Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

When I was a teenager, I attended an FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Camp in Black Mountain, North Carolina. This camp was amazing because I met girls from different parts of the U.S. and they were all of different cultural backgrounds. I experienced my first microagression and I didn’t even know it. A white girl that stayed in my dorm room asked me if I knew how to braid hair in corn rows, and when I told her no I didn’t she was upset and she mentioned that I should know how to braid hair in corn rows because that’s what my people do. When she made the comment, I didn’t think anything of it, I just ignored her and went on my way. Now, that I think about it, I feel like I should have been upset because she assumes that because I am an African American that I know how to braid hair. Her comment to me was very hurtful and I could have reacted in a way to where I could have said something to insult her culture but I didn’t. Being targeted of a microagression is a learning experience and I know what I should think before I speak so I wouldn’t offend anyone.  As an educator, I believe it’s important for me to educate not only just children and families, but my own family on the awareness of microagressions so these experiences don’t happen much.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I asked my friends and family about their definition of culture and diversity. It's interesting to hear how the definitions are similar and different. Below I summarized their definitions.

      

 Their definition of culture

Culture:  Is the combination of things you value, things related to your identity, things that make you part of a group of people. It doesn’t have to be isolated.

        Their definition of diversity

Diversity: Accepting the uniqueness of others and embracing it.

   

 Then reflect on the answers you received and ask yourself:

        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?

The aspect of feeling accepted within a group and values are what’s included in the responses I got.

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

Religion, Traditions and Socioeconomic Status are some of the things that were omitted from the responses. These aspects play a major role in culture and diversity because it’s what people in different groups relate to and it’s something they value.

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

Listening to the definitions of others didn’t have much influence on me I pretty much learned that their views are somewhat similar to mine.

My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

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.

• A description of the three items you would choose
• The three I items I would choose would be my family portrait, my rings from my grandfather's sister, and my bible.
• How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you
• These items mean a lot to me because my family is how I became the person I am today and I will never forget that. My rings from my grandfather's sister are important to me because I never met her and it's great to have a piece of my family history that I hold to my heart. My bible means a lot to me because my family always taught me the importance of keeping my faith in God and knowledgeable of his word.
• Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you
•  I would be really upset if I was told that I could keep only one item because all 3  items mean a lot to me.
• Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise,
• As a result of this exercise I found it interesting. I will admit it is very challenging because I have a lot of things that are very important to me and only picking 3 items is a challenge.