Professional Hopes and Goals

            When it comes to working with children and families from diverse backgrounds, the hope that I have is that we are able to communicate and understand one another. A goal I would like to set for the early childhood field relating to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to 1) show families from diverse backgrounds that they are welcome by displaying flags and the word welcome in the language each flag represents as well as through our actions. 2) Demonstrate equity by honoring diverse families represented in the facility with a given week to share and answer questions about their culture. 3) Create strategies to increase awareness of the harmful effects of microaggressions. I am truly inspired by all of the insights and questions from the discussion. I listened to  the hearts of each of you and I learned a lot from all of you; you all have played a tremendous part in shaping my professionalism for the better. Thank you!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

            This week I will interview with a family who recently immigrated to Oklahoma from Chile. They are seeking a facility to care for their two year old while they look for work and get established. I am not familiar with culture of this country, so what I will do first is research the family dynamics and makes their visit as comfortable as possible. Secondly, I will ask them about their culture and how can I best serve them. Thirdly, I will share with them the vision and mission of the facility. I will listen to the family; there may be unspoken rules related to gender, power, and how we interact with each other and make adjustments where possible (Christen, 2006). I will ask about their needs and expectations for the child and allow them to ask questions about me, the facility, and staff.

            This increases the family’s knowledge about the facility and personnel; it assures them that they have a voice and their voice is heard; and that their culture is accepted. We benefit by learning about another culture and experiencing new and different ways of doing things.

 

Reference

Christian, L. G. (2006). Understanding families: Applying family systems theory to early childhood practice. Young Children, 61(1), 12–20. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?did=1042679491&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

            Sometime ago, I read a book entitled A Time to Kill, written by John Grisham. It was about a little girl of color, living in the south at a time when racism was at its peak. The little girl was around 7/8 years old and while walking home from the store was struck in the head with an unopened beer, thrown at her by two white men who had passed her in a truck. They beat her, raped her, urinated and defecated on her, then dropped her from a 10 foot bridge.

            The dad of this little girl knew that justice for his daughter was not an option, given the era and geographical location in which he lived. So he took matters into his own hands and killed the two men. Now the trial is centered on a man of color, who killed two white men in cold blood; none of the people-except those of color-was interested in ‘why’ they were killed, only that they were killed by a man of color.

            While reading this novel, I had feelings of hurt, anger, sadness, sorrow and relief. I kept thinking how could this community of people be so cruel and heartless? I wanted justice so much for this family that I thought about writing a sequel to the book myself. Needless to say, due to the cunningness of the defense attorney, I was spared that task.

            The family’s attorney cleverly got the jurors to imagine every horrid detail of the abuse, rape, and attempted murder of the child and won the case with these three words-imagine her white! In this incident, had the attorney not challenged the juror to see the child white, the father would have received the death penalty. Sometimes, all it takes to avoid prejudices/oppression, or unintentional micro aggressions, is to put yourself in their shoes.