Being A Black Woman Of The Principal 's Office

Hall, J.C., Everett, J.E., Hamilton-Mason, J. (2012). Black women talk about workplace stress and how they cope. Journal of black studies 43 (2), 207-26.This article talks about the stressful situation facing African American in the workplace and the strategies they used to manage it. The authors related that the same stress struggling black women in the workplace was among the white female also even though they were experiencing inequality issues on top of the reality. The study was focused on five key terms to explain, the process of racism and sexism in the workplace stressing female African American. The authors elaborated the criteria of hiring or promoting in a diverse workplace as the first key. Secondly, the crucial

I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To

Growing up in an one bedroom single parent home with eight kids I was an angry child faced with countless obstacles growing up. The things that I have seen and the situations I have been in through growing up I know that I shouldn’t be here today.There are guys that I grew up with who are now either dead, in jail, or still in the streets. By overcoming these things it has molded me into the young man I am today; a person who is determined to be great and determined to leave an impact on people's lives in everything that I do. As I continue to grow, others are seeing the transition that I am making into a black man who while he may be from the projects he is taking actions to become better and

When I was young I didn’t really realize the impact of being African-American until high school. I went to a predominately white school for elementary and middle school. I was just like any other youth. I had my group of friends who were white; I was active in school activities and clubs. I was a student athlete and I got along well with my teachers. Everyone saw me as an upbeat person with a bubbly personality. Surprisingly, race was never brought up it wasn’t an issue for me during that period of my life. However, as I got older I realize there was a difference. As an adult I could really see the prejudice in others. I recall working a on a special project for the

I didn’t have to physically fight in school and I wasn’t subjected to overt racial discrimination. However, I was discriminated against on an institutional level by attending public school in Compton, CA and in a rural desert town in LA County called Lake Los Angeles. Demographically, Lake L.A. was mostly poor White but we were part of a wave of minorities that began moving there because of the cheap houses on large sections of land. There was limited access to rigorous curriculum and I remember not feeling engaged in school as a child. I was naturally curious and wanted to learn so I was always self-motivated and succeeded in school. However, there were very limited opportunities or access to college prep courses or Advanced/Honors sections of courses. I never even met with a high school counselor once. I was self-motivated enough to make sure I earned good grades in my classes but I had no idea what the application process for college was all about or what A-G electives were. I was caught up in a numbers game and I wasn’t one of the few who were given the additional resources and support needed to be prepared to attend a four year university right out of high

There are five words I grew up hearing continuously spoken from the mouths of my parents “Don’t take things for granted.” Unlike what many of my black friends or just black people in general can say, I grew up with everything I could ever ask for and more. My parents don’t consider themselves wealthy; instead they prefer the word comfortable. My mother grew up in segregated schools, but she also grew up in desegregated schools, of which her experience she said wasn’t bad for her. In 5th grade when they first combined whites and blacks it was just her and this other black boy in class and the both of them together were mistaken for being white because of how light their skin was. My father on the other hand had it much worse than my mother segregated or not. The stories he speaks of still to this day

It wasn’t until I earned a few college degrees that the military would even entertain my packets for promotion where I was station. Once I realized my ignorance regarding not just racism but also sexism I found myself encouraging minorities to obtain an education in order to compete. As Spencer (2008) said in his article “education and employment opportunity, he was made in his opinion palatable to the dominant culture.” This article compels me to think of situations from my past life experiences. It amazed me how much I overlooked some hurdles that I overcame when it comes to racism and/or sexism. My reflection involved my critical thinking skills to determine if I deliberately block it out or did I truly forget. I found myself questioning my experience and opportunity to search for new perspectives and new solutions if

I graduated high school from Los Angeles Technology Center. My teacher thought I was going to drop out for being the first generation of immigrants enrolled in high school. They assumed my last stop of education would be attending continuation school. I was receiving many negative comments mostly stereotypes from my teacher, classmates and administrators. I did not know how to deal with it and had no psychological help. My counselor told me there was no point in being in continuation school. My classmates would tell me I was going to have a lot of kids and live on welfare. Negative comments like these brought my self esteem down. I was able to prove them wrong and graduated high school and said the pledge of allegiance.

