"A person's a person no matter how small"-Dr. Seuss

 The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression As a teenager, I began reading more serious novels in my spare time and found myself drawn toward books that were clear examples of prejudices and biases that impacted social equity.   I was most interested in novels that I felt personally connected to from my own prejudices and biases I have experienced, more specifically my family heritage.   I began reading books about the Holocaust because my paternal grandfather directly experienced fleeing from it as a boy in Belgium, when his family immigrated to the United States to save their lives.   My grandfather personally loaned me a book that was an autobiography from a close friend that had also experienced this horrific time in our history.   Sharing stories of true internalized oppression, making various attempts to change his physical appearance out of self-hatred for his physical characteristics as a Jewish person, and fearful for the implicati...

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions   Earlier this week, I was on my way to work and needed to stop to fuel my vehicle at the gas station.   I witnessed a major accident in an adjacent parking lot from the gas station I was headed to.   I arrived at the gas station, pumped my gas, and went inside to pay the store clerk.   I approached the counter where there were dual cash registers and a Middle-Aged, White Male checking out next to me.   While checking out I mentioned that there was a big accident right down the road.   The man next to me then commented, “Yeah, probably was a woman driving.” and jokingly laughed.   My response was awkward, I did not laugh and said I was unsure who was driving the vehicles.   This person was a good example of the dominant culture of a White male communicating superiority over woman and individuals of color and their inability to complete a task as well (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).    ...

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture The first interview was conducted with a colleague that is a white female, who was born and raised in the local area and in her early sixties.   She moved away when she was married to a soldier and traveled to Germany, several parts of Europe, and around the United States.   She recently returned to her family home in the area three years ago when her parents passed away.   Her response to the question of culture and diversity was surprising to me personally:    “Well we have no culture and diversity here, I mean locally.   Everyone is blonde haired, blue eyed, Finns, unless you are here with the university (referring to Michigan Technological University).   Because of the university we have some diversity in the town, but the locals don’t really jive with that.” I had assumed from her travels she would have found an appreciation for the deeper culture she had been raised in and could see the dive...