Nassu Kollie
Diversity Community Social Justice Reflection Paper
Common Hour: Cassie Harbeck
The task of identifying my social identity was easier said than done. I acknowledged the somewhat privilege I encounter along with the oppression I endure. In retrospect, my social identity unambiguously resembles a coin where on one side oppression lies with dirt rusting but on the flip side privilege stares right back at me, shining bright. I initially could not see the benefits since I’m a low income college student. I became too encompassed with one side of the coin. After we learned what the word, privilege, indeed meant, I realized the various facets of my life in which that word could apply. Self pity can greedily advance on you from out of nowhere thus averting you from flipping the coin. I familiarized with counting my struggles instead of my blessings. In accordance with my social identity I would say I’m privileged with the
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opportunity to work for a higher education in the United States. I didn’t necessarily fight for my circumstance for the reason that it was already in my vicinity. However, when the time for applying arrives, it struck me as competitively battling for a spot with an impossibly numerous amount of candidates. Once we gain courage to withdraw from self pity we can radiate a true sense of gratefulness for the chance to even compete. Options are a privilege. College for American students equates to the advantage of the possibilities. Apply to several schools, narrow down, and eventually decide with the expediently profitable decision. And if you don’t ultimately enjoy the school, transferring can certainly happen. Nonetheless, college costs become increasingly expensive, especially for those of low income. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all the numbers. In some ways I’m oppressed as a result of my parents and the cultures that surrounded them in Liberia. My parents are uneducated meaning they will never qualify for high earning jobs. My mother, who was discouraged from attending school, speaks English, but is unable to read or write. My dad is a slightly advanced with reading and writing. I grew up in a household where I knew I could never rely on my parents for academic help nor could I even wish for a tutor. I learned at a young age my success would only derive from independence and accountability with my studies. As much as I wish to, I am powerless in changing their past, yet their circumstances affect my life all the same. My family practices the Islam faith and although I wear no indication of my religion outwardly, I wish Muslims enjoyed the benefits of utmost respect.
I personally don’t particularly have much to say with this aspect of my social identity being I don’t heavily identify with my religion. Nevertheless, most of my friends follow the Christian faith and I tend to preserve the possibility that they may not agree with mine in the back of my mind. I attend a Catholic university and in this way my religion crosses my mind quite often. When I decide to tell my friends it can be burdensome to distinguish their surprise as a good reaction. Lastly, I’m a black female which means I fall at the bottom of the food chain. Apparently a female’s existence remains naturally lesser than that of a male. To add insult to injury, I’m also a proud African American with dark skin. This oppresses my life on the grounds that I’m either speculating whether one is a sexist or a racist or if a certain personal challenge is for the sake of sexism or
racism. Upon completing my identity wheel I noticed a myriad of notions. We all have different coins with different values in this society. We have the ability to acquiescently wipe the rustic side clean and never be able to tell one side from the other again or thrive on the oppression and privilege in our lives.
Today in the United States of America people are both privileged and oppressed based on their diversity markers and social locations. These advantages and disadvantages are put in place by the people whom are in power, or otherwise known as the government and other leading officials. This is a major issue in today’s society that often tends to be masked by the many other issues within the country as well as by the privileged people. Many people who experience privilege tend to believe that privilege and oppression do not exist and that everyone has equal opportunity, but that is not the case privilege and oppression does exist and it can be seen every day in society. After a careful review of Dena Samuel’s “Matrix Model of Oppression and Privilege” I identified myself as rather privileged due to my social and diversity locations on her model.
1. What is the difference between a. and a. Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indians by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged, they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race.
This investigation plans to explore the multiple political parties that existed during the French Revolution and how their doctrines reflected that of the citizens of the French Empire, from 1789 to 1799. This paper will focus upon the ideas of egalitarianism, or the belief in equality.
In learning about different ways that we as a society categorize and divide people, it is essential to understand what about people it is that we feel the need to label and differentiate between. When a person is born into this world, there are certain statuses that they automatically obtain, called ascribed statuses (Henslin 98). These statuses determine each person’s social location in society. This includes gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and ability. Each person has their own unique social location, and is affected in a different way than the next person may be. As a white, queer, cisgender, middle class, female, in relatively good health, I have always been relatively privileged.
When we first broke into our groups, I was a bit confused as to why we were doing this exercise. I thought that it was probably had to do with sharing ideas of being in a privileged socioeconomic status so we could merge groups afterward and share what we brainstormed, which turned out to be correct. I wasn’t surprised to be included in the middle-upper class group because for where I stood during the “privilege line” activity. One difference that was noted in our group was how it felt to be in the middle-upper class group. I said that I felt a bit of pride because the reason for why I was in this class was because of how my mother worked to overcome oppression. Other people said they felt guilty because they didn’t have to work for anything they had today, and almost everything they had was inherited. I now understand why they felt that way because of the reading for this week.