Taking into consideration my early childhood, youth and adolescence, I could say that I was surrounded by people, who were friendly and shared common cultural values. However, with the hindsight at my whole life, I could say why the sense of institutional racism touches me so deeply. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother, both of whom could not read and write. Thus, for the illiterate people there were no chances to have higher status in the society. The only way to survive for them was hard physical work. Institutional racism, as a form of oppression, is more consequential and involves policies and acts that affect a large number of people. Life of my family is only one example of its impact. Even though, a lot of time has passed since then, the most recent incidents with Rodney King, Trayvon Martin and George Zimmer, illustrate how a black man continues to be viewed as a menace to society in America (Blumenfeld, 2010).

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” This quote by Jackie Robinson has been a major influence in my life as not only a baseball player but as a man who has had an opportunity to make an impact on the lives around me. As an African American man we as a society are undermined and are looked down upon by society due to misconceptions and what the media portrays as an African American man. One obstacle that I’ve had to deal with my whole life is the concept of being the only African American student in school. When I was young I made outstanding grades and ended up entering high school at the age of 12 years old. Besides being the youngest student in High school I was the only black student that the school had attending

Being in South Georgia you face a lot or ridicule because of your gender, size, and color. I’m a young black lady that’s not a size two, so I had my share of discrimination. Throughout my years in school, I challenged a lot of individuals’ beliefs and ideas to stand up for what are right.

It was the first time me, a black girl from the heart of north philly went to a school like that. It was culture shock for sure. I wasn't used to being around suburban white kids who weren’t exposed to the things I was exposed to. So quite naturally, there were times when the two environmental differences would clash. One day in fifth grade I was in history class and we were presenting projects. The projects were about our heritage and family's immigration to America. Thinking back to what I said earlier, I went to a predominantly white school so of course they'd know when and how their family's came to America. Me being an African-American I don't have the luxury of knowing since Africans were stolen from their land and enslaved. Us being 10 year-olds knew about slavery but didn't think of it that way. I was kind of upset not being able to go in depth about where my family was from and how they immigrated to the U.S. So as it was my turn to go, I told about how my grandmother moved from Georgia to Philadelphia. A boy yelled out that I didn't do the project right so I froze. I then got into an argument with him about it and my teacher pulled us out of

Growing up in such a majorly diversified city, and having attended public schools all of my life, I barely encountered racism of any sort. It was something that was not discussed often in my home or anywhere else, outside of my knowledge of slavery’s history in America or what I’ve seen in movies. Having friends and family from so many different countries, backgrounds, and ethnicities, it was tough relating to any direct form of discrimination that I know others around me have encountered. Then, there was that day …at the Meadowlands Flea Market. Here… In New Jersey, the learned hatred for people of color stared me right in face, as if it was my time to finally confront something I have never been exposed to. This was one of many life changing events that has happened to me, though it happened at least 10 years ago, the memory is as fresh as yesterday’s occurrences. This very moment opened my eyes to a new respect for any other minority or anyone who has endured racism and discrimination.

In all my years of ignoring and displacing my ethnicity it had hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. I was a young black woman, a member of one of the most fundamentally scorned racial subgroups, and I could either be the victim or the victor.

Have you ever been made fun of for the way you look or been accused of something you didn’t do? I know I have I used to be made fun of for wearing glasses, there have also been lots of times where I’ve been accused of something I didn’t do, mostly my mom blaming me for something my brother did. Imagine if someone was constantly making fun of you for your skin color, you can’t help what you look like. There has been a constant issue of discrimination toward black people all over the US. When you were first born I remember holding you in my arms, you were so small and innocent. I was thinking to myself that I have to protect this innocent baby from the cruel world. I’ve reworded this letter many times, but the truth is there is no easy way to put this, I'm trying to prepare you the best I can for what’s coming your way. We all need to do our part to make America see that no one man is better than another. This is why you, Caleb, need to use your skin color to your advantage and don’t get me wrong this won’t be an easy task. As a minority, people won’t look at you as an equal, and you’ll be a target for discrimination. You just have to remember that violence won’t solve anything and to stay strong.