This week in class we had the opportunity to touch on the topic of disparity. Disparity occurs when a group of people is either under or over represented among the group of a particular service relative to their numbers in the general population (Rodenborg Handout). We all became aware in class that disparities can happen in many different types of programs including: the criminal justice system, housing access, healthcare, infant mortality, child protection, life expectancy, high school graduation rates, and employment.
The handout that we all received in class included alarming disparities that were occurring in Minnesota. One topic that I found particularly alarming was the disparities regarding employment. It was said that, “The Minneapolis metropolitan area stands out as having the worst relative disparity” (Austin, A. 2010). This area has a black-white unemployment ratio of 3.1 to 1, which means that African Americans are a little more than three times as likely to be unemployed as whites (Austin, A. 2010). Now some people may say that the reason for these disturbing employment statistics is the lack of education of the African American people. However, this theory is false, the ACS data showed that in Minneapolis, African Americans with the exact same educational as whites would still have a much higher unemployment rate (Austin, A. 2010). It is hard to believe that people today are trying to cover up racial disparities by making the excuse that it is due to a person’s lack of education or knowledge. There have been several studies completed that have shown that this indeed is not the case.
I came across a very interesting article that had an example of women experiencing gender disparity. This woman had been fired from Wal-Mart because she was complaining about being discriminated based on her sex. She had discovered that a male employee who had the same job title and less experience was making $10,000 more each year than she was ("Wal-mart v. women," 2011). Her boss defended this disparity by saying that the male worker had a family to support. In my opinion, her boss did not give a justifiable answer when explaining the reason for Wal-Mart's discrimination. Even if she did not have a family to support (which she did, she had a baby on the way) it was not a valid reason for a man to be making $10,000 more when he had the same position and less experience as her. Wal-Mart is a huge company with a lot of power. It would be very difficult for an individual to sue Wal-Mart and come out victorious. So, the plaintiff's in the case have brought up a plan to sue Wal-Mart as a class action. In legal terms, a class action is a civil court procedure where a party or a group of parties may sue as representatives of a larger class ("Definitions: class action," 2009). Class actions allow lawyers to justify the rights of a large group of people where no individual party has enough economic incentive to start a law suit on their own ("Definitions: class action," 2009). Proceeding with a class action would be much fairer rather than dismissing the woman's case and insisting that those other 1.5 million women fend for themselves. So far the case record consists of 120 sworn statements from women who experienced sex discrimination in pay, promotion and also in the work environment ("Wal-mart v. women," 2011). Wal-Mart has a good chance of winning this battle if the court determines that the class isn’t cohesive enough. The court may find that there may be more than one class being represented, which would result in the case being dropped and Wal-Mart would get away with discriminating against employees. This article brings up a very scary question. Are there some companies that are too big to be held accountable of discrimination and disparity?
Sources:
Austin, A. (2010). Uneven pain-Unemployment by metropolitan area and race. Economic Policy Institute. Issue Brief #278, June 8, 2010. http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib278/
Definitions: class action. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.techlawjournal.com/glossary/legal/classaction.htm
Rodenborg, N. (2011). Disparities-A few Minnesota statistics. SWK 280 class handout.
Wal-mart v. women. (2011). The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/opinion/07thu1.html?_r=2&ref=discrimination
By: Katie
Friday, April 15, 2011
Humans: Out of Tune with the Earth
Learning about Minnesota’s disparities in multiple areas is very depressing but very important. For years I have been asking why stereotypes exist. It seems stereotypes often come from these disparities. As we have learned in class, stereotyping is a biological tendency and a survival instinct. We see members of our own “in-group” as individuals and generalize members of the “out-groups” (Marsiglia and Kulis, 2009, pp. 36). Today, stereotyping has evolved into a whole new entity. Humans have globalized the entire world and different groups have colonized areas they don’t belong naturally.