Bobbie Harro states in “The cycle of socialization” (2000), “No one brings us a survey, in the womb, inquiring which gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, cultural group, ability status, or age we might want to be born. These identities are ascribed to us at birth through no effort or decision or choice of our own” (p.16). I was born into a system, just like everyone else, where I was judged and labeled due to the social categories that I identify with. What I have experienced throughout my schooling has shaped and molded my sense of self and the way that I view myself in terms of my gender and race/ethnicity. I live in a world where I have been both praised and ridiculed for these differing characteristics that seem to define me, but
Even though the American Revolution constituted represented a tremendous strike against the old social order, its founding ideals could not be realized within the socioeconomic framework that existed in colonial America.
I am a student in the BA completion program, this quarter I am studying psychology in the form of social research and redefining the role of a counselor. I have been able to look at myself as a learner as well as take a look at the profession I want to practice. I have discovered more than I thought I would be as a student at my age. I have learned that my understanding will only grow deeper and more profound as I progress in my degree program. I can see the need for newer and more innovative psychologist in the field and practice of psychology. I know psychology has a lot to do with the provider. In my opinion, the providers history and background helps create the atmosphere between client and provider.
Though each individual experiences life differently certain experiences link them together. Specifically, being a person of color while being a singular experience, is also a very universal when it comes down to the way in which minority groups are subject to the oppression of the white mainstream. The friction between being proud of one’s identity or choosing to ignore it and assimilate into society, is complex and is a fact that many people of color struggle with, because it is not easy to be proud of one’s identity when everything around them is telling them not to be, so in a sense these individuals see themselves in two ways, a minority proud of their identity, and then as an outsider in a white world where they feel as if they will never be accepted.
The idea of the development of a social identity is a new one to me. For the majority of my life, including the present-day, I had always considered my social identity to be complete. I am Latino. Perhaps it was due to the fact that in my past experiences, I have little experience with the adverse effects of racism. However, it is indeed obvious to me that this is not nearly the case for everyone else. I am well aware of the marginalization, both conscious and unconscious, of the Latin people in the U.S. Nevertheless, I can’t look back and find bitterness in my heart due to racism. Still, while social identity development may be new to me, it’s still an intriguing concept. What exactly is a social identity? In brief, it is one’s self-awareness as to what social category they feel they should belong in, as well as how that awareness affects day to day life. Social ...
The theory used for this case study was effective, because it was able to get P to recognise that change need to occur so the support that she received would be effective. Reflecting on action the outcome of the assessment and intervention that was applied to P’s case I used supervision and to discuss concerns I had regarding this family with my PS. Supervision helped me establish my concerns and areas I required further support in application to theory in evidence based practice ‘blind self’.
In correlating the scores from the Self-Assessment Exercise located on pages 58-59 of our text book I have discovered that the fairness for which I score my place of work, and the organization for which I work, the highest is in fact Interpersonal Justice; for which my combines score totaled 13 out of a possible 15. This places Interpersonal justice at a very high overall level of perceived justice for me. And I can think of many reason ranging from the broad to the personal, and from the historic to the current, which all could be contributors to my having this perception.
What is identity? Identity is an unbound formation which is created by racial construction and gender construction within an individual’s society even though it is often seen as a controlled piece of oneself. In Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’, Tatum asserts that identity is formed by “individual characteristics, family dynamics, historical factors, and social and political contexts” (Tatum 105). Tatum’s piece, “The Complexity of Identity: ‘Who Am I?’” creates a better understanding of how major obstacles such as racism and sexism shape our self identity.
One’s cultural identity consists of their race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, religion, and so on. Being aware of your own cultural identity is just as important as being aware of other’s. People’s cultural identity defines who they are, the privilege (or lack of privilege) they receive, and how society views them. It is important to understand that White individuals have more privileges than individuals of color. White individuals do not experience detriment and difficulties due specifically to their skin color and instead receive advantages. White privilege is defined as benefits that white individuals have that people of color do not (Kendall, 2012). The following walks through my personal cultural background, how it was shaped, defined, and developed, and limitations to my personal competencies.
African American people have been oppressed for hundreds of years. Slavery was a significant time period when African/African American individuals endured massive oppression, which refers to the feeling of being deprived of their human rights and dignity (Reed, 2016). Knowing that my ancestors had to conceal their feelings along with their cultural values, makes me feel more entitled to express my ethnic identity as an African American woman. My ethnic identity has increase my sense of belongingness because it gives me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. Society has placed its’ social norms on modern day women, which allows men to make more for the same labor, or that stop successful women from achieving their goals by installing the glass ceiling. However, there is a higher increase of risk for African American women, such as decrease in the male head of household, along with urbanization. Which caused African American women to work long hours that resulted in a devastating shift in the family structure (Reed, 2016). Past, present and current experiences of African American women is why my ethnic identity is so important to me, because it is used as a constant reminder of the struggles that I have to overcome for my daughter and the generation after