Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions are everywhere in our society.  We can see and hear microaggressions in our everyday living, television, movies, at work, or at the store.  One microaggression I can remember from a movie is in Boomerang.  Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and David Allen Grier, who are all African-American, were in a high end men's suit store.  The white clerk came over and instead of asking them if they needed help he made a remark as if they were going to steal instead of buy a suit.  This is an example of racial microaggression.  When watching the movie I was upset at what the clerk implied.  All three men were already well dressed and successful but because of their skin color the clerk expected them to steal.

When I was in college I had a male friend, African-American just as I am, who made a comment to me that I have never forgotten.  Where I am from girls who have a lighter complexion are said to be stuck up and think they are more than others and the girls who are darker are said to be cooler, nicer.  My friend at the time told me "You act like you are  brown skinned are something cause you are real cool."  I asked him what he meant and he said you know light skinned girls are stuck up but you are cool.  I did't know how to take that because I didn't think skin color mattered when it came to your attitude.  I was somewhat offended but also thought it was kind of a compliment.  I think this was an example of racial microaggression but between two people of the same race.

This week I have noticed many microaggressions on television and walking around in stores.  I also was able to remember things that happened in the past and put a name to what happened.  I found that I encounter racial microaggression more than any other.  Prejudice and discrimination still happens way too often in our society.  I also think gestures could fall under microaggressions also.  Many times while walking in a store I have experienced someone moving out of my way when they really did not need to. When walking through a store many white women move their purse closer to them when my boyfriend passes them.  These gestures hurt just as bad as some comments.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Finding out other peoples definition of culture and diversity was very interesting.  My boyfriend said culture is a mixture of different things you learned from your ancestors.  He said diversity is taking the different lessons from all different backgrounds and combine them into one society.  My sister-in-law said culture and diversity go hand in hand.  Culture is the way of life, a tradition or practice.  She said diversity is many choices.  Diversity can be a variety of different things.  For example we can be diverse with race.  My mother said she thinks of different cultures when she thinks of diversity.  Diversity is many different things.  She said culture is different races and how they carry out their various traditions.

The answers I received for culture and diversity was not what I expected.  I got very general answers to the questions.  "Surface" culture was brought up, for example, race, traditions, practices.  These things are all very general but good points.  I think race is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about culture and diversity.  Although the answers were general and not detailed, I think they were good answers because they are their own definitions.  It is what they believe these things are.

As I said above only things that would be considered "surface" culture were mentioned, mainly race.  They did not mention anything that went deeper into someones culture.  Gender, profession, and relationship to someone was not brought up.

Listening to other peoples point of view has widened my point of view.  I am learning more and more about myself and others by being in this class.  I feel that children learn best from their peers and in this class I feel like we are learning a lot from each other.  Having to ask people for their view on culture and diversity was interesting to watch and listen to.  They had to take a minute and think about it before they could answer.  I thought it was interesting how they all worded things differently.  Before this class I would have said culture was all about race and also included religion and the way people do things.  Now I see things a little differently.  I see deeper into what culture is.

My Family Culture

My family is very important to me.  We don't have things that have been passed down from one to another but we are very close and love each other unconditionally.  The first thing I would grab would be my photo album.  My family lost a lot of photos during Hurricane Katrina, which means we lost a lot of memories.  I would not want to lose anymore memories.  The second thing I would grab is my laptop.  My laptop contains many things that would help me survive in a foreign country.  I would have my music, additional pictures, hopefully the internet!  The last thing I would grab would be my St. Jude Novena book.  This would keep me uplifted through the troubling times.

Having to give up two of the items I brought with me would be a difficult decision.  I do not know how I would choose.  I can always to speak to God from my heart so I may give up the Novena book.  If I were in a country where there was no electricity it would not make any sense to keep the laptop.  So I guess I would keep my family photos.  I already know how it feels to lose a lot of belongings and it does not feel good.  Fleeing a hurricane is similar to this assignment.  You bring what you can and hope you have something when you return.

Doing this assignment made me really appreciate my family and what we have.  It brought up very painful memories of Hurricane Katrina but I'm glad.  Is still feel a lot of pain from it because I never really talked about it.  It took me a year just to return to New Orleans.  This assignment made me remember how important my family my family is to me.