Here’s what I’m getting at: as we all know, for thousands of years, humans who lived closer to the equator acquired darker skin to protect themselves from harmful effects of the sun. Humans who lived farther away from the equator have developed fairer skin because the sun was less strong. Then, white colonists migrated across seas and into these warmer areas and disrupted other groups’ natural way of existing. We might say that this is where it all went wrong and why our “tossed-salad” country struggles to coexist, but I challenge you to go back further.
Ishmael is a novel written by Daniel Quinn. When I first read this book, it changed the way I view the Earth and the life it nurtures. It changed my politics, which was switched between Social Democracy and Socialism. Now I often reject politics as a whole. Ishmael is a gorilla, but not just any gorilla. He’s a teacher. A human finds an ad in a newspaper for a teacher looking for a student and he goes to a business building to meet the teacher who is sitting, waiting for him in a cage. Ishmael has endless lessons to teach the student, but the main one readers are supposed to take with them is the Law of Nature. This law is that no being shall control nature.
It is easy to see how humans control nature everyday, but when did it first begin? According to Ishmael, out first wrong move was the invention of agriculture. This was when we first started altering our environment to suit us, rather than existing as our natural forms: hunters and gatherers. Why is this wrong? As hunters and gatherers, we were still apart of the food chain. We spent our days finding food for the moment and killing what we needed to survive, just as other animals continue to do. The development of agriculture was our first step in making our lives more efficient, separating other animals from ourselves. We could control our food supply and have time for new things. We were no long starving!
Here’s the problem: when we are no longer starving and always have enough food, population growth occurs. When the population grows, there is further demand for agriculture because we are starving again. This further alters the land and causes further population growth. Many don’t see it, but this cycle of agriculture, population growth, starvation, agriculture… is continuing on today, and because of it, humans have had an enormous amount of time to focus on colonizing the world and developing the land. We have become the only species that deliberately kills off entire populations for the sake of ridding them from this world, even if they live on the opposite side of the world.
What does this have to do with stereotyping? To me, it is one more outcome from breaking the Law of Nature. I say this because by controlling nature, we grow into a monster that disrupted the natural flow of life on Earth. Humans’ way of justifying their control is that the Earth was made especially for us, a belief that is derived from many religions. Our colonization has led us to live in giant populations instead of small communities such as tribes. People are out of control because they naturally generalize others everyday, viewing them as members of an “out-group”, which they perceive as separate from their own.
Some understand that they base their stereotyping off of the disparities we see in systems like criminal justice, housing access, health, child protection, education, employment, etc. These particular disparities are a result of Structural Discrimination (the discrimination and disparity seen in national institutions) and Institutional Discrimination (institutions allow some privileged people to maintain an advantage over others based on group membership (Marsiglia and Kulis, 2009, pp. 39)). Obviously the preservation of stratification in the U.S. is a huge problem for underprivileged groups and humanity as a whole, so by reviewing this purge of ideas I like to call “blog”, what’s my understanding of it?
Yes, the huge problem of disparity in the U.S. (and world) can be derived from mistreatment of others in history, which is derived from colonization, which is finally derived from break the Law of Nature. I know this blog may be difficult to grasp because it would take at least a novel (like Ishmael) to present it more thoroughly and understandably, but I am asking readers to simply consider the notion that things went wrong when the Law of Nature was broken. The stratification we experience in our large populations is only one result of the law being broken. Other results include warfare on a macro level, extinction of plants and animals, exhaustion of resources, etc. I believe if everyone gave this perspective a chance and hopefully even read Ishmael, we would prioritize our lives differently and see where things first went wrong.
Lauren
Reference List:
Marsiglia, F. F., & Kulis, S. S. (2009). Diversity, oppression, and change: culturally grounded social work. Chicago: Lyceum Books.
Quinn, D. (19951992). Ishmael (Bantam trade pbk. ed.). New York: Bantam/Turner Book.
Here’s what I’m getting at: as we all know, for thousands of years, humans who lived closer to the equator acquired darker skin to protect themselves from harmful effects of the sun. Humans who lived farther away from the equator have developed fairer skin because the sun was less strong. Then, white colonists migrated across seas and into these warmer areas and disrupted other groups’ natural way of existing. We might say that this is where it all went wrong and why our “tossed-salad” country struggles to coexist, but I challenge you to go back further.
