Awareness of Microagression

I can recall only one personal experience with microaggression aimed at my child, who has Colombian parentage. At a large gathering in my small childhood home,  family members made a fuss over my very beautiful and playful toddler, my first baby. The house was full and noisy, as is customary in a large family. A man's voice rose above all others when he playfully tried to engage her in a game of catch, calling to her,"Come here, you little spic!" At that moment, the noise abruptly stopped and there was an instant of complete silence except for my toddler laughing with a ball in her hands. Then came the sharp reprimand of the wife, who tries to take her husband to social functions and is frequently embarrassed. I believe she even gave him a lightening quick smack on the head. Slowly the volume of celebration sounds rose, he continued his play, and a brief unspoken, facial cue of apology was communicated to me by his wife. The moment was jolting, and sad, but the experience served as a reminder to all who witnessed it that terms of endearment should be a positive reflection of the loved. No one wanted to hear such an exchange again.

Communication and relationships are fragile, and one must always speak with care, as opposed to speaking carelessly, even without intent to harm.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

What is "culture"?
What is "diversity"?

My teen aged daughter answered these questions without much hesitation. She defined culture as the way someone acts because of their ethnicity. Diversity is simply the differences between people. I further examined her as to whether our family is diverse or not. "Of course it is. We are all so different!" To my teenager, cultural diversity would be only one of many types of diversity to be experienced.

My 87-year-old aunt and I had a conversation about her Hungarian family and the one she married into, my dad's Polish family. She described culture as the things each group likes to do. Ethnicity was not so important because boundaries in Eastern European countries are always changing, entire countries disappear, and everyone thinks that the village they are from is better than any village on earth, whether it lies in Poland or in Germany. She believes that my grandfather lived on German soil because of claims to the land, but he spoke Polish. Diversity, she commented, was the mix of us.

My friend from Hong Kong, transplanted to the United States for college and now a die-hard New Yorker, fervently defines culture as that which grows from ethnic heritage. His children are growing up in America, but "they WILL be Chinese as long as I am their father".  His thoughts about diversity stem from his experiences as a misunderstood Chinese man, with language and values being the cause for many misunderstandings. (Neither his English nor his Mandarin is very clearly understandable.) He is happy in New York because there is a large Chinese population where he feels comfortable, however, there are clear barriers to diversity as well. In Long Island, he believes that the neighbors mistake him for the landscaper, because he is a "Chinaman" cutting the grass. He is sure that no one believes that he actually owns the house he maintains. His particular neighborhood is not ethnically diverse as in Manhattan. He has chosen a school that is operated in a Chinese neighborhood for his children.

Ethnicity seems to be the major element of culture and diversity, and language has also been discussed. Language is identified in Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, 2010) as a deep culture characteristic and in The Developing Child in the 21st Century  (Smidt, 2006), as being closely tied to identity. What I did not hear was the influence of religion, which was a little suprising considering the current wartime climate. Aside from current events, religious differences very often cause stress in relationships at the very least, and large-scale social unrest throughout the world. Religious beliefs are at the very root of one's lifestyle and choices in the activities of daily living. I am most heartened by the response of my teenager, who was quick and definite, in predictable teen style, about the simplicity of culture and diversity, and that even the young with limited life experience can answer these questions with a positive response.

References:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).


Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York, NY: Routledge

My Family Culture

This writing assignment is interesting to me because the very idea came to me to evacuate Japanese citizens to anywhere in the world until their island was deemed safe from radiation after the extreme natural disasters they have experienced.  I am sure that there are many people that do not have even three personal items left after their homes washed away in the tsunami. I have also been acquainted with women who were driven out of their homes in Germany and Poland during World War II, who were not given any choice of what to take more than what they wore and what food they could stuff into their pockets. This situation has been real, and surely can be again. Given a choice and time to prepare, I would choose a Bible, and a small photo album of my immediate family. I cannot think of a third item worth taking. My family's culture is not represented in tangible items or costume. Christian principles are a way of living, and must be demonstrated. If I was as good at memorizing scripture as I should be, even toting the Book would not be necessary. My family who is not with me physically is in my heart and my memory. Loyalty to family and self-sufficiency are not represented in any form that can be tucked in a pocket or suitcase. I suppose that my family culture would be explained to others in my new home in much the same manner that most have dictated history, through the story-telling tradition. The artifacts of culture do not tell the story, the people do. And so this blog reminds us, as early childhood professionals, to listen to the child's story to know who they are, where they are from, and where they are going.