When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I hope that it turns out to be an "easy challenge". Somewhat of an oximoron, I know. But on the surface, I work very well with people. That is easy for me. However, for the most part, I have been around people who have a similiar background as I do. But the "challenge" comes in when I start dealing with people with different backgrounds who have different points-of-views. Although I have quite a bit of experience with working/learning/interacting in diverse settings, there is still that "slight feeling of being uncomfortable" that causes me to doubt that I am able to do it in my own business. My facility will be available to "everyone". My concern is when they walk into the facility and see that it is ran mostly by my family and friends (not because I'm being prejudice or anything, they are just very supportive). Or when they hear that it is "black owned", I hope that I am not judged for that. I understand that I cannot control anyone else's actions or thoughts. But I want a fair chance just as the children do. Let me prove to you that me "having brown skin" has nothing to do how I run my business and how I care for these children. I was born with this passion. Therefore, the passion was in me before I even developed a "color".
"Mandatory Diverse Outreach", would be one goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice. What that would consist of is reaching out to different people from different backgrounds in different ways.For example, with a child care facility, we could have a "street team" who goes out to different communities, especially diverse communities and tell them about the facility and what services we offer. But the "underlying main purpose" would be to search for people from different backgrounds who we don't service in the center, or who haven't had a chance to get into my facility for whatever reason (didn't know about it, no transportation, not confident in English, etc.). We should make it our business to try to service every ethnic background possible, ON A CONSISTENT BASIS. Not just when we feel like it or when we're feeling all "diverse" and everything. It should be an on-going basis.
With that being said, I would like to thank my colleagues for embracing me as a classmate. I believe we displayed a wonderful example of diversity, We all had similarities and differences and that made the course very interesting. We got along just fine and that shows that people from different backgrounds can get interact with each other and learn together. I wish you all the best as we continue our EC journey. It keeps getting better and better!
Special thanks to Dr. Darragh for instructing the class and participating in our discussions. Best wishes to you as well. :-)
God bless you all!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Welcoming Families From Around the World
The name of my family's country of origin is "Timbuktu".
1. Do some research on the country; look on the internet and find out certain things about the country.
Five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family:
1. Do some research on the country; look on the internet and find out certain things about the country.
2. Since I would be the owner/director of a child care center, I would inform my staff about the information I found so that they can be more knowledgeable as well.
3. Then I would inform them to let the children know that we're getting a new student who is new to the country; Be nice!
4. Along with that, I would meet with the staff and come up with a "welcoming party" or something like that to make the child and the family feel more comfortable. I would have them to have the country's flag displayed in the classroom and I would attempt to have some food from their country or have them wear some clothing from that country. I would want them to feel at home away from home, especially on the first day of school. First impressions last...
5. Thereafter, I would personally meet with the parents and let them know that we are happy to have their child in our facility and that we are happy that they decided to give us a try. I would also inform the family that we will do our best to make sure that their child, as well as every other child, is treated fairly with love while receiving a quality education.
I believe that these preparations will be good for myself and the family because they would allow me to learn more about the country, which I knew nothing about, and ensure the family that my facility welcomes diversity, instead of rejects it. I say this all the time; we all need each other and we can all learn from each other as well. No man knows everything. So we should be open to learn something new everyday!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
There is small city outside of Detroit, MI called Warren and it was known to be very prejudice against minorities, especially "black" people. However, by me attending Michigan State University, I figured I conquered the "racial barrier" that exist between some black and white people. I had been learning and interacting with white people and people from all over the world so how can anyone be prejudice towards me now? I'm too well rounded! So I thought...
My friend, her boyfriend at the time and I decided to get something to eat out there one day. I can't remember what took us out there exactly but all I know is, we were hungry and wanted food fast. So we found a diner that looked faily decent. But when we walked in, there were nothing but white people in there, both eating and working. And I mean that. No black people or "people of color" anywhere, not even a few of them. My friend's boyfriend and I instantly started feeling uncomfortable however my friend didn't see anything wrong at the time. She just wanted to eat lol.
We're standing in line, behind some white people and the hostess is treating them with the upmost respect. However, when it came our turn to be seated, she instantly says, "there's going to be a 20 minute wait", with a rude tone and then she walked away from us. And when my friend's boyfriend tried to ask her a question, she walked away while he was talking. Needless to say, we did not continue our stay there...
This event diminished equity because the hostess implied that black people were not as worthy to eat in a timely fashion, or at the same time as white people I believe. That event still boils my blook because we were really hungry and we did not have a car. So we were on foot/catching the bus and taxis and stuff. That works up an appetite in itself! I believe this event took place in 2002. I would have thought the segregated eating places would have been played out by now. I felt like I was in a time warp, because I couldn't believe that we were dealing with something like this in the 2000s!
That event showed me that we still have a long way to go. Granted, it is better than what it was. But if that level of segregation usually only exist in the south, yet, right outside of Detroit, we experienced the same thing, then that means that segregation and prejudices exists EVERYWHERE!
The hostess and the practice of restaurant would have had to change in order for this incident to be changed into an opportunity for greater equity. People of all colors should be able to eat wherever they want to eat. I must admit that Warren has improved a lot over the years. My cousin (who's black) lives out there now and she loves it. So there is hope for society to change as well. It may happen taking baby steps but as long as steps are being taken, we should be ok. A change is coming!
My friend, her boyfriend at the time and I decided to get something to eat out there one day. I can't remember what took us out there exactly but all I know is, we were hungry and wanted food fast. So we found a diner that looked faily decent. But when we walked in, there were nothing but white people in there, both eating and working. And I mean that. No black people or "people of color" anywhere, not even a few of them. My friend's boyfriend and I instantly started feeling uncomfortable however my friend didn't see anything wrong at the time. She just wanted to eat lol.
We're standing in line, behind some white people and the hostess is treating them with the upmost respect. However, when it came our turn to be seated, she instantly says, "there's going to be a 20 minute wait", with a rude tone and then she walked away from us. And when my friend's boyfriend tried to ask her a question, she walked away while he was talking. Needless to say, we did not continue our stay there...
This event diminished equity because the hostess implied that black people were not as worthy to eat in a timely fashion, or at the same time as white people I believe. That event still boils my blook because we were really hungry and we did not have a car. So we were on foot/catching the bus and taxis and stuff. That works up an appetite in itself! I believe this event took place in 2002. I would have thought the segregated eating places would have been played out by now. I felt like I was in a time warp, because I couldn't believe that we were dealing with something like this in the 2000s!
That event showed me that we still have a long way to go. Granted, it is better than what it was. But if that level of segregation usually only exist in the south, yet, right outside of Detroit, we experienced the same thing, then that means that segregation and prejudices exists EVERYWHERE!
The hostess and the practice of restaurant would have had to change in order for this incident to be changed into an opportunity for greater equity. People of all colors should be able to eat wherever they want to eat. I must admit that Warren has improved a lot over the years. My cousin (who's black) lives out there now and she loves it. So there is hope for society to change as well. It may happen taking baby steps but as long as steps are being taken, we should be ok. A change is coming!
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