Ishmael is a novel written by Daniel Quinn. When I first read this book, it changed the way I view the Earth and the life it nurtures. It changed my politics, which was switched between Social Democracy and Socialism. Now I often reject politics as a whole. Ishmael is a gorilla, but not just any gorilla. He’s a teacher. A human finds an ad in a newspaper for a teacher looking for a student and he goes to a business building to meet the teacher who is sitting, waiting for him in a cage. Ishmael has endless lessons to teach the student, but the main one readers are supposed to take with them is the Law of Nature. This law is that no being shall control nature.
It is easy to see how humans control nature everyday, but when did it first begin? According to Ishmael, out first wrong move was the invention of agriculture. This was when we first started altering our environment to suit us, rather than existing as our natural forms: hunters and gatherers. Why is this wrong? As hunters and gatherers, we were still apart of the food chain. We spent our days finding food for the moment and killing what we needed to survive, just as other animals continue to do. The development of agriculture was our first step in making our lives more efficient, separating other animals from ourselves. We could control our food supply and have time for new things. We were no long starving!
Here’s the problem: when we are no longer starving and always have enough food, population growth occurs. When the population grows, there is further demand for agriculture because we are starving again. This further alters the land and causes further population growth. Many don’t see it, but this cycle of agriculture, population growth, starvation, agriculture… is continuing on today, and because of it, humans have had an enormous amount of time to focus on colonizing the world and developing the land. We have become the only species that deliberately kills off entire populations for the sake of ridding them from this world, even if they live on the opposite side of the world.
What does this have to do with stereotyping? To me, it is one more outcome from breaking the Law of Nature. I say this because by controlling nature, we grow into a monster that disrupted the natural flow of life on Earth. Humans’ way of justifying their control is that the Earth was made especially for us, a belief that is derived from many religions. Our colonization has led us to live in giant populations instead of small communities such as tribes. People are out of control because they naturally generalize others everyday, viewing them as members of an “out-group”, which they perceive as separate from their own.
Some understand that they base their stereotyping off of the disparities we see in systems like criminal justice, housing access, health, child protection, education, employment, etc. These particular disparities are a result of Structural Discrimination (the discrimination and disparity seen in national institutions) and Institutional Discrimination (institutions allow some privileged people to maintain an advantage over others based on group membership (Marsiglia and Kulis, 2009, pp. 39)). Obviously the preservation of stratification in the U.S. is a huge problem for underprivileged groups and humanity as a whole, so by reviewing this purge of ideas I like to call “blog”, what’s my understanding of it?
Yes, the huge problem of disparity in the U.S. (and world) can be derived from mistreatment of others in history, which is derived from colonization, which is finally derived from break the Law of Nature. I know this blog may be difficult to grasp because it would take at least a novel (like Ishmael) to present it more thoroughly and understandably, but I am asking readers to simply consider the notion that things went wrong when the Law of Nature was broken. The stratification we experience in our large populations is only one result of the law being broken. Other results include warfare on a macro level, extinction of plants and animals, exhaustion of resources, etc. I believe if everyone gave this perspective a chance and hopefully even read Ishmael, we would prioritize our lives differently and see where things first went wrong.
Lauren
Reference List:
Marsiglia, F. F., & Kulis, S. S. (2009). Diversity, oppression, and change: culturally grounded social work. Chicago: Lyceum Books.
Quinn, D. (19951992). Ishmael (Bantam trade pbk. ed.). New York: Bantam/Turner Book.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Norms and Values
This week we have started to delve into the influences of our own cultures and the roles they play within our lives. There are numerous ways in which individuals can express their personality—it comes down to where they have learned these characteristics. In our text, Diversity, Oppression, and Change, it states “Cultural norms are values and beliefs that influence the attitudes and behaviors of members of different cultural groups” (Marsiglia, 180). You can learn these norms from your parents, relatives, professors, friends, coworkers or any other individual in your life. One can infer that it is sometimes up to the individual who is expressing a chosen behavior to decide which values to hold onto.
