The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I have several memories of incidents when I have experienced, biases, oppression and/or prejudice. One of my most vivid memories of these happenings was when I was a child and my mother, grandmother, sister and I were shopping in a jewelry store. Even though I was a child my parents and grandparents educated me on the types of biases I would experience being an African American woman. While shopping in the store, my family and I were being watched like hawks. The Asian couple that owned the store, continued to follow us and harass up if we dared to touch the merchandise or examine the products in anyway. The Asian, female, owner followed my grandmother and asked her to not try on the items. Needless to say, my grandmother was admiring a belt and putting it around her waste to estimate its size. My mother and grandmother were highly upset and expressed their oppressive feelings to the owners. The owners then commented that they have always known African Americans to be thieves and they both alleged they were just protecting their store and valuables! This specific incident marginalized the African American culture to that of a culture filled with misfits and criminals. In addition, this incident brought oppression to our culture, in that, one could feel intimidated to shop in a world that boats of the idea of freedom. It diminished the way even foreigners viewed culture and the impact media & society has regarding African Americans, abroad. This incident sparked feelings of anger, confusion and disgust. I also felt guarded by the incident vying that no one would ever disrespect me or my family in that way again. Nevertheless, I know I cannot change the world, instead I chose to press on and prove others stereotypes, wrong. So, in essence, these incidents of prejudice have made me empowered. I am empowered to reflect upon my own biases so I don’t exhibit feelings and behaviors that could marginalize any other group and/or human being. Thus, I feel that this self empowerment is exactly what’s needed to change this and many other incidents into opportunities for greater equity. Concluding, I would love to end with a quote by Louise Derman-Sparks that sheds further light upon the subjects of bias, prejudice and oppression, “Remember that every child has a home culture and every family in some ways is both different from and the same as every other family” (Edwards & Derman-Sparks, 2010, p. 67). Hence, my job now as an EC professional is to somehow guard the children from feelings/incidents of bias and oppression by being respectful and intentional of culture, life and family. Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young People (NAEYC).