Friday, June 20, 2008
Diversity Speaker
I believe Ms. Monica Walker, speaker for Tuesday night was very knowledgable in the field of diversity. I think Ms. Walker brought it home to us in that we all are somewhat racist and or judgemental. The example given about the woman in the grocery store with two buggies of groceries and pulled out an EBT card, I had pictured of a different ethnicity, (not African American) I was judgemental and assumed that she had a lot of children at home and was lazy, when really I had no idea of her circumstances. The lesson for me was how unfair it was of me to make assumptions about this woman because she was using food stamps. I had made an assumption about her and it made me feel a little hypocritical.
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2 comments:
Hi Brenda,
I was impress with Ms. Walker's knowledge as well. Her comments about internalized racial oppression (IRO) were particularly insightful. The fact that we have these images of ourselves /our people gained over years of "planned acculturation and assimilation" is very powerful and pretty sad. And, the fact that all of us commonly think the same thing about certain situations just shows the power of what has been taught and advertised for years and years. The idea that people of color are inferior and caucasians are superior has been the most successful planned strategy in many years. Why can't the educational system use this approach? It really works!
Brenda, I think that all of us were judgemental in Ms. Walker's example. I think that we are also judgemental in reality. We must examine ourself first. There's a song I like called "Sweep around your own front door before you try to sweep around mines." I've heard ministers say, "it takes six months to mind your business and another six months to leave everyone else business alone." We as a society must seek more education on diversity. We must become more competent.
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