There are numerous norms within my life that I have held onto while growing up. I was always told to be polite when first meeting someone—a handshake was a must. I was always told to be on time when meeting someone—punctuality was something you had to take into consideration. Holding a steady job was a must—doing the best at each task would ensure this. When going out you should be presentable— you should always check your appearance before leaving your home. While reading these norms that I was raised with one could assume that my home was a strick one. These tasks were all normal to me because they were values that have been passed down in my home. They were tasks that I saw my parents doing so I learned them at a young age. I never thought of these tasks as something that have been passed down because they are things that I do on a daily basis.
This week in class we had our reflection on our heritage due. By doing this assignment I can see numerous aspects of the values in my family that I express today. I came from a small, but bluntly honest, Italian family. There are several little things that my grandparents did that I can see within my own life. My grandparents lived in a small town, Palermo, Sicily, and always found the little things to be the most rewarding. My grandparents were people who loved to go to markets and bring home something new for dinner, which always was a production in itself. Although I don’t cook a whole 3 course meal each day I love to go to the local farmers market and learn how to cook something new to go along with my pasta. Did I mention pasta is a huge staple in my life(another thing that has been passed down from my grandparents)? I was also named after my grandmother, Sarah Amato, which is another value you can see within my family. You can see this in numerous families across the world with having names be passed down through generations. It is a traditional that will be around for centuries to come for hope of not losing touch with their ancestors.
This week I have learned not only about diversity and inequality but the aspects of what make up who we are as individuals. There are many things that I have taken in my life for granted without ever looking at where the root of them started. I now have a new respect for my grandparents and traditions that they wanted to keep in the family. I hope to pass along in my own my heritage in order for my children to see the life that our ancestors lived.
By Sarah
Rothenberg, Paula. "Oppression." Race, Class, and Gender In The United States. Eighth Edition ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2010. 151. Print.
There are numerous norms within my life that I have held onto while growing up. I was always told to be polite when first meeting someone—a handshake was a must. I was always told to be on time when meeting someone—punctuality was something you had to take into consideration. Holding a steady job was a must—doing the best at each task would ensure this. When going out you should be presentable— you should always check your appearance before leaving your home. While reading these norms that I was raised with one could assume that my home was a strick one. These tasks were all normal to me because they were values that have been passed down in my home. They were tasks that I saw my parents doing so I learned them at a young age. I never thought of these tasks as something that have been passed down because they are things that I do on a daily basis.
This week in class we had our reflection on our heritage due. By doing this assignment I can see numerous aspects of the values in my family that I express today. I came from a small, but bluntly honest, Italian family. There are several little things that my grandparents did that I can see within my own life. My grandparents lived in a small town, Palermo, Sicily, and always found the little things to be the most rewarding. My grandparents were people who loved to go to markets and bring home something new for dinner, which always was a production in itself. Although I don’t cook a whole 3 course meal each day I love to go to the local farmers market and learn how to cook something new to go along with my pasta. Did I mention pasta is a huge staple in my life(another thing that has been passed down from my grandparents)? I was also named after my grandmother, Sarah Amato, which is another value you can see within my family. You can see this in numerous families across the world with having names be passed down through generations. It is a traditional that will be around for centuries to come for hope of not losing touch with their ancestors.
This week I have learned not only about diversity and inequality but the aspects of what make up who we are as individuals. There are many things that I have taken in my life for granted without ever looking at where the root of them started. I now have a new respect for my grandparents and traditions that they wanted to keep in the family. I hope to pass along in my own my heritage in order for my children to see the life that our ancestors lived.
By Sarah
Rothenberg, Paula. "Oppression." Race, Class, and Gender In The United States. Eighth Edition ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2010. 151. Print.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
How it Happens
How it happens: Gender and Sexual Orientation
Blog by Abbie
This week our class was privileged to have a guest speaker. Our topic for the day focused on “Working with Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Clients”. In our class we had a conversation about the importance of language usage. We touched on topics such as the difference between sexual identity and sexual behavior, and why we identify with a particular gender.
