Awareness of Microaggressions

Awareness of Microaggressions

A microaggression that I witnessed was the statement that Trump made a few months ago regarding the football players and the national anthem. The statement that he made was "when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!" This was a form of microaggression because he indirectly speaks of African-Americans. The NFL is 80% black so of course everyone knows that he is speaking of the Blacks. The context in which the microaggression occurred was during a rally in Alabama where he was in front of a crowd of older white republicans, who are also conservatives. This of course excited them because they too felt the same way. When I heard what Trump said about the football players, and their kneeling during the anthem, it made me angry because the "President" who suppose to be for all Americans, only cater and focuses to one certain population, and of course it is not the minorities. The comments was very disrespectful and outline and it only revealed his true colors even more.

The effects of discrimination lead to people becoming very angry and taking matters into their own hands. When people are effected by discrimination and other stereotypes it causes for them to rebel even more than they already were. This was witnessed during Trump's statement of regarding football players and the national anthem. What the nation failed to realize is that African-Americans are not standing and respecting the flag because the flag never respected us. For two or three years you could not turn on the TV without hearing about White cops shooting down Blacks, and there reasoning behind the matter was "because they feared for their lives!" So once I observed how others felt due to the effects of discrimination and stereotypes, I believe that they have every right to feel they way they do. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The three colleagues/friends that I talked to about culture and diversity all had the same opinionated definition. To sum it up, they stated that to them culture is the way that people behave according to the rules of their heritage. When it came to diversity they all had slightly different opinions. One stated that diversity means to them that a person is different according to race, religion, language, etc. She also mentioned that because of diversity, we are able to recognize other cultures and learn more about them. Another colleague said that diversity to her is standing out from the crowd and letting your differences be known. She says that she loves the diversity in her class room because it makes her aware of the cultures of her students and how things are done in their homeland. 

Based upon what I have studied so far, the only thing that I can relate to with my colleagues are that culture is a set of rules that govern what we do and how we behave. The video says that culture is like an iceberg, and only the tip shows this includes books, music, clothes. The other 90% that is beneath is what is really important this includes ideas such as those related to children. This is what the colleagues failed to realize, that culture is more than just an outer appearance. 

Seeing the way my colleagues view culture and diversity gives me insight that we have not yet arrived into fully understanding culture and we have a long way to go.

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

My Family Culture

My Family Culture 

The images above are snippets of my family culture. 

    If I were told that I had to permanently leave my home country the three items that I will bring with me to cherish my family culture would be family portraits to cherish the memories, our family pet because in our American culture, pets are treated as people and we love them as we would our own kids. Lastly I would bring my family recipes so that I am able to keep the traditions alive as if I were home. 

    I would explain to others what the traditions mean to me by inviting them over to get to know my culture and also to give them experience through food, and singing. I would also show them through pictures how my family does things in our culture.

    If I were told that I am able to keep only one of my three items I would choose to keep my pictures. Once lost they can never be replaces, especially those that hold values and traditions. All other can be replaced, but not pictures, especially those that are near and dear to your heart. 

   The insight that I have learned is to be respectful of others and their differences. Put yourself out there to want to learn about others family culture so that you can understand and learn from it. Because this is what will help you when working with those families. 

pics are from google.com/blackfamilyculture