Lummi Tribe

Here is a website about the Lummi Tribe :)
http://www.lummi-nsn.org/

“Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project”

     It is nice to know more about Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project! It is hard to see Seattle as a segregated city, and how only white people were the only ones allowed in most parts of Seattle. I came to the US in 2007 and live in Kirkland, which is a beautiful place, were everything is peaceful and the neighborhoods are very nice. Seattle for me is a beautiful place to live because of its friendly and very polite people. Also, Seattle has beautiful places to visit and one of the things that I enjoy the most is that we are free to live and go wherever we want, the people is very tolerant with each other since nowadays there is a big variety of cultures and different nationalities; here one can meet a lot of different people from all over the world.

            Based on my reading, in the past Seattle used to be a segregated city where the only ones that had power were white people. I didn’t have any idea of how Seattle used to be, but I am happy that nowadays that doesn’t happen any more. In the past non-white people had a lot of limitations in Seattle. It was hard for them to get a job and even worse they couldn’t live in Seattle’s nice neighborhoods. For example, Kirkland, Bellevue and other places in downtown Seattle like Capitol Hill, only allowed white people to rent or buy a house. It seems that African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and even Jewish were having difficult times. I know in the past there was a lot of racism in the United States, but I didn’t know which were the most affected areas.  I used to believe that racism only affected African Americans, but it turns out it was affecting many different races. Who would have guessed that Seattle used to have a lot of racism, given that today those kinds of situations are hardly seen. It is very sad to know that hospitals in Seattle would not provide service to black people in the past, since services were only for white people. That was extremely unfair!

            People that work in farms in Washington State are a big group. These people have very dangerous jobs, minimal pay, inadequate housing, are subject to mistreat, among other problems. Many people might not know how much farms contributes to Seattle’s economy. It is because of that people working in farms that we have food to consume at home. My grandfather used to work in a farm and sometimes he would take me along to help him; trust me, it is not an easy job. It is nice to know that there is a social movement that strives for minorities labor rights, because many of these people need the help. It is good that some people stand up for their civil rights.  Also, in the past only guys could work in a farm, but nowadays there are women that are capable of doing the work. Before, only white people and men could work in farms, but that has changed. Today, we have a lot of immigrants and minorities working in farms; that is a good thing because someone has to do that job, and this provide these people with income for their survival.

            Thanks to the Black Student Union at University of Washington (UW) many minorities, like me, will have the opportunity to go there for college and other degrees. There were very few minority students in the past that started studying at UW, and some of the first students that began studying at UW were African Americans. Thanks to this Union they made a campaign that allowed minorities to have education opportunities not only in UW, but also at different Universities and High Schools in Washington State. This is how now many African Americans, Latinos, Asians and other minorities have the opportunity to study and attend any school they want in Washington State today. This was a huge improvement in civil rights that allowed minorities to decide where to study. Also, this Black Student Union at UW helped to change some of the admission and academic policies, so that every student including minorities were treated as equals.

            Now I know that it is because of brave people who struggled with bad situations, fought and stood firm on their beliefs, we have now better civil and labor rights. I didn’t really know how many things people had to go through to make Seattle the safe city it is today. I always thought Seattle has been a very friendly and safe city since the beginning, with no racism or groups like the KKK, but I was wrong. It is nice to know that now we can have a better life, decide what school to attend, where to work or live. We don’t have to be afraid about not being allowed in a restaurant, hospital, or neighborhood. That is great!

            

Reflection on “Summary of Normative Communication Styles and Values”

Have you ever felt like you can’t communicate with people in your surrounding? Well that is what happened to me when I arrived to the United States and I didn’t know English; and the worse thing is that I didn’t know the culture. There were times that in a conversation I felt like invisible, and that happened because I didn’t know the language that well, so I couldn’t be part of a conversation. The reading “Summary of Normative Communication Styles and Values” explains how people from different ethnicities have different ways to communicate and how not knowing the differences of communication can cause misunderstanding and destroy trust among individuals.