We discussed how crucial a concept language use is for us as social workers. Personal identity can be very specific to individuals, and we must respect this. We must not label people, but instead let people assign their own definitions to their identities. In response we must respect their definitions and refer to people, as they want. We reflected that the best way to learn about another person’s identity is to ask!
I believe that our culture is socially taught to place people into boxes. We place certain people into the female box, the male box, the homosexual box, and the list continues. A result of this tendency it is difficult to give people the chance to self-identify. I feel that more attention should be directed towards this area, so we can better diminish these habits. I am aware that I definitely have a draw to place people into boxes when I am interacting with them. Our guest speaker said that when we take the time to question our first reactions we would discover our own biases. He said it is also helpful for us to ask ourselves where we received this information (biases, stereotypes, misconceptions).
The next day we met in class, I felt that we had a great group dialogue. We were challenged to ask ourselves what we thought created hostile environments for GLBTI individuals. Some ideas that were brainstormed included politics, educational aspects taught, elders’ responses, religion, and that legal rights are not equal for all partnerships. The Heterosexual Questionnaire provided a new perspective as to what my life would look like if I were considered to be in a minority group based on my sexual orientation (Marsiglia and Kulis, 2009). This new perspective showed me that it is important for me to advocate if society’s hostile environment is to be changed. I feel that the first step that will be important to take is to become an ally, as we discussed during our section on oppression and identity in January.
As a class, our guest speaker challenged us to identify how we knew our own identities as male or female. A few ideas generated were we know by the way we sit, how we walk, or how our reproductive parts are classified. Our Marsiglia and Kulis (2009) textbook states, “The term ‘gender’ refers to the social and cultural patterns associated with women and men; in other words, gender defines what behaviors are expected from men and women and which behaviors are considered out of bounds” (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p. 136). When working with clients this definition is interesting to keep in mind. We will come into contact with various cultures through our work and most will have different definitions of how a female and a male are supposed to act.
A second question that was proposed caused me to reflect out of class. This question was how do I know what I enjoy as an adult? Have I been socialized to enjoy “female activities”? Have I learned to like these activities through positive reinforcement? An example of this in my own life is that I like to put on make up, do my hair, and wear certain outfits. But maybe the only reason I like these things is because I have received positive reinforcement from my family, my friends, and the opposite sex.
In conclusion, I felt that the classes we had this past week were a great training on the topic of language. I also felt that I received new and better definitions of terms. I was given many concepts to reflect and journal about on my own. As social workers, these are all important areas to keep in mind when working with clients.
Marsiglia, F.F., & Kulis, S. (2009). Diversity, oppression and change: Culturally
grounded social work. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
Blog by Abbie
This week our class was privileged to have a guest speaker. Our topic for the day focused on “Working with Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Clients”. In our class we had a conversation about the importance of language usage. We touched on topics such as the difference between sexual identity and sexual behavior, and why we identify with a particular gender.
We discussed how crucial a concept language use is for us as social workers. Personal identity can be very specific to individuals, and we must respect this. We must not label people, but instead let people assign their own definitions to their identities. In response we must respect their definitions and refer to people, as they want. We reflected that the best way to learn about another person’s identity is to ask!
I believe that our culture is socially taught to place people into boxes. We place certain people into the female box, the male box, the homosexual box, and the list continues. A result of this tendency it is difficult to give people the chance to self-identify. I feel that more attention should be directed towards this area, so we can better diminish these habits. I am aware that I definitely have a draw to place people into boxes when I am interacting with them. Our guest speaker said that when we take the time to question our first reactions we would discover our own biases. He said it is also helpful for us to ask ourselves where we received this information (biases, stereotypes, misconceptions).
