Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a childcare center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

I am so excited to welcome the new family from Brazil.  Brazil is a country that I will be visiting in December and I am looking forward to building a relationship with this family.  We will be having our classroom visits next week and I need to do some research on Brazil so that I can welcome them properly.  

The Brazilian culture is one of the world’s most varied and diverse. This is due to its being a melting pot of nationalities, as a result of centuries of European domination as well as slavery, which brought hordes of African migrants across Brazil’s borders to live in and influence the local cultures with their ancient customs and ideas.

 Brazil has a population of about 190 million people. Of these, more than half are white (which includes Portuguese, Italian, Polish etc. individuals), just fewer than 40% are mixed black and white and less than 10% are black. Approximately 80% of the population ascribes to the Roman Catholic faith. This is due to the intense Portuguese occupation of centuries ago.   Due to the mass Portuguese settlements during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, this language is the official language of Brazil.

In order to be culturally responsive towards a family of Brazilian decent I would do the following:

1) I recently met another ECE that moved to Atlanta from Brazil 10 years ago and Portuguese is her first language.  In the family packet I saw that both parents have only been speaking English for 3 years and I invited Adriana to come on the day of the visit to translate in case language is a barrier.  I want to make sure I am able to answer all questions that this family may have and I hope having someone there that speaks their native language will make them feel comfortable communicating with me.

2) I will post our daily schedule in both English and Portuguese so there will be a clear understanding of the flow of the day and around the room I will have pictures & cue cards in Portuguese and English to help them get acclimated.

3) I would ask them about family dynamics, who is important to the child and ask if we could have photos of all of these people to put up at school for the child to feel familiar.

4) I would engage the family in a discussion about the education environment that their child last attended with follow up questions as to what they felt about the experience; how their child responded to the experience. 

5) I would ask how long they have been in this country and how they came to immigrate here; do they have family here (to determine support systems and family structure and dynamics). 

I communicate a lot through music and I know that it has a way of just making you feel good.  I learned that music in Brazil plays a big role in the lives of many Brazilians all around the country.  Something that I would have for the family upon entering the class would be music from their country.

Having lived in another country before I know how difficult the transition can be.  When I moved to Paris I felt like a fish out of water and had no idea how I was going to fit in.  I was lucky to have people help me get acclimated to my new surrounding and it made a world of difference.  I hope that this new family will feel comfortable leaving their child in my care.  I want them to know that I am there to support them in this new transition as much as I can.  My goal is to make sure this family feels represented, included, and engaged.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I have shared many stories during our weekly discussions and blog post about incidents that have happened to me.  This time I would like to share something that happened to my husband 2 weeks ago.

My husband Santana is a pharmaceutical rep and spends most of his time in his car.  This was a typical workday for him until he was stopped by the police.  Santana was pulled over by two white police officers.  When he stopped his car they both ran to his car screaming "Get out the car".  Santana had no idea why he was being pulled over and did not feel comfortable getting out of his car.  He put his hands up so that the officers could see that he was holding a weapon and told them that he was not sure why he was being pulled over.  The officer approached the driver side window and asked him where the weed was.  My husband told him that they pulled over the wrong person.  As he is saying this 4 more police cars pulled up and they all approached the car.  At this point Santana called me and I knew when I answered the phone and did not hear his voice that I needed to listen to what was going on.  I decided to record what I was hearing in case we needed it as evidence later on.

Santana decided to get out the car and he repeatedly told the officers that they had the wrong person.  The officer told my husband that he was going to search the car.  Santana said that he was going to watch him because he did not want him planting drugs in his car.  Another officer approached him and told him that he would not move from that spot.  Santana told the man that if he could not watch him search his car then he did not have permission to search it.  They went back and forth for a few minutes and my husband informed him that he had a witness on the phone listening to everything that had been said.  Together he and the officer walked around the car searching the inside first then the trunk.  No drugs were found.

Still not satisfied, the first officer decided to go another route.  He told my husband that he had been speeding and was going to give him a ticket for it.  At this point my husband was so over it that he just got back in his car and waited for the ticket.  As I listened to everything that was happening I heard the moment that my husband felt defeated.  Since that day I have noticed a change in him and I know that day was the cause of it.

One of my classmates spoke about stereotypes in her discussion post this week.  Some of the things that the officers mentioned to my husband were the fact that his windows were tinted, he had chrome wheels on the car.  He failed to mention that my husband was dressed in a 3 piece suit with his name tag from work and a briefcase on the passenger seat.  The way they spoke to him it was clear that they thought Santana was less than them.  He was not treated fairly and I truly believe that if he had not mentioned that I was on the phone then something bad would have happened to my husband.

It breaks my heart that their is so much hatred in the world.  My husband is the pillar of strength and these men took his power away from him.  I have to be honest and say that it is hard not to have negative feelings towards the white race and if it were not for my faith in God , I would have hatred in my heart.  But I am a Christian and I believe that God never puts more on us than we can bear.  So in those times where I feel as if my faith is being tested all I can do is pray for peace in my mind, heart and soul.  And then I pray for forgiveness.

