Hope's Blog: The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression?

It was a bit difficult for me to think of an experience at first and then I realized that I have actually witnessed people treat me a bit differently because I am a single “young” mother. I wrote “young” because I look young so people assume that I am a lot younger than I actually am and when my son was a couple years old, I got braces on my teeth so I looked even younger. I have had people make comments to me regarding being a young mom and ask me if the dad is still in the picture or if my parents help out. When this first happened I was extremely embarrassed and I started wearing a “wedding ring” so that people would stop asking me questions and staring at me when I went anywhere with my son. I am actually in my thirties and have seen parents who are older than me be awful parents to their children so I think age of a mother or father shouldn’t be anyone else’s concern especially when they are judging them on the age rather than their parenting ability. The way have been treated made me feel like a lot of people have issues with young, single mothers which upset me because these strangers don’t know how old I am, if my sons father passed away, if I am divorced, or whatever. In order to change this incident into opportunity for great equality I do what I know best, be a great, hard working mother. I prove to those people that they can judge a book by the cover.

1 comment:

TamiekaAugust 5, 2012 at 7:34 PM
Hello Hope,

I enjoyed reading your post. It is amazing in this world how people will judge you without even knowing you. I believe that single parents and married parents have strong parenting abilities and skills. It is no one'S business to judge another person if they decide to be a single mother. I have a lot of friends who are single moms and I salute them because they are awesome. I have worked with single moms who were 13 and older and they were strong and I did not judge them because they were young parents, instead I guided, encouraged, and supported them to be respectful and good mothers to their kids.
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Personal Childhood Web

Five people who nurtured and cared about me as a child:

1. My Mother & Father-
My parents always made me feel special and still do. I admire this because my parents have 5 children and were able to make each one of us feel important and loved. My mother made me feel special by baking and doing crafts with me and my dad made me feel special by teaching me to play baseball and encouraging me to p lay sports. These little moments meant a lot to me because they involved time spent with just my parents and doing activities that my other sibilings did not. I remember my parents discussing these moments with their friends and family and I felt so proud. My parents have been married for 42 years and have raised 5 children. I have seen them go through many challenges, but they have stuck together and worked through them together and that inspires me.

2. My Siblings-
I honestly can say that my sibilings are my best friends. I have 2 older sisters and 1 older brother and 1 younger brother. There is a 15 year age difference from my younger brother to my older sister, so growing up my older sibilings helped nuture and influnce me to be who I am today. Growing up I could count on my sibilings to help care and nuture me, to support me when needed, to listen to me, to stick up for me and to be honest with me even if I didnt want to hear what they had to say. We continue to provide all this for each other even now.

3. Mrs. Hewko-
In fourth grade I transferred from a small private school to a public school and was quickly overwhelmed and lost. However, I was lucky enough to have Mrs. Hewko for a teacher. I was 1 of 25 kids, but she made me feel like I was the only one in the room. Mrs. Hewko made sure to get to know me and really make a connection with me. This influnenced me to do the same with my children.

4. Ms. Czarnecki-
She was my middle school math teacher, which was definitely a difficult task. Math is not my strongest subject and until 7th grade I managed to squeak through each math class without really understanding what I was doing. Ms. Czarnecki however, was different then my other teachers. She took time to really know her students and reallized I was struggling. Mrs. Czarnecki made sure she called on me to answer questions in class and when I didnt know the answer she worked through it with me instead of moving on. She made me stay after class and assigned me more work. She walked by my desk and made sure I was on task. Although I was not too fond with her at first, I realized she really cared for me and was helping me. I was very lucky to have her again in 8th grade. Then when I went to highschool and tried out for softball, she became my coach. She was there for me during a really difficult time and worked to continue to build a reationship with me and make sure I was doing okay in and out of school. She even gave me shoes to wear and a new glove to use. I realized that sometimes the ones who really care for you are the hardest on you because they know your potential.

5. Mr. Price-
Mr. Price or better known as Phil, was my high school math teacher and is also my brother-in-law. He spent lots of time and effort teaching me math as well. We spent long nights working on assignments and he was always willing to help. He was also a big part of my life during a really difficult time, he listened and supported me. Phil and my sister were like my second parents. When I was struggling to get along with my parents during my teen years, they allowed me to stay with them and took me on trips with them.

Baby Heart

This is a picture of me with my older brother. I love this picture because it brings back so many great memories of time I cherished with my brother and how much I wish he was still here today. My mother shared a story with me that really portrays what an amazing older brother I had. When I was about 2 years old, my brother was 4, we werer at the grocery store and someone came up to my mother to tell her how cute she thought I was and my brother said, "step away from my baby heart please." My mother said he was very protective of me.