The next day we met in class, I felt that we had a great group dialogue. We were challenged to ask ourselves what we thought created hostile environments for GLBTI individuals. Some ideas that were brainstormed included politics, educational aspects taught, elders’ responses, religion, and that legal rights are not equal for all partnerships. The Heterosexual Questionnaire provided a new perspective as to what my life would look like if I were considered to be in a minority group based on my sexual orientation (Marsiglia and Kulis, 2009). This new perspective showed me that it is important for me to advocate if society’s hostile environment is to be changed. I feel that the first step that will be important to take is to become an ally, as we discussed during our section on oppression and identity in January.
As a class, our guest speaker challenged us to identify how we knew our own identities as male or female. A few ideas generated were we know by the way we sit, how we walk, or how our reproductive parts are classified. Our Marsiglia and Kulis (2009) textbook states, “The term ‘gender’ refers to the social and cultural patterns associated with women and men; in other words, gender defines what behaviors are expected from men and women and which behaviors are considered out of bounds” (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p. 136). When working with clients this definition is interesting to keep in mind. We will come into contact with various cultures through our work and most will have different definitions of how a female and a male are supposed to act.
A second question that was proposed caused me to reflect out of class. This question was how do I know what I enjoy as an adult? Have I been socialized to enjoy “female activities”? Have I learned to like these activities through positive reinforcement? An example of this in my own life is that I like to put on make up, do my hair, and wear certain outfits. But maybe the only reason I like these things is because I have received positive reinforcement from my family, my friends, and the opposite sex.
In conclusion, I felt that the classes we had this past week were a great training on the topic of language. I also felt that I received new and better definitions of terms. I was given many concepts to reflect and journal about on my own. As social workers, these are all important areas to keep in mind when working with clients.
Marsiglia, F.F., & Kulis, S. (2009). Diversity, oppression and change: Culturally
grounded social work. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
“In America We…” Who Determines American Culture
In this past week’s focus on colonization and how it has affected racial and ethnic minorities, ideas surrounding culture were a continuous theme. Since the beginning of the United States just about every ethnic group that had already existed here or immigrated here has been stripped of its culture. I will start with the Native American population, who were the first group affected by “Americanization”. Native American culture was disrupted as early as the mid 1500’s when Native children were being taken from their parents and given European educations. By 1898 it was being recommended by the U.S. Indian Peace Commission that Native children attend European American schools so that the cultural differences between Native and white European American children would disappear (marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p.119). Then there was slavery. Slavery in itself, given its dehumanizing nature, is a surefire way to lose culture. Slaves were brought from Africa to the Americas in the 1700s (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p. 122). Upon arrival slaves were given English names and taught English traditions. The traditional religious practices, ceremonies and general way of life for these people were taken from them.
Other groups, though not brought in as slaves or being massacred and relocated for land, have come to the U.S. and had to change or suppress their cultures to fit in or even survive. My maternal grandfather’s father was a Lithuanian Jew who came to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century as a refugee when the Jewish population in Lithuania was being chased out of the country by the Russians. Once in America, my great grandfather did not often bring up his heritage because to be Jewish was frowned upon here in Minnesota as well. He ended up marrying a Presbyterian woman and claiming Christianity as his religion. If my own mother would not have done the research and discovered this, I would never have known about my Jewish ancestry. There are so many more stories like this of cultures lost in America. Regardless of how many generations ones family has been in the U.S. What stumps me is that this is a nation of immigrants. Unless people identify as Native American, their families came from somewhere other than America. This country was also established on the basis of religious freedom. Should that not also encompass cultural freedom as well? Why is it that the White European Christian American determines what “American culture” means? Or even whether a culture is good or bad?
Yes, we have our China towns in New York and San Francisco and, more locally, Somali markets in Minneapolis…so…we have bubbles of land that serve as oases for people that may not identify with the dominant white American culture. What about the world outside of these cultural safe havens? Billboards, food, commercial clothing, the people on TV, radio, and every other aspect of American life screams “White America!”. One could argue that like every other country America has its own culture, be it good or bad. This brings me back to the now widely famous YouTube video of the girl at UCLA talking about Asians on their phones in the library. This girl uses the statement “In America we…” referring to cell phone etiquette in the library. It is this statement “In America we…” that closes so many minds. The fact is in America we…forget that this nation is made up of more cultures than what is perceived by the mainstream.
