of citizenship, she responded he is an American and born in Iowa. My response was yes that is true, but how do you prove that? The only obvious answer she could give to me then would have been he is white, but so are Europeans. As Dr. Sue states, “these are examples and indicators of what he call racial micro aggressions. They are everyday behaviors and language that may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to others” (Laureate, 2011).

In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people.

This week’s observation experience  have not changed my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes on people, but it has given me insight on the definitions and how micro aggression are used in everyday language.  I learned that micro aggression is real and is practiced intentionally or unintentionally to hurt others.  I believe that there are situations where people just make comments base on what they learn about other races, ethnicity can culture. I am even more aware and sensitive to what I say to others and what they say to me.  I realize that I put myself first and how I would feel about certain comments or behavior before I speak to others.

Reference

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

 

Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

After calling and talking to a few of my family and friends about their definition about culture, I realize that only one person in my family shared the definition of culture similar to mine. They believe that it is something that came from our ancestors to dictate the way we live, speak, celebrate holidays and our religious beliefs. His culture is dominant and Caribbean, so he believe he has the best of both in how certain cultural holidays are celebrated which includes the foods, music, religion and were we live. The other family shared culture from someone that defined culture base on his parent’s view of culture. My Friend Carol shared the definition of culture as how we live and what we do in our everyday life. Carol is Caucasian and of the dominant culture but she states that she enjoy the opportunity to be a part of other cultures.

Everyone defined diversity as being different in race, ethnicity, religion, moral beliefs, and economic status. They all believe that we live in a diverse country and should be respectful of each other regardless of who they are. They believe that when you learn about others and what they believe in, you are able to make decisions that will not discriminate against anyone.

 

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?

 

Base on the answers I received, the aspects of culture and diversity are some shared both the dominant culture and their family culture. Some just talked and defined culture and diversity as like surface culture base on the regular stuff such as foods and holiday celebrations. They also mentioned some aspects of deep and surface culture such as language, values, religion, and migration. They believed that we live in a diverse country and should respect others regardless of race or culture.

 

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

 

During the conversation, I really did not get a good definition about diversity and how it affects their culture except that we are all different. What I heard was that diversity is about people that were different from them. For example my family believes that ethnicity was not that important because we were already from a different culture. My friend Carol just defined diversity as people that are of different race and language. She never talked about social identity or ethnicity, because she states that she does not see a difference because she socializes with everyone. .

 

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics.

 

As I listened to my sister, nephews and friend defined culture and diversity, I can see we have some similar beliefs on the topic. But, I when I think about what I have learned about culture and diversity, I realize that there are so much more about these two topics such as social identities, ethnicity, language and how the dominant culture differs from family culture. I also realize that other people even family members define culture and diversity not sharing all aspects of it.

My Future Culture

My Family Culture
 This blog assignment took me back to when my family migrated to the United States from Guyana, South America. We could only bring a suitcase with clothing and anything we could fit into the suitcase. I was 18 years old and didn’t know if I would ever have the opportunity to return back to my country. I brought several things with me including three things that I treasure and would never part with after all these years. For this assignment I would bring with a recipe book, photos of family celebrations and traditions and some cultural music albums.

The recipe book is a special book to me because it was created during my high school years in home economics class on how to make meals and snacks. Every recipe had notes about the ethnic and cultural traditions they represented. I believe that if l could continue eating some of my cultural foods especially when it comes to holiday celebrations it would make me savor those memories of living in my country. The photos album will have a collection of picture of family members and the customs, religious and holiday celebrations we part take in along with the foods we ate, house decoration and clothing we wore. The music albums are special to me because we celebrate every holiday and custom with music. So music is very important in my culture, it signifies happy times with dancing and singing.

I would be very devastated if I had to give up any of these items because they represent the only things that I can relate to and represents my cultural history, traditions and customs. It would be a very hard decision to give up any of the items because they mean so much to me. The recipe book have so much information about food and when certain meals are cooked for special holiday and customs such as birth of babies, christening, birthdays, weddings, Christmas, boxing day, old year’s day, new year’s day, Easter, Mashramani, Diwali, Phagwa and many other. The music is related to the recipe book because there are specific music that is played for holidays and celebrations. The photo album is special because it has pictures of all my family as we celebrate various cultural celebrations and customs. The one item I would keep is the recipe book because it will be a good representation of my culture.
In preparing for this assignment, I was taken back to about thirty-five years ago when my family migrated to New York and I could only bring few of my personal belongings with me. I also realize that coming to a different culture can force you to assimilate to the new culture or find ways to continue your own culture. I have learned that my culture is very strong and engrained in my family because I continue our customs, holiday celebration, beliefs and language. The recipe book I brought with me 35 years ago is still used to make certain foods at various occasions. It is a book that I share with my children as we prepare foods for the holidays.