Personal experience of bias, prejudice and
oppression
.
I have
many experiences of bias and oppression to share. As a black woman who lived in
Asia for about 5years, or in my religious identity as a pastor in my own
country, or even as an online student in this course, in retrospect, there are
many things that I can consider and state them as prejudice or bias.
I noticed that most of my classmates don’t respond
to my discussion or contributions, a few may but generally, I feel isolated. I
guess because of my names which immediately come across as somebody who lives
outside of the U.S. and a black for that matter. I was very excited when one of
my course mates showed interest and engaged me in some discussions about
Nigeria, and it was my real pleasure to be of help to her daughter reading a
book authored by a Nigerian. Our online classroom experience is really diverse;
we have Chinese/Asians, white and black Americans and a black African. We all
have different racial identity but the same identity of online student.
The example I really want to share is that of my
experience as a female pastor. I was made to be in charge of a congregation and
some men felt that they wouldn’t like to be under the supervision of a female
pastor, this is a bias against my gender not my capability as a female
spiritual leader. Even though looking
down on a woman’s ability is a way of saying that