Microagression

My personal experience with microagression has included more obvious examples of microassults. Dr. Sue explains that microassults are intended purposeful incidents of racism. As a young child I was always picked on by a few particular female peers of color. They would jeer me, call me names, and try to get me in trouble. I was told it was because I was a white girl with long blonde hair, that they were jealous. I don’t know if that is true, but their hateful comments have stayed with me to this day. I did not experience as much subtle or unintended types of microagression, more than likely this is due to the fact that I am part of the dominant culture. 

Personally I have had to fight a hard battle against racism and biases and still struggle with biases to this day. I was raised in the South where racism is ever prevalent and part of the culture. I was also raised by a hyper sensitive mother and a racist father. My father was raised in the North and was not raised around any one of color, no one. So when he moved to Florida permanently I am sure it was a culture shock and he reacted adversely to people of color. To this day he will call any one he does not respect “boy” as a term of intended insult. My mother was more subtle, it was more about “safety”. She would cross the street, tense up in the ghetto, and remove me from any situation that seemed inappropriate, which mostly meant any situation with people of color. Due to the fact that I was raised in such a racist environment I find myself continuing these types of microagression and have to purposefully work towards prevention.

Culture and Diversity

I gathered a few of my family members and friends to get their basic definitions of culture and diversity. Here is what they said:

Mom -

Culture: the surroundings that you live in, what influences the way you live

Diversity: a group of many different cultures, with different ethnicities or you are open to other ideas

Boyfriend -

Culture: an upbringing and surrounding environment reflecting customs, traditions, and general lively hood

Diversity: the stuff that makes us different

Casey –

Culture: traditions passed down from generation to generation

Diversity: differences in people in terms of race, ethnicity, culture

Each of my family members and friends has a good foundational knowledge of culture and diversity. They all mentioned influences and environment in their definition of culture. As we have studied culture is the way a particular group of people live. Including, but not limited to, eating, sleeping, talking, playing, caring for sick, relating to one another, religion, gestures, and all other life practices. None of my family members or friends differentiated between surface or deep culture, although I didn’t ask them to. Actually, when asked for their definitions they were reluctant to participate and even bashful after giving their answers. Two of them asked me if they “did alright” and “sounded smart”, which I found interesting that they were daunted at this seemingly simple question. Perhaps, because it is not a topic we discuss on a regular basis, or at all outside of education and politics it can then make people feel uncomfortable from lack of knowledge about the subject or the lack of practice talking about it.

Role Playing Activity

"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."

Wow! Living in America it is so hard to even think about a situation like this. Then again, it happens almost everyday in other countries. If I was evacuated and told that I could only take three things with me I would take my family pictures because they hold so many memories. I would also take my family recipes because food is a nurturing and comforting thing. Finally, I would take my families records of school and work because they may help restart in a new country. I would feel so out of place, lost and alone in a new country. Especially, if I were taken out of my country without a choice. If I was then asked to only bring one item of those three I would feel devastated and betrayed, but I would chose my pictures. 

After reflecting on the activity I learned that the "things" in my life are not as important to me as my family and that culture is more of how a person lives than what they have. 

Reflection on Building Research Competencies Class

After taking Building Research Competencies through Walden University I was able to realize that research is a far more complicated and difficult process than we non-researchers will ever understand. I now understand that research has many different styles and each researcher has his or her own way of completing that investigation. I also learned that young children are given far more credit than we think in the research process. They are now able to contribute and make decisions about their own participation in the research process. If I were able to complete a research process I would find it difficult to make sure each step of the process is completed correctly. I would have to have a checklist and another more experienced researcher to help me with the investigation. As an early childhood educator I think research is one of the most important steps to creating a stronger and more complete early childhood education system in America.