Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions-Week 4

A microaggression that happened this week that I observed was between two adults.  One adult was making some copies on the copy machine at my work and it jammed.  She went through the tutorial on what to check for the jam.  After doing so, it was still jammed.  So she attempted to do it again.  Another adult quickly came into the room and said “move, I will take care of it.”  As I observed this, I immediately thought back to the discussions we had this week and the examples of microaggressions.  Though it was not a direct hit, it had to hit that person inside.  She probably felt like the other lady didn’t think she could handle doing the job.

 

My other observations this week affected the way I view the effects of discrimination.  I felt like the lady was trying to get the copier unjammed, which at times is a bit difficult.  I feel that she was following all the steps she could and chose to try again before giving up.  The lady that walked in definitely discriminated her ability to complete a task that she felt superior at.  It makes me re think the ways I may say something to someone to give them suggestions are feedback to assure that I myself am not giving that person a microaggression.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Person #1

 

Culture is the makeup of a persons surroundings.

 

Diversity is the differing cultures of people in the world.

 

Person #2

 

Culture is what customs or beliefs different societies have in how they live their lives.

 

Diversity is the difference in something.

 

Person #3

 

Culture is the behavior and beliefs of a social group.

 

Diversity is what makes each person or group people different or unique.

 

 

I think that all the answers I got are aspects of culture and diversity as studied in thus far in this course. An example of this would be the way the second person answered what is culture.  I feel this is exactly what we have been studying about culture in the class so far.  I think specific examples of each have been omitted.  For culture, I think mentioning that all cultures are different and are sometimes not accepted is something worth mentioning.  Culture is the way people form their lives but it was not said the importance that these aspects hold in each person lives. For Diversity, I would say that saying it is something seen everyday that makes us who we are was omitted in the description of it.  I am glad to see that everyone I asked had similar answers about culture and diversity and has an understanding of these in today’s world. I would have liked to see more emphasis on the importance of each as it applies to each person but did not see that.

My Family Culture

1. Family photo:  I would bring a family photo to represent and remember my other family that I had to leave behind.  This would be the symbol of my culture and where I came from.

 

2. American flag:  I would bring an American Flag to represent the country I came from and the freedom that I had in that country.

 

3. Dollar bill:  I would bring a dollar bill to represent the industry from the United States and the ways in which I lived many years to achieve to make money.

 

I would explain to others what these items meant to me by signifying the important of each to me and my family.  The family photo is a given and represents me and my culture and is my life story.  The American flag is the country in which I lived and grew up in and learned about freedom.  I would show the dollar bill to others who may not understand the concept of dollar and explain the importance that a dollar has in the world that I came from.

 

If upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one item and had to get rid of the rest I would be heart broken.  I would feel like I had to part with the only things left of my culture and my family.  It would be a hard decision to make on which item to keep.