I shared this with you all because racial profiling is wrong. Many of our African American boys and men are subject to this often and nothing is being done about it.  You have to know your rights when it comes to the law and I am so grateful that my husband knew to call me so he would have a witness.

The smell of marijuana is one that most people recognize and does not just go away.  If marijuana is what they smelled then they should have smelled it as soon as my husband let the window down.  At that point they should have realized their mistake, apologized and let my husband go.  Had that happened none of the other stuff would have happened.  I think it should be mandatory for all government officials to take yearly classes on diversity.   Maybe then would this country truly be the land of the free.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week has been an eye opening week for me.  We have been studying microagressions.  Microaggressions are brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral or environmental, that may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to people of color, to gay/lesbians that have an insulting message behind them that often time causes severe psychological distress and harm (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  This week I have remembered times when I was a victim to microagressions and I also realized that I have also been an offender.  As I thought about these instance where I have offended others I realized there were ways that I could have handled the situations better. 

I decided to share an experience from my previous school.  My previous school is located in a upper middle class area in Georgia.  The school was extremely diverse, but there were hardly any African-American families there.  When a family is interested in the school they come for a visit and get a tour of the school.  On this particular day there was an African-American family coming for the tour. As an African-American myself I always got excited to see these families because we needed more at the school and since being there I had never had a black child in my classroom.  When the tour was over I went to talk to the director about something unrelated to the tour.  As soon as I walked in she says "Mrs. Keli the Johnson family loved the school, but I don't think this is a good fit for them".  I asked her was it because of the tuition and she said no.  She then informed that the father owned several businesses and that the mother was a stay at home mom.  So why isn't this school a good fit?  Um.... Well..... It just isn't.  Pushing the issue further, I asked her did they say something to you that would lead you to believe this?  No, I have have been doing this a long time and I can tell  right away.  At this point my blood was boiling and I knew that if I did not walk out of her office at that very moment then the next thing to come out of my mouth would not be good.  I walked backed to my classroom and realized I was to upset to stay and went home.  She did not want them at the school because they were black.  I went back and forth about it and I truly believe that is the reason why the school doesn't have but a few black students.  After this happened I started to view my director differently and found it hard to come to work everyday.  I gave 200% of myself everyday to that school as well as my students and I could not continue to work for someone that did not want black students at her school.   I submitted my resignation and moved on to another center.  

This week made me look at my stereotypes about people and allowed me to see why people have them about me. It gave me a better understanding on how to deal with the many forms of discrimination. It affects people in different ways and people deal with it differently.   I am a Christian and I try to live my life according to what I think pleases God.  One of my favorite biblical passages that I try and live by is Matthew 7:1-3 “Judge not less ye be judged”. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

“Diversity is not about how we differ.  Diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness.”              Ola Joseph

For this assignment, we were asked to find out from three different people their definitions of culture and diversity. The three people I asked defined culture as our heritage, or beliefs, why we do things; the way you were raised, your morals and rituals; and who you are. Culture can be referred to how particular groups of people live. It is the way we live our everyday lives, which include the language we speak, the religion or spirituality we practice (or do not), and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 55).

They defined diversity as different cultures living together and around each other in the same community; the inclusion of different people, which sets us apart from other cultures; and how we are all different.  Summing up their definitions, diversity is recognizing and appreciating the variety of characteristics that make a individuals culture unique.

I found this assignment fascinating as each viewed culture and diversity in similar yet different ways.  I enjoyed hearing their definitions of diversity and culture as it encouraged a great conversation.   I think their definitions help me to understand how similar and different we are as individuals.    In week two the panelists offered many different descriptions of culture and diversity.   I think all sources help me to understand the complexity of both words.  In the end it is culture and diversity that makes us who we are.   And by acknowledging our similarities and differences we embrace our culture and diversity.

References:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

My Family Culture

Reading the requirements and scenario for this posting was unfortunately for me frightening.  However, in our trying times in the world we live in, I must admit I, as well as my family, have thought about such a scenario and how we would handle it.

•   Phone with video and pictures of my husband, family and friends.

•   Important documents: birth certificate, social security card, and passport.  I chose these because it will prove my birth and nationality. 

•   Medical records/prescription also because my history if I was in need of medication, show my blood type, shots that I have had, and also may be able to trace my blood line to find my family.

If language was an issue I think that people would understand the value of the items that I brought because they would recognize things like identification cards, passports, and other important items like that.

Upon arrival to this new destination I am told that I can only keep one of these items. I would keep the phone because I I would have made sure that I had taken pictures of all of my important documents in case I lost the originals.

I realized that doing this assignment that I don’t think I would ever be prepared to have to abandon the place that I call home and leave my family and all my love ones behind.  I began to think about the millions of families that have to do this all the time and how hard this has to be.  When I lived in France for 8 months the worst 2 I was felt out of place all the time and every time I found an English speaking person I wanted to hug them.   I realize how important it is to know all of your information and have it saved somewhere that you can access it.