References
Marsiglia, F.F., & Kulis, S. (2009). Diversity, Oppression, and Change: Culturally Grounded Social Work. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
In this past week’s focus on colonization and how it has affected racial and ethnic minorities, ideas surrounding culture were a continuous theme. Since the beginning of the United States just about every ethnic group that had already existed here or immigrated here has been stripped of its culture. I will start with the Native American population, who were the first group affected by “Americanization”. Native American culture was disrupted as early as the mid 1500’s when Native children were being taken from their parents and given European educations. By 1898 it was being recommended by the U.S. Indian Peace Commission that Native children attend European American schools so that the cultural differences between Native and white European American children would disappear (marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p.119). Then there was slavery. Slavery in itself, given its dehumanizing nature, is a surefire way to lose culture. Slaves were brought from Africa to the Americas in the 1700s (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009, p. 122). Upon arrival slaves were given English names and taught English traditions. The traditional religious practices, ceremonies and general way of life for these people were taken from them.
Other groups, though not brought in as slaves or being massacred and relocated for land, have come to the U.S. and had to change or suppress their cultures to fit in or even survive. My maternal grandfather’s father was a Lithuanian Jew who came to the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century as a refugee when the Jewish population in Lithuania was being chased out of the country by the Russians. Once in America, my great grandfather did not often bring up his heritage because to be Jewish was frowned upon here in Minnesota as well. He ended up marrying a Presbyterian woman and claiming Christianity as his religion. If my own mother would not have done the research and discovered this, I would never have known about my Jewish ancestry. There are so many more stories like this of cultures lost in America. Regardless of how many generations ones family has been in the U.S. What stumps me is that this is a nation of immigrants. Unless people identify as Native American, their families came from somewhere other than America. This country was also established on the basis of religious freedom. Should that not also encompass cultural freedom as well? Why is it that the White European Christian American determines what “American culture” means? Or even whether a culture is good or bad?
Yes, we have our China towns in New York and San Francisco and, more locally, Somali markets in Minneapolis…so…we have bubbles of land that serve as oases for people that may not identify with the dominant white American culture. What about the world outside of these cultural safe havens? Billboards, food, commercial clothing, the people on TV, radio, and every other aspect of American life screams “White America!”. One could argue that like every other country America has its own culture, be it good or bad. This brings me back to the now widely famous YouTube video of the girl at UCLA talking about Asians on their phones in the library. This girl uses the statement “In America we…” referring to cell phone etiquette in the library. It is this statement “In America we…” that closes so many minds. The fact is in America we…forget that this nation is made up of more cultures than what is perceived by the mainstream.
References
Marsiglia, F.F., & Kulis, S. (2009). Diversity, Oppression, and Change: Culturally Grounded Social Work. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Microaggression by Marisol
In class we have been talking about microaggression that people of color experience. Microaggression takes place in different ways. It’s an insult that can be made verbally, physically, intentionally, and not intentionally, and it happens mostly to minority groups. Many times it’s a brief statement someone makes. Usually it’s unexpected and can happen at any time and any place. People of all genders, religions, sexual orientations, and other social identities may experience microaggression.
When I meet people, the first questions I am usually asked is, “where are you from?” If I answer that I was born in the United States, the next question usually is, “Where are your parents from?” or “How did your parents come to the United States?” After it is clearly established I am Mexican the next questions are about how and why I came here. The questions just continue to build up more and more. I believe the bottom line in these conversations is to find out if I really am in the United States legally. Because I have black hair and brown skin, many times people assume I am “illegal”. The common stereotype in this country is that all Hispanics and Latinos are fugitive “illegal” immigrants that bring strife to every community we enter.
