The
Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
My personal
side of bias, prejudice, and oppression has to be when I experienced a few
people who I thought were friends turned out to be mean people. As a young
child you desire to play any children, you just want to play. I can remember as
a child we wanted to go play with the neighbor’s children, and were told by the
children because you are black you may not come into our yard. This was doing
the mid 60’s, and riots were happening throughout the city due to bias, and
prejudice. Black Americans were standing up for their rights against whites Americans,
and as a child we really did not understand what was going on we just wanted to
play. I have witness bias, prejudice, and oppression even in my profession of
early childhood. I do not want to call out names, but I have heard individuals
in position of hire cruelty talk about others who desire to be hired in a
position with children, and if they did not speak a certain way they were not
hire even if they answered the interview question well. As a professional I
voice my opinion to the hiring manager for her to give them a chance but she
would make the final decision. Many times these kinds of things go on behind closed
doors, and to listen to how others oppress others because of the color of their
skin or how they speak, and where they come from is sad. This lesson has me
feeling bad about what I could not control because of others bias, and
prejudice. They tried to break us, and make us feel unworthy, but the force (culture)
was too strong within the family.
As a child I felt bias, and prejudiced first hand,
but because of my family we were not oppressed by any of these action done tensional
or intentionally. My family advises us to be careful when other people are
concern, so I could relate to the professionals in the media as their parents
told them to go for education, and be watchful of other due to differences. You
want to protect your children, but make them aware of their surrounding or the
real world. It can be ugly out there, but we have to be able to make the
difference in people lives with kindness. Can we play together? I have got to
continue to change, and make a difference in others’ lives.
References
Laureate Education, Inc., (2013)
Hi Sandra-
ReplyDeleteYes, there are certain emotional experiences we never forget...still, so many years later, we still remember. When you mentioned, "all we wanted to do was play" reminded me of my daughter's experience attending a birthday party this weekend. My daughter was very excited to go; however, some of the other parents' children were not allowed to go. Because the birthday girl did not have the same financial advantages, some parents chose not to send their child. Very sad...all they wanted to do was play.
Hi Sandra,
ReplyDeleteYour experience reminded me of a topic that my friend and I had the other day “Young children are colorblind and do not think about issues of race and racism”. Based on my experiences interacting with children from various races, ethnicity and religious background, I personally do not share this sentiment. Unquestionably, some may argue that educators should not discuss such topic with children because they are too young; however, recent research has dispelled the common belief that children only have cultural biases if they are frankly taught. Toddlers as young as two years use racial categories to reason about people’s behaviors. Research clearly shows that children not only recognize race from a very young age, but also develop racial biases by ages three to five. For this reason,as adults, we should be careful what we say and do in front of children - they are listening and watching.
Sandra,
ReplyDeleteYour story reminded me of one of the schools I worked at abroad. The director used to show a very bitter attitude towards the staff who got pregnant. I remember when my first TA got pregnant and informed the school director that she can't work any longer because she was experiencing a very difficult pregnancy, she was devastated by the way she took it. When she told me about it, I was so happy for her because she was going to be a mom for the first time and it should be joyful experience. she said I was the only one out of the director, the school supervisor and the admin who actually congratulate her and did not give her a hard tim. A few others who got pregnant were forced to resign but in that country there were no laws to protect the employees. The employers can terminate their employees any time they want. It is so outrageous and unfair. It is startling how such laws still exit in some countries and almost none to protect the employees.
Maryam