Reflection Paper On Immersion

1061 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mass media stereotypes in the media

Immersion Two My entire goal for the immersion activities that we have completed throughout the semester has been to learn more about Black people. Before this class started, I never realized just how egocentric and wrapped up in White privilege I was. I thought I knew what racism was and I knew that it still existed, but I never fully understood the definition of what it truly is and how prevalent it is in every aspect of our culture. Through our many readings in class, our discussions, self-reflecting when writing my Respectful paper earlier this semester, completing the IAT, and writing Immersion one I realized how uneducated I was and still am about the reality of Black lives. When I was trying to pick what I wanted to do for my immersion two activity I faced a variety of problems. My first instinct was to get involved with a predominately Black organization or school and volunteer/spend time there for a day. However, I had several roadblocks with this idea. One of my problems was my schedule. It was hard for me to find an open day where I could go volunteer somewhere since I always seem to have work and school most of the work week. I also did not really I do not really know any Black people. I think this realization stunned me more and taught me more about myself than the rest of this activity did. My entire family, my girlfriend, and my two best friends are White. I held two jobs over the summer, I put in my two weeks, then I switched to a different one when this semester started and every single one of my co-workers at every job I had are White. This really made me stop and reflect on why this is the case and if I have subconsciously been reaching out to and interacting with only White people. It was definitely not a conscious decision I was making, but maybe like the IAT proved it was just something that is constantly operating in the back of my

Show More
Related

  • Benefits Of African American Co-Culture

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a result, my thinking and perception was shaped and influenced by many of the negative stereotypes of African Americans that has been perpetuated in our society at large (this is where education can be a great liberator of falsehoods and misconceptions). I have come to appreciate Professor Marie’s Intercultural Communication course, for the class has broaden my critical thinking skills and stretched my thinking and understanding. Finally, how do I think this information will be of use to me? True understanding and teamwork will not begin to occur until individuals begin to speak up about address and embrace the controversial topics of race and culture. Setting aside the problem of racism and covering it up by saying that everyone is the same, does not eliminate the issue. Trying to patch up issues around the world dealing with culture and racism only provides a quick, short lasting solution, for when the temporary patch falls away, the problems will have grown twice as big. All it does is temporarily set aside what we know is still there.

    Read More

  • Latino In Action Essay

    501 Words  | 2 Pages

    All in all, participating in Latinos In Action allows me to further prove that my Hispanic background is an extraordinary benefit, not a handicap. I use my passion for helping the community to galvanize my actions outside of school. So, whenever I ponder and reflect about my life, I am filled with an overwhelming satisfaction since I know that I am not someone who is following the crowd. Instead, I’m making a difference in my

    Read More

  • Essay On Microaggressions

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions is not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and faculty.

    Read More

  • On becoming white

    2114 Words  | 5 Pages

    This cognizance really ensued when I first started work as an educational therapist in a residential placement for severely emotionally disturbed teenage girls. Being in such a arbitrary position of power was difficult enough with people who have issues with control and lack of respect from elders but I also happened to be the only male ever in this position at the facility and a "white guy" to boot. Ninety percent of my clients happened to be Latina or African American. This ethnic flash point did not initially bother me because of my lack of awareness of its existence and my naive determination that it was not important for my therapeutic and educational goals. However, of course I had not really considered at that time what being 'white' really entails in this society. Consideration of one's identity is obviously key to successful educational and therapeutic interventions but it took the actual experience of being what I call "white-washed" to make me realize that skin color may actually have something important to do with one's perceived identity.

    Read More

  • Intersectionality In My Life

    1737 Words  | 4 Pages

    Attending a predominantly white school, white people were very interested, or rather over interested, in the so-called black culture. Being in a space that had minority black people, oppression was felt on the highest level. Anything that may have remotely involved the black skin, was downplayed and undermined, and more cases than one, my voice was silenced. From this experience, I started realising that wherever I may go, the female black body was not correctly or remotely represented positively in the media and in general society. For many years, as a regular television watcher, I began to realise that the media and entertainment industry did not put black women in power or inspiration, but women who are needy, sexual objects or women who play second best to men. In my educational systems, I have not been exposed to black lectures or teachers enough, and I realised that we were not being correctly and rightfully represented. As a black body, I am aware that I occupy space in a white environment, and that much of what I do is under the scope of white supremacy. Much of the experiences I have at my university are very much related to my racial profiling, and my level of intelligence is marked according to how I look eternally. Daily, I am constantly reminded that I am black as if it is something to be ashamed of social elite environment. In the article written by Dill and Zambara,

    Read More

  • Racial Diversity at Rocky Mount Academy

    2273 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the semester I have done a great deal of listening, reading, reflecting, and a good bit of talking as well. I realized early on in this course that in order to look toward the future, I had to dig through the past. I began by examining myself and the looking into the history of the independent school movement. I examined my own feelings about race and privilege, the founding of Rocky Mount Academy (RMA), and spoke with Tony Shanks, RMA’s first Black student. I came to the conclusion that in order to shape the future of RMA, I must accept who I am, examine the history of the school, and proactively transform who we were into who we can become. I believe we should continue to strive to be the finest school in Rocky Mount by providing the best education to students regardless of race, religion, class, or economic status. Although I still have more to learn and more to do as an educator, I feel I have begun an important journey to help me be a part of a transformation at my school.