According to the article titled Racial Microaggression in Everyday Life (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, Holder, Nadal, and Esquilin, 2007) it is extremely difficult for victims to address microaggression. Those who experience microaggression go through four dilemmas: 1) Did it really happen? 2) How can I prove that it happened? 3) Does it really have a personal effect on me? 4) What should I do about it or is it even worth doing anything about? This is always a negative experience to go through because it’s something that over a long period of time can begin to have affects on one’s physical, mental and emotional health. If I spoke up for every time I was in a situation in which I was experiencing microaggression, that’s all I would ever do. I would always be in a defensive state, which can get very exhausting. If I said nothing at all it would just become an internal disease that would consume me from the inside out.
In conclusion, I can personally say that microaggression has a profound short and long term impacts on the victim. It is never a positive experience whether it is publically addressed or accumulated over time. The outcome is likely to have negative results individually and to whole communities. I have to build an inner strength and confidence in myself that is unbreakable and encourage others to do them same in order to deal with this issue.
Reference
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri J. M., Holder, A. M.B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286.
Gender Identity by Amanda
This week in class we discussed gender and gender identities. During his presentation on gender identities and sexual orientations our guest speaker asked a very intriguing question to the class: what is it about yourself that makes you feel like a girl/boy? I had never thought about what it was about me that made me feel like a girl, I have always just known I was a girl. As a child I had a lot of "boyish" qualities. These qualities were often a topic of conversation between my parents and my friends, but no one ever treated them as something that needed ot be changed. Even thought I was never a very "girly" child I always felt like I was a girl. Since the speaker's presentation I have been trying to think of what it is that makes me know my gender identity is girl, but I still cannot pinpoint what about myself makes me know that my sex and gender identity match. Our speaker reitereated a point we have been discussing all semester: when you are a part of a majority, you do not have to think about the identities that make you a majority. This has made me want to learn more about people who are minorities because of their gender identity. According to Flavio Francisco Marsiglia and Stephen Kulis "transgender describes a growing array of people whose gender identity does not fit into a simple binary system in which genitalia dictate a clear turn down one of only two identity paths" (2009, p. 151). The term transgender has become a widely used word to describe many different types of people who live outside of culturally "normal" gender roles. Transgender individuals are often subject to ridicule, stereotypes, and in extreme cases are the victims of physical violence. Living as a transgender individual can cause many barriers for people to overcome; the first of these barriers is an individuals' need to come to terms with his/her own gender identity (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009). For many transgender individuals their battle to accept their own identity begins during childhood. Some children are lucky and have parents who accpet their nonconforming gender identites, but many are not so lucky. Some transgender children are met with families, and the rest of society, who try to force their gender to match their sex. This can cause children to respond with symptoms of depression, fear, anger, anxiety, self-mutilation, low self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts (Mallon & DeCresenzo, 2006). These symptoms are often viewd as more of a reason to "fix" the transgender child by forcing them to conform to society's gender roles. In reality these symptoms are the result of living in a hostile environment where children are not allowed to be themselves (Mallon & DeCresenzo, 2006). Learning these barriers has made me so grateful that I have never had to deal with the pain of developing a gender identity thatwas different from my biological sex. Learning these barriers has also brought to my attention the necessity of social workers to be sensitive toward and knowledgeable about their transgender clients. When working with a transgender child, social workers need to work on strengthening the parent-child relationship. It is extremely important for parents to be accepting of their child's identity, or at the very least be willing to make compromises that allow their child to express his/her own identity. It is also necessary to keep lines of communication between child and parents open because every child needs to feel loved and accepted. It is alos important for a social worker to find therapy for transgender children that focuses on treating the symptoms discussed above, as opposed to therapy that focuses on changing children's identities. Social workers can also help children deal with the stigma they face in their communities. As social workers we need to everything possible to help our transgender children and adult transgender clients (Mallon & DeCresenzo, 2006). Sources: Marsiglia, F. & Kulis, S. (2009). Diversity, Oppression, and Change. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books Inc. Mallon, G. & DeCresenzo, T. (2006). Transgender Children and Youth: A Child Welfare Practive Perspective. Child Welfare, 85, 215-241.
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