Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families of diverse backgrounds:

I hope that professionals within the early childhood field will take the time to learn about the culture, values, and individual perspectives of the families that are being serviced. Effective relationships between individuals of diverse backgrounds are based on a foundation of trust, understanding, and positive interactions.  In my opinion, achieving the goal of understanding diversity allows the professional and the family to get to know each other without prior judgement; so the lines of communications can remain open.

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice:

I would set the goal of the early childhood professional to focus on individualization and not stereotypes. Every person has their own experiences, culture, and view of life that guides their mannerisms. I would challenge every early childhood professional to learn  something new about at least 3 students a day. Reaching this goal will help the professional to practice focusing on individual traits and how those traits contribute to individual development.


I would like to thank all of my colleagues for sharing their perspectives on biases, equity, and social justice. It has been a pleasure learning with each and every one of you. I wish you all the best in your next course. Many Thanks!

Salesha

Welcoming Families From Around the World

I choose to pretend that a child from Liberia is about to join my classroom. I just met a new friend from Liberia. She is married with a 4 year old daughter. We were talking about her concern for her daughter to fit into American culture. When I read this week's assignment, I began to think about what the young girl and her mother may be feeling living in American culture. Also, I tried to think of ways of helping children with strong heritages from other countries to feel welcome into American society.

In preparation for the new addition to the classroom, I would implement five ideas to help the new child feel welcome:
1) Tell the other children beforehand that a new friend is joining the group
2) Have a lesson prepared that implements diversity into the classroom
3) Ask the child, if comfortable, to talk about where he/she comes from and introduce herself
4)  Schedule a day of diversity asking each child to share information on their heritage
5) Make the child feel comfortable in the classroom and label the classroom with pictures that are associated with the class schedule as well as other important information. The child may not speak English very well.

Implementing these five preparations will begin to cultivate and build a bridge between myself and the new family. Also, it will help the new child and their family acclimate to their new environment. The introduction will encourage diversity into the classroom setting and cause the present children in the classroom to become aware that everyone is different. Hopefully, the children will become more open to accepting others.

Racial Discrimination

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

 

I was driving toward 422 going the speed limit and breaking no laws. A cop switched lanes and looked at me. I continued to drive normally. I didn't really worry until the cop got behind my vehicle and followed up the ramp. He followed very closely and never put on a siren. I had a bad feeling in my gut that he was a racist cop because he didn't start following me until he came to the side of my car and looked at me. At the end of the ramp, there were cones and flashing caution signs that said slow down. At this point, I was trying to figure out why this cop was following me and for what might he try to charge me with. I slowed down due to the signs and cones. The cop put on his sirens and pulled me over. He called over a walkie talkie saying that a black female has just been pulled over. A second cop showed up. He informed me that I was driving too slow and could have sped up to not stop traffic. I gave him my license and registration. The other cop used a flashlight to search my car. When he returned back to the car, he said that he was giving me a warning and to be safe.

 

In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice, and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

 

This unfortunate incident took away my rights to drive without being harassed based on the color of my skin. He followed me without a valid reason on purpose. He abused his power as an officer to intimidate a minority member of the community. In this incident, it seemed like he was looking for a reason to stop me. He knew that I was fully aware of his bias behavior and understand that I was going to the courts to fight him. The cop was hoping that I fit the stereotype of an angry black woman. He was hoping that I would talk back, accuse him verbally of prejudice, and give him a reason to put his hands on me. The cop didn't expect to come across an African American female who was raised to use the courts to fight a racist cop and not my mouth and fists. I feel he choose to give me a warning because he knew that his behavior would backfire on him.

 

What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

 

This incident caused me to mistrust cops. I felt very angry, vengeful, embarrassed, frustrated, anxious, violated, and extremely ANGRY. He took away my feeling of security and protection. African Americans are commonly victims of police brutality and sometimes cops get away with this kind of violent behavior. I was not sure I was going to get home that night. He could have hurt, killed, and/or probably spun the story to blame the incident on me. After this incident, I yearned to be in the company of my own people so we could protect each other.

 

What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

 

The cop would have to change his discriminative views of African Americans. It is a true shame that a officer sworn to protect all members of the community would act in such a distasteful manner. He drove up next to me, looked at me, and then followed me. After being pulled over, he had to make up a reason for following me.