Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I thought this would be an easy assignment; instead it challenged me to look in to the heart of diversity and culture. I asked three of my co-workers, how they define diversity and culture. The first response came from a female of native descent:

“I really don’t have a culture because I was adopted.”

 Linda was adopted as a child, her adopted parents failed to keep her connected with her culture. As an adult, she continues to experience discontinuity and invisibility. The dominant culture in her life was the culture of her adoptive parents. The second response is from a female born and raised in West Africa:

“In my country, in the place where I grew up, we help one another. I am not there now but I still help out my family and friends there; and we love to praise and worship God. Where I am from, we raise our children to respect their elders. American children do not respect their elders, so me and my husband work together to raise our children like we were raised back home.”

 Kumbi left her country after she graduated college; her husband is from the same country. They have three children all born in the United States. Kumbi says diversity is God’s way of using people to show how much He loves colors. The last response is from a female who lives in Oklahoma City:

“Diversity is when you have too many people in your business trying to define you when they don’t even know you. White people, black people, Hispanics, Asian, everybody writing books about people they never met but think they know and predict how they will behave. We all might look different, but we all want the same thing to be happy and enjoy life.”

Lashawn is a LPN, single with no children. She defines culture as being a lifestyle that follows you to the grave; the part of a person that never changes.

Linda, Kumbi, and Lashawn, all gave answers that were unique to what was discussed in class and I appreciate all of them. Their responses were straight forward and to the point. What I have learned this week is that a person’s or a peoples’ culture should not be taken for granted as if it doesn’t matter-it all matters.