Got Me Thinking!

In class on Friday, there were a few topics that caught my interest to talk about.  We watched two clips from two videos.  We watched part of Martin Luther King's Speech, which I had viewed in first year of the Child and Youth Worker Program.  I had mentioned that I had to watch it in a class from first year and was imediately corrected saying I had the privledge to view it in first year.  Now, I understand why this particular moment is so important, but things have changed since he's done his speech.  The entire world hasn't changed, but I feel that the need for that speech has long passed.  I don't find it to be a privlege to have seen that video.  In all honesty, I found it boring.  I've got lots of friends who have different skin colors as me, and I've seen how some people still treat different ethnic groups.  I treat them the way I wish to be treated in return.  I think, any speech that comes from President Obama is now more relevant than a speech coming from Martin Luther King.  Martin Luther King made his change, and he made a big one, but now Obama is making the change.  Obama being the first black president has impacts so many human beings and gives everyone hope of equality.

Another movie clip we had watched was A Class Divided.  It was very relevant to the topic of racism.  I loved the fact that a teacher had done this as an experiement to get the entire class of third graders to understand what racism feels like.  As we were watching I was thinking I wish this would be implemented in every third grade classroom.  If every third grader were to experience what it's like to be different in a negative outlook then racism would eventually vanish over generations.  You don't really know what its like to be someone else until you walk in their shoes.  Which also reminded me about how I feel while in class.  I get the impression that I think very differently than the rest of the class, and with that, comes difficulties that I don't feel the rest of the class understands.  Hence the idea of judgement when I speak an opinion.  The way I say things come across as negative and are not intentionally meant that way, so my opinion often stays to myself.  So I think A Class Divided would be good for everyone not just for skin color, but for different views and such. 

Talking about racism in this class reminded me about something that had happened at my job.  I work at Sears, and talk to customers on a regular basis.  At Sears, we had just hired a woman of Muslim faith.  She wears a Hijab to cover her hair which in Muslim faith separates man from woman.  She is a really nice person, very caring and sincere.  I saw past the religion.  Anyways, most of Sears' customers are of older generations and, as I've noticed from working there, have very strong opinions.  While I was working one afternoon, my co-worker had gone on break, and one of our customers had come to me and started complaining about Sears hiring my co-worker.  I remember one comment the customer said to me, it will never leave my head, she had said "She doesn't belong here, she should go back to where ever she is from."  I was so offended at this comment, that I let the customer finish, and walked to one of the managers and had to talk to her about it.  I may not have been my co-worker, but I was offended that she was judged so quickly.  After talking to the manager about it, I felt a llittle better, but know now that it would have been okay if I had told the customer I didn't agree, and upset the customer then to sit there and listen to insulting comments to keep the customer happy.  I know my limitations, and I hope to not run into someone like that again.