Practicing Awareness of Micro-aggressions

I am so excited about the new knowledge that I have gained from this week’s course resources, I am particularly intrigued about Micro-aggression. Dr Sue (Laureate Ed., 2011) stated that “Micro- aggressions are brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral or environmental”. Even though they may be unintentionally communicated they can cause harm if the message contained within is insulting. Knowing empowers you to own your experiences, before this class I would not have even paid attention to the awkwardness of these events but now that I have a name for it I am wiser.

Yesterday I had a meeting with a minister and afterwards I had to get somewhere else which I told him. He asked where I was going to drive to get there, so I told him and immediately he went into redirecting me to another route. I tried nicely to tell him that I am comfortable with where I chose to drive but he insisted that his way is better and he stated his reasons. I agree that it may have been a shorter route but I do not like the highways which I told him but he laughed and said that was nothing. Right away he invalidated what was meaningful to me and disregarded my decision and concern to convince me that his idea was better.

When I realized that I was the target of a micro aggression, I was getting impatient and frustrated at first, I wanted to say something that was also micro aggressive back at him. However, I do not think that it was intentional on his part. Dr Sue (Laureate Ed., 2011) states that “invalidations happen day in and day out outside the level of awareness of the well-intentioned individual”. My friend likes to think that he has authority on most subjects and is the go-to person for solutions to everything. I took his advice and it didn't make a difference in saving time but I like peace so I didn't say anything else to him.

I always try to be neighborly in my dealings with others. In that I mean I try to treat everyone the way I would like to be treated. My experiences this week opened my eyes even more to the fact that discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypical behaviors are belittling and harmful to others.
References

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

Here are a few words from one of Bob Marley's songs "Get up stand up"(1979). I just thought it fitted well with this blog..what do you think?

"Get up stand up, stand up for your right,

Get up stand up, don’t give up the fight

We’re sick and tired of the isms schisms…

..you can fool some ppl some times

But you can’t fool all the ppl all of the time...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u7DL4M0Hh8

Culture and Diversity

This week as we looked deeper into culture and diversity, I talked to three persons to see what their thinking was about the two.  The first person was Dahlia my twenty year old niece, who is in her second year at college. She says that to her, culture is a person’s way of life that is learned or adopted from his family as he develops. This she says included the way she dresses herself, her language and the types of food that she eats. She defines diversity as the vast variety of cultures, and ethnicities that has to do with the many different traditions and individual differences including gender, race, language and beliefs systems. She believes that your daily lifestyle demonstrate your cultural heritage, and that there is great diversity in any given culture.

The second person I interviewed was Glen, who is a tile specialist, roots poet says that acknowledging diversity would be that practice that embraces the widest cross section of people in the society. He says that it is the knowledge that all people has a right to belong. He defines Culture as those practices individual to us that defines how we live.

The third person that I interviewed was Liz: She is a young working adult from Nigeria who says that, culture is what is used to define a particular people and their practices, a way of life maybe. She describes diversity as anything that separates two types of people from each other. She went on to say that it is the differences that people represent that creates a rich diverse population.

The responses that I received from the people I interviewed reflects the some of the basic idea about culture and diversity. However, as discussed by Janet Gonzales (Laureate Ed, 2011) Culture is much more than what we see in our heritage and daily lifestyles of different people. Culture is said to go very deep, much deeper than what we see on the surface, it is more than language, religion, class, race, gender and lifestyles.

This week’s activity gave me new insights into the thinking of many parents. It allow me to look closer into the fact that the families are from various cultures, and therefore creates a diverse environment in which we are learning together. This says to me that as early childhood professionals, we should involve the families as much as possible in our classroom planning. This is in an effort to totally include the whole child and their culture. It is wise to embrace the diversity that is now such a huge part of our society.

Reference

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

My Family Culture

If I had to leave my home and country because of a disaster, and had to take up residence in a strange place that I knew nothing about, the comforting thing is that my family is with me. Deciding to take three small items would be a challenge but at least all was not totally lost. Each family member gets the privilege to take   one change of clothes and three small personal items.

          

  The first item that I would take with me is my grandmother’s picture which reminds me of her strength and that I have that very strength. My second item would be my cell phone as all the contact information of relatives and friends are stored in that little device which is so easy to carry, even if phone service is not readily available at this place I may be able to write letters. This leads me to my third item which would be my personal computer (mini iPad), this will afford me contact via skype, social media or one of the many over the internet connections, and at the same time I would be able to write and record my experiences. Also on my PC, I have videos of family memories and special occasions that would be at my fingertip, some even without internet service such as my pictures. 

                         As I described the items and reasons for choosing them, I can envision fond memories of my family, relatives and friends and I just believe that the meanings may just come flowing out to you.

            If on arrival I learned that I could only keep one of the items, I would keep the picture of my grandma because she represents strength and courage. I feel that because my family will be with me in this on this journey, we would be able to cope and help one another get through the starting over period. We would have lost the old connections (for now) but building new memories would begin a new chapter in our lives to take the place of the old ones. We know that together we can do anything because the bond is strong.

             In my family and among friends and even strangers, I am referred to as mother Teresa because of my kind and caring disposition. I realize that I do put others first and really do care a whole lot about the welfare of those who are not able to look out for themselves. I realize that I am a survivor who can stand up to much more than I know.