March 6, 2015

This week's class was a very productive one for my group members and I.  We established our ground works and assigned each other a task.  Since our group is rather large compared to others in the class, we divided our presentation into different components.  Two of my group members will focus on an episode of "Finding Your Roots" and discussing it.  Two other groups members will be creating a skit demonstrating how people may "pre-judge" others before even speaking to them. We will have the class volunteer to act out some of the scenarios.  They will also be creating scenarios for the skit on micro-aggressions we hear all of the time.  I think that the skit is a great way to make the class become involved.  I think that they will have fun with it.  It would also provide an opportunity for those who have not experienced any type of race-bias on themselves to be able to envision how it must feel. They would be able to pretend they are in the situation.  I feel that sometimes, we need to step outside of our own ways of thinking and put ourselves in other people's shoes to be able to fully grasp how they feel.  There have been instances in my life where I needed to step outside of my way of thinking and sympathize with the other person. I feel that, that is so important in friendships, intimate relationships, or any other types of friendships. The last two members of the group would be Kim and I.  We will be creating a video using people outside of our classroom to share micro-aggressions they may have heard about themselves regarding their race and identity.  We will also be taking a closer look at both views on micro-aggressions and how people feel about it.  There are positive and negative comments.  We will be focusing on both.  I am excited to share what we have with the class.  I am nervous about presenting for that long period of time but I think that it would still be a great experience.  I am also eager to hear my fellow classmates' presentations.  I think that our class' discussion are so enriching. I leave every class with more than what I came in with.  To me that means something.

March 1, 2015

I think that conversations about race are important considering how diverse the world that we live in is.  There are so many different people from different cultures who speak different languages.  We need to be aware of that and learn to be respectful of our differences. I also think it is important to talk to children about race.  I do think that we are not born racist.  There are things that we are guilty of hearing about other cultures.   I will admit it myself.  I have heard micro-aggressions about other cultures that are outside of mine and even within mine.  What helped me not discriminate against others was my family and school.  My family is blended with so many different races.  We have close to 10 races in my family.  I love it! We learn so many different things from them.  We are able to incorporate a little of each race into our family.  I think it is a blessing.   That is why I think it is important to talk about race and how to respect another person when discussing it.  I never want to offend anyone just like I wouldn't want them to offend me.