Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week I quietly observed and listened to conversations and picked up several microaggressions.  The microaggressions that I observed were mainly microinsults and microinvalidations, with witnessing only one microassult.

The microassault was terrible to witness and made feel extreme empathy for my co-worker.  As an Early Head Start Home Visitor we are assigned students to our caseloads as opening occur.  We are currently getting our next year's caseload ready and setting up enrollments.  My co-worker who is African American was assigned a child, she called to welcome them to the program and left a message for the parents to return her call so that she could set up an enrollment.  The parent did call back but asked for the Family Specialist, she asked if Ms. Stacey was the "Black one" and when she was told that Ms. Stacey is African American the parent told the Family Specialist that she would not take the opening because they didn't want "one of them" coming to their home.  We were mortified.  The parent did not take the opening and went back on the waiting list.  It was a terrible experience for my coworker and I felt at a loss of words for her.  I told her my grandmother always said that "ignorance is the root of all evil".   

The microinsult came when I was checking the air pressure in my tire at the gas station and a man walked over and asked if I needed help.  I told him no I would be fine and thanked him and then he bent down and took the gauge from me and checked it, proceeded to tell me how much I needed, and then aired up my tire.  When he handed me back my gauge he told me "now you will know it has enough  air".  I told him that it was really not necessary that I was capable of airing my tire and he told "oh it's no problem, I know how women are".  I just shook my head and had to drive away because I did not have the time to get into the conversation with him of just what he meant by that.  I definitely got the feeling that he believed because I am a woman that I was not capable of airing my own tire!  I was extremely annoyed and vented about it several times during the day to friends at the man's audacity! 

I noticed that it did not take much effort to find microaggressions this week, it was just a matter of listening and being aware of not only what is said but what is implied.  Most people mean well and would not want to offend.  I'm sure the man that aired my tire walked away feeling like he had done a very good deed that day, but the experience left me feeling annoyed and irritated. 

I once read that "awareness is empowering", with awareness we can take action to change.  My new awareness and understanding of microaggressions will allow me to change my actions and behaviors, which in turn hopefully is a positive role model on young children and families. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Perspectives on Diversity & Culture

I asked three people to define culture and diversity for me.  I found that each of them quickly and easily defined culture but had to stop and think about how they wanted to define diversity.

Person Number One:  My fellow co-worker, Christine, and an Early Head Start Home Visitor.  Christina was born and raised in rural Indiana. 

“Culture is a set of beliefs followed by a group of people. Diversity is a variety of different beliefs within one community.”

Person Number Two:  My new supervisor, Pam, Site-Manager for Head Start and Early Head Start Home-Base.  Pam is from the East Coast but has lived in rural Indiana for the past 25 years.

“Culture is the combination of your beliefs, behaviors, actions, and language that impacts the way we think and determines what we value.  Culture impacts every aspect of our lives.  Diversity is the differences between cultures and accepting these differences with respect so that we can all live and work together for a common goal.”

Person Number Three: A father on my caseload, Joyarsi.  This father is from Honduras and has lived in the United States for several years.

“Culture is one’s language, where someone is from, holidays that you celebrate, and your beliefs.  Diversity is multiple cultures in one area.”

The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied this week that are included in these answers can be seen in the second answer in that culture touches all aspects of our lives and surface culture which is depicted in the third answer.  The definitions of diversity from the second person depicts what we have learned in our studies that diversity is acceptance and respecting differences in one another.

In the last response the parent that I interviewed only mentioned surface culture, they omitted deeper aspects of culture such as housing arrangements, values, role of children, gender roles, and how these deeper aspects impact our actions, interactions, behaviors, and the way we think and feel. 

I found this assignment insightful and was very interested in what others had to say when they were defining culture and diversity.  This assignment has influenced my own thinking and made me consider exactly what culture and diversity consist of by becoming more aware of it in my daily interactions with others.  It has also made me realize that most people define culture based on people’s beliefs and surface aspects such as holidays, language, and foods. 

My Family Culture

If I had to choose just three items to take with me and my family to a new culture they would be:

1. Our family Bible, which contains the births and deaths of several generations of our family.  This Bible was given to me by my grandmother who filled in the family tree from her Bible.  This was a tradition for my grandmother when ever one of us married.  Unfortunately, my grandmother is no longer with us, however; my mother continues the tradition.  The Bible represents not only our religion but our family history as well.
2. My family scrapbook would be the second item I would take.  I started the family scrapbook when I became pregnant with my first child.  It holds pictures, news clippings, and awards from my children as well as pictures of us on family vacations and outings.
3. My maternal grandfather's wedding ring.  This is the ring that my maternal grandmother bought for my grandfather when he returned from WWII after being a prisoner of war in Russia.  While he was a prisoner of war my grandfather lost his original wedding ring so my grandmother replaced it when he returned.  She gave it to me during one of our visits to Germany.

I would explain to others that these three items represent to me my religion, my heritage, my culture, and the one thing that is most important to me:  my family.  My family, extended and immediate, mean the world to me.  We have always all been very close and have seen each other through some very serious trials and tribulations.

If I were told that I could only keep one item I would feel very torn and heartbroken.  Out of the three items I believe I would choose my family's Bible.  I would choose this item out of the three because it does contain my family's religion, some single snapshots of family, my family's history and heritage.  I believe this item is a complete representation of my family's culture.

One of the biggest insights I gained from this assignment is how I would feel having to give up so much of my culture and family history.  I realized how sad and depressing this would be for me.  I also realized how important my heritage is to me.