I was in third grade when 9/11 happened. I remember coming home and seeing the footage of the planes crashing into the towers and being confused by what was happening. That imaged is stuck in my mind as I’m sure it is for many others. The other image that is stuck in my mind is the news constantly showing people who were part of al-Qaeda. The first day of my life that I was ever really exposed to a group of people from the Middle East was also the first day that I learned the word terrorists. So naturally, as a third grader I had the mindset that anyone who looked like the people on TV was a terrorists because no one had taught me different. My teacher did a good job explaining why it happened as much as she could but no one taught me anything about the Middle East. Even when I was in high school no teacher really taught about Islam or that al-Qaeda was a small section of Islam just like the KKK is a small section of Christianity.
Flash forward to my first job at college which was working at the campus coffee shop. My college had a large group of students from Saudi Arabia but when I saw them I assumed they were all from Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan because they were the only countries I knew from that region due to the negative attention they got in the media. My first interaction with a Saudi Arabian student was a woman in a burqa ordering a latte and I was so nervous I gave her too much change back. I had never seen a woman in the flesh completely covered head to toe with just her eyes showing except on T.V. I instantly felt horrible for her. Why did her religion make her do such a thing? I didn’t understand because I was ignorant and knew nothing about culturally responsiveness at the time.
As I continued to work on campus, I interacted with more Saudi Arabian students and guess what? They were human just like myself. A lot of them were funny and would make jokes whenever they saw me. Eventually, I applied to be a conversation partner where I met with an international student to help them work on their English. Through that program, they had different events where people came to listen to other people talk about their culture. The night I attended, a young man from Saudi Arabia spoke up being Muslim. He explained that it was the religion of peace and how hard it was to explain to people that it was more than just what they saw in the media. Through that experience, I realized how little I truly knew about the world and how much I had to learn.
What I’m trying to convey, is that it shouldn’t have taken until I was in college to learn about different countries in the Middle East and the Islamic Religion. I carried a strong bias with me for 10 years and if I had not attended college I would still be carrying that bias. I was forced to interact with a different culture because of my job at the college and if I didn’t have that exposure I would still be ignorant.
When I taught kindergarten in Arizona I saw how my young students interacted with each other and they did not see color. I had students who were Native American, Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian all play together in harmony. Sure, they tattled, fought, and played a little too rough sometimes but they did not judge each other based on their culture because that was all they knew. It was truly a beautiful experience to see no bias in that classroom.
Now, I know for many people they are not as fortunate to grow up in such a diverse population. Unless you live in a large Urban area you may not see many people who are that different from yourself. However, there are amazing books out there even for small children that encourages learning about other cultures and I hope more people explore those resources.
As educators, parents, and humans in general we should try and challenge ourselves to learn more about people who are different from us to defeat cultural bias. The earlier we expose children to people who come from different places the more likely we will have a generation who shows love, empathy, and understanding rather than ignorance, bias, and hate.
Bee the Thread 