Reflective Journal: Who Am I?—The Journey Continues

Diversity Profile Week-3; Reflective Journal: Who Am I?

Alexis Lowe

Walden University

EDUC 6164: Perspectives on Diversity and Equity

Professor Wendy McCarthy

Diversity Profile

While racial inequality has proven to be a problematic issue in the past and current lives of people of color in the United States, the Black community has shown resilience and hope for a more equal and more just society. Black people excellence is visible in Black musician's escalation to billion-dollar wealth, or the election of the country's first Black president who managed the office for two terms. The Black community has shared their grief in music, rap music, and formed a basis of reference for what it is like to be a person of Black skin color in the United States. However, this career path and consistency of individuals in my community to venture into rap music has facilitated the stereotyping of the Black community, and adjusted our differences with the dominant culture.

When asked about my relationship with the dominant cultures, a qualitative and more descriptive answer would require me to adopt research and support my claims with an in-depth analysis of similar thoughts from fellow people of my color. However, I can briefly retaliate my experience, which has denied me a feeling of acceptance. The look that a security guard gave me in a local store, or how I witnessed my work colleagues escalate to promotion positions that I was equally qualified for; well, almost – if not for my skin color. Moreover, a study has revealed the apparent claims of White superiority in the United States. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center (2020), Forty percent of white people believe that the Black community will ultimately achieve the critical goal of racial equality. About an equal percentage of the same group believe the changes are already in place. However, the reality is in total defiance with the latter.

Our racial divide has favored the many over the few; inequality in the treatment of diverse communities in the United States is visible with people in positions of power. The stressful experience I encountered with a traffic police officer revealed to me the present discrimination of Black people. As a person of color in the United States, it is suspicious for me to drive a particular car, I was isolated from the rest. Research has also found that the majority of the Black folk admit to the unfairness experienced in dealing with a police officer in the US. Following the Pew Research Center study (2020), more than eighty percent of the Black people perceive dealing with the police as a bad experience; only half of the white people agree with this perception. According to this finding, at least eight in ten Black people would fear being pulled over by the police, raising concerns for a fair power instruction policy.

The Black experience in the US is indeed sickening due to the lack of cohesion between diverse cultures. Critically, cultural discontinuity affects the young Black generation that strives to achieve progress in education. Tyler et al. (2008) propose the view that academic difficulties experienced by the growing Black community in public schools are concerned with the cultural discontinuity between the students' experiences in the society, homes, and class-based schooling (pp. 280-297). As a parent, it is painful and uncomfortable for me to accept the reality that my child may face in such a society.

References

On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites Are Worlds Apart. (2020, June 15). Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/on-views-of-race-and-inequality-blacks-and-whites-are-worlds-apart/

Tyler, K. M., Uqdah, A. L., Dillihunt, M. L., Beatty-Hazelbaker, R., Conner, T., Gadson, N., . . . Stevens, R. (2008). Cultural Discontinuity: Toward a Quantitative Investigation of a Major Hypothesis in Education. Educational Researcher, 37(5), 280-297. doi:10.3102/0013189x08321459

DIVERSITY PROFILE WEEK-3

Running head: DIVERSITY PROFILE WEEK-3