            The reading shows how sometimes stereotyping people might not be the best way of communicating. We should avoid stereotyping and do not assume that people has or lacks of a particular communication skills just because they way they look; we have to see beyond the looks. For example, I have being stereotyped many times, when I had a meeting at work they would think that I will be the last one to show up; but just because I am Latino they can’t just assume that. Not all people from the same ethnicity will have the same good or bad habits. I disagree with the reading when it talks about people having a group of pattern depending on their ethnicity, because every person is different no matter if they are from the same country. In the other hand, I do believe that people tend to follow what others do in their environment, independently of their ethnicity. For example, it is well know that a lot of people from Latin America do not strive to get a degree, while most people in Seattle have a career; that influenced me to get a career because I know that without a Bachelors degree it will be hard for me to get a good job.

            Based on the reading some people have biases about what normal should be. We should not have biases about what we think is normal for us. Instead, we should learn how to adapt to other people “views and behaviors to the needs of others”. For example, when I came to the United States and started working at my current job, my boss used to talk to me looking at my eyes very closely; and I used to get nervous because I was not used to do that. Then, he asked me if that bothered me and apologized because he saw how uncomfortable I felt; he made an effort to look beyond what was normal for him and changed his way of talking to make communication effective. What this means is that we have to be careful when we are talking to a person that is not from our same ethnicity, because what we think is normal for us it might not be for them.

            It will be good that we could learn from other cultures and the way they communicate, that way we don’t make others feel uncomfortable or give them a hard time. I have experienced the feeling of being excluded from social groups, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. That is why it is good that we can learn and trust our instincts when we are dealing with people that are not from are same ethnicity, that way we can have a better communication experience.

This is what I think about Microaggressions :)

Reflection on “Microaggressions in everyday life”

            Have you ever been treated different just because the way you look? We all should be treated as human beings, with respect to one another, and make people feel like they are in home. Dr. Sue wrote the article “Microaggressions in everyday life” and she talks about how Microaggresions affects non-white people in their every day life. Dr. Sue divides Microaggresions in three forms that are: microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation.  I found this article interesting because it makes you think about how white people unintentionally discriminate against people of color, and most of the time they don’t even think about their actions.

            According to this article written by Dr. Sue, “Microaggressions can be verbal, behavioral and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to people of color”.  It is hard to know how this kind of behavior happens in our every day life, and the worst thing is that many white people might not even know that they are making some one feel bad. I would be good that schools provided more information about microaggressions to their students. That way we could all learn about how to deal with different ethnicities and have better communication with each other.

I liked the examples from the article a lot, and how they explain each of the different Microaggressions. I have experienced one of the examples mentioned in the article; sometimes at work white people ask me how I got my job. I try to not take it offensive because it is just a question and many people do that kind of questions. Even when I try not to take it seriously, sometimes I feel bad when some people ask me that question as it makes me feel that I don’t deserve to be working at a front desk position because I am Latino. Another example that has happened to me related to Microaggressions is that many white people don’t think before saying something. For example, while at work one of my coworkers asked me if I was from Mexico. Only because I have dark skin it doesn’t mean that I am from Mexico, or that any dark skinned person has to be Latino. I can say that I have experienced many times this kind of Microaggressions in my every day life. It would be nice that we all learned more about this harmful topic.

Talking about this kind of topic is hard because it affects many people. I liked the article a lot, because made me think about how we should all live respecting each other. It doesn’t matter where we come from; in the end we are all the same, we are all humans. We just have to learn how to coexist and learn from each other. Microaggressions are always going to happen in life because many people might not even notice that they are making somebody feel bad.

This is not a general problem among all white people. I have met a lot of white people that are actually very nice and kind and very careful about what they say. It doesn’t mean that because I am minority I have to believe that I’m going to be rejected or mistreated. I have learned that there are very good people out there, and no matter their ethnicity they could end up being your very best friends. We just have to learn to treat each other with respect. 

Tribal Sovereignty

Here is an interesting website about Tribal Sovereignty. Take a look!
  http://www.airpi.org/pubs/indinsov.html