    Read More

  • Critical Race Theory

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    Critical race theory (CRT) is a framework that may be useful for examining how racial climate impacts the undergraduate experiences of African-American students on college campuses (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT draws from a broad base of literature in sociology, history, ethnic studies, women’s study, and law (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). CRT consists of five elements: 1) the centrality of race and racism, and their intersectionality with other forms of subordination, 2) the challenge to dominant ideology, 3) the commitment to social justice, 4) the centrality of experiential knowledge, and 5) the transdisciplinary perspective (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore, 2010). Applying CRT to education is different than other CRT applications as it challenges traditional paradigms, methods, texts, and separate discourse of race, gender, and class by showing how social constructs intersect to impact on communities of color (Murphy, Gaughan, Hume, & Moore,

    Read More

  • Racial Identity Reflection

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    As I listen to the recording I had made back in week two of this course, I am able to realize how far my identity development has come. A few things stuck out to me as I listened to my thoughts and ideas from nine weeks ago. I found myself making statements about being “color blind” and that I “don’t go out of my way to think about how people are different”. I now realize that this kind of thinking is that kind that can inadvertently perpetuate racism in society. In order to challenge racism, there needs to be a dialogue about racism and denying the fact that there is any issue is only making matters worse.

    Read More

  • Naturalization Of Racism

    609 Words  | 2 Pages

    Race has been a controversial issue throughout history and even more so today. The idea of race has contributed to the justifications of racial inequality and has led to the prejudice and discrimination of certain racial groups. Race and racism were constructed to disadvantage people of color and to maintain white power in America. Today, race has been the center of many political changes and actions that have affected people of color. The idea of race has played a role in how people from different racial groups interact amongst each other. Interactions within one’s own racial group are more common than interactions among other racial groups, at least in my own experiences. Therefore, because I have been positioned to surround myself with people from my own racial group since a very young age, I have internalized that being around my own racial group is a normal and natural occurrence.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Stereotypes In To Kill A Mockingbird

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a respectable white member of society, I took my privilege for granted - to not be identified as an “outsider”, or someone who is deemed as different than everyone else. I feel as if I do not need to work to be seen or heard as much as some people do. However, for someone who is placed into a stereotype, it is a constant struggle for them to be heard, seen, or taken seriously by others. People who are placed into stereotypes, such as African Americans, are not always as privileged. By putting on a show in the month of February that portrayed an African American male who did not have much of a voice and was singled out due to the color of his skin, we were subconsciously stating our racial dominance over those who were involved in the Black History Month

    Read More

  • White Privilege Essay

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to reduce the “white privilege” concept, parents, teachers, coaches, etc. Need to talk with their children/students about racism. According to Copenhaver-Johnson (2006) the reason we do not talk to our children about racism is for several different reasons. One reason that...

    Read More

  • Talkin the Talk: An Examination of Black English in the American Education System

    2693 Words  | 6 Pages

    Most of you are probably wondering why I am interested in Ebonics. Obviously I’m not black. But, that does not mean that I can’t take an interest in the success of my friends and classmates. I attended Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. My town is supposedly a liberal, open-minded place. But I always wondered why there were very few black students in my advanced-level classes and how come some of the black friends I had in the beginning of the year were no longer around at the end. I talked to one of my friends about this once. She told me that many black students in our school had moved from a nearby city and that they were not used to the academic standards of the school. Many of them became discouraged due to the lack of support of the teachers and some students even dropped out. This is a problem. In my opinion, many teachers do not respect students’ cultures if they are not a part of the mainstream, white culture. Although language is only one part of this respect, it is a large part of every student’s culture. Even though there has been a movement to improve inner-city schools and increase the success of black students, these programs would benefit any school around the country.

    Read More

  • A Significant Issue in Education: Teacher BIAS

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2004) reported that Black students continue to trail White students with respect to educational access, achievement and attainment. Research on the effectiveness of teachers of Black students emphasizes that the teachers’ belief about the Black students’ potential greatly impacts their learning. Teachers tend to teach black students from a deficit perspective (King, 1994; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Mitchell, 1998). White teachers often aim at compensating for what they assume is missing from a Black student’s background (Foorman, Francis & Fletcher, 1998). The deficit model of instruction attempts to force students into the existing system of teaching and learning and doesn’t build on strengths of cultural characteristics or preferences in learning (Lewis, Hancock...

    Read More

  • Her Passion for Learning

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    It took me eighteen years to realize what an extraordinary influence my mother has been on my life. She' s the kind of person who has thoughtful discussions about which artist she would most want to have her portrait painted by (Sargent), the kind of mother who always has time for her four children, and the kind of community leader who has a seat on the board of every major project to assist Washington' s impoverished citizens. Growing up with such a strong role model, I developed many of her enthusiasms. I not only came to love the excitement of learning simply for the sake of knowing something new, but I also came to understand the idea of giving back to the community in exchange for a new sense of life, love, and spirit.

    Read More

  • Vacation Bible School Observation Report

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Just a few days ago, I found a quiz that helped me determine if I showed any bias towards African Americans. Surprisingly, the results concluded that I viewed African Americans and European Americans in an equal manner, but if I was to take this quiz when I was eight years old the results would have been radically different. Ever since I was a little girl, I always had the impression that African Americans were very dangerous people due to the color of their skin. I came to this theory because when I was in second grade, there was a boy in my neighborhood that didn’t have any respect for his peers or elders. He would tease me, harass me, and he even trespassed on another neighbor’s property. I was scarred by this event in my life, and I rarely viewed African Americans in a positive way. However, this past summer changed my whole entire perspective.

    Read More

More about Reflection Paper On Immersion

Open Document