Awareness of Microaggressions

Do you know what a Microaggression is?  Chances are that you have either been the target of microaggressions or you have used them towards others either unintentionally or intentionally.  Microaggressions can be based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities.

This week, I was out having dinner with my family when I overheard a man at the table next to me make a blatantly derogatory remark about another individual being gay.  The waitress had looked at him in shock.  His response to her look was, "Don't look at me like that!  I'm not a racist!  My girlfriend's daughter is half-black!"  Um, what?!

Often, the individual who used a microaggression is not even consciously aware that they have hurt or offended the person they are speaking to.  It is vitally important for early childhood professionals to be intentional in their communications with families and children in order to ensure that they do not use microaggressions.  Be aware of the words and phrases you use!

Still unsure of what a Microaggression is?  Here are some examples I found:

This video by Ken Tanaka is an example of a Microaggression taken to the extreme!

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week, I reached out to friends and family and asked them to define culture and diversity.  I would like to share some of their definitions:

"Culture to me is related to people and their race or where they came from.  It encompasses their beliefs and values, how they dress, customs, and sometimes how they act or interact depending on how deeply their cultureis a part of the individual. - K.W."

"Diversity is that there are many races and cultures and that they are diverse or different from each other.  This diversity needs to be respected and should guide how the individual should be treated depending on how they believe or what their culture believes. - K.W."

"Culture is the way of life of particular people as shown in their families, their lives, and their religious beliefs. - M.W."

"Diversity is having having many different abilities and ideas.  People from different races. - M.W."

"Culture is defining characteristics or traditions that belong to a specific civilization such as foods and dance styles. - T.W." 

"Diversity is what makes everyone different or diverse.  Diversity can be something as simple as hair color or personality. - T.W."

"My definition of culture is the common bonds, attributes, and beliefs within a group who identify themselves as being connected through race, socioeconomics, or other common denominators. - D.G."

"Diversity is developing an understanding of people who identify with different cultures and beliefs and then accepting and including those differences in a social or work setting. - D.G." 

  

"Culture is a way of life.  You go to a new part of the world to experience and explore a new culture, to see how that part of the world celebrates, works, cooks...to see everything about it.  It is a particular society. - T.R." 

"Culture to me means how you are raised to believe and do certain things based on your family and where you live.  You are raised to believe that a certain religion or political affiliation is the only way to believe or that certain races act a particular way. - H.S."

"Diversity to me means that despite your upbringing (by whom and where) you are open to all cultures and beliefs and understand that it takes many types of people to succeed.  You associate with people of many faiths, races, and backgrounds. - H.S." 

Culture is like an iceberg!  There are so many aspects to one's culture.  It's likely when you ask someone to define culture that they will omit aspects that others see as key points.  Overall, I believe that we all have a deeper understanding of culture than that which lies above the surface.

It is fascinating to discover how others define culture!

Many of us have gone through Diversity Training at work.  Hopefully, your training was NOT like this!

My Family Culture - An Exercise

Imagine...

A major catastrophe devastates your country and the emergency government decides that all survivors must be evacuated to other countries.  Survivors have no say in where they are relocated to and their stay there may be permanent.  You and your immediate family are being evacuated to a country in which the culture is completely different from yours.  You make take one change of clothes and 3 small items with you.  You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

I don't know about you, but I immediately have anxiety just thinking about choosing just three items!  The first thought I had was that I would take my photo albums and scrapbooks.  But, they do not fit as one item and there are several of them.  However, my laptop and my phone hold thousands of pictures of my family.  Photos hold so many memories of my family and tell so many stories that I can't imagine a better way to take my cultuire and history with me.

The next item I think I would take with me is our family Bible.  I guess that sounds cliche, but I do have the names and dates of every event written in it and it holds important papers and clippings.  It would help carry on the history of my family as we journeyed to our new country.

The third item I would take is my jewelry box.  Now, anyone that knows me knows I wear my wedding rings, my Pandora bracelets, and maybe a pair of earrings.  However, my jewlery box holds some of my grandmother's jewelry that was passed down to me, jewelry that was given to me by family members over the years, and other small mementos.

But, the exercise is not finished!  Now, imagine that when you arrive in your new country you are told that you may only keep one of the three items you brought with you!  What?!?!?  Are you kidding me?  Ugh!  I guess I would choose to keep my laptop or phone (notice I still haven't fully committed to which one of those I would choose!).

There are a few things this exercise brought to mind.  First, I have so many things that narrowing them down to three or even one seems nearly impossible.  Second, I have been through the devastation of losing family photos that can never be replaced and I would never want to go through that again!  In deciding to take my laptop or phone, I realized that I may start scanning several older family pictures in order to have them saved digitally.  In addition, since I would have had to give up my family Bible, I would also scan the documents and written pages into a digital file.  Finally, I may just shove as much of the jewelry and momentos from my box as I can into my pockets!