The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and
Oppression
In what way(s) did the specific
bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?
I can remember like it was
yesterday, my daughter’s was joining Girl Scouts for the first time. She was
about ten years old and she was so excited about starting Girl Scouts. The
meeting took place in Hopkins, MN at a community center. My daughter and I
walked in the room and you would have thought we were the president of the
U.S., the room became completely silent. It was no warm welcomes or hello, how
are you doing? My child looked at me and said, “Mom is we in the right room?” I
was just speechless, because of the rudeness we encountered from all of the
adults present. Not one parent came up to use, nor did they speak even after I
said hello. It was like my child and I did not even exist to them. I have
experience quite of few episodes of biasness, prejudice and some form of
oppressions, but never did I think my child would be subjected to this type of
treatment at her age. We were the only people of color in the room, maybe out
of ten to fifteen Mothers and daughters. I could sense my child was not
comfortable; therefore, I excused us out of that environment. That incident was
very disturbing not only to me, but my child. She had to endure such negative
behavior from these women, and their children. I actually feel sorry for the
children; for the parents are setting them up for self-destruction. Any time a
child is being raised to see race before the person, than they are headed for a
rude awakening in life.
In what way(s) did the specific
bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?
These women surely showed
the true definition of biasness, prejudice and oppression by their actions. I
guess by making me and my child feel uncomfortable was their way of showing us
that we was not welcome. And what makes this incident so terribly sad; this was
a “Girl Scout” meeting. Girl Scouts of America do not, under any circumstances
tolerate racial discrimination or any form for that matter. The message that
these parents are sending to their children that do not share the same cultural
background as themselves, is to treat other’s indifferent, which in the long
run will come back to haunt them; for one day these girls will be adults in
life and will have to work with and around people of other cultural backgrounds,
and my question is, “What will they do then?”
What feelings did this incident
bring up for you?
As I have stated before, I have
been subjected to biasness, prejudice, and even oppression at some point in
time in my life, but for my daughter to have had to endure such a negative
incident as such was quite devastating. I know that I can’t save my child from
situations such as that one, but being it was a Girl Scout meeting really
showed the beliefs of what certain people value, and compassion, and character
was not one of them.
What and/or who would have to
change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?
With this particular incident
taking place, I end up contacting Girl Scouts of America local office, and they
were very apologetic for what had happen. They sent my daughter and me three
free tickets to Valley fair, a loco fair in MN. The representative also gave me
information to other location in the area for my child to join. She did explain
that she would contact the Girl Scout leader over that area to resolve this
issue. As she explained, it is the responsibility of the Girl Scout Leader’s to
make each girl feel welcome. Hopefully, after this incident something positive
came out of it for the next girl and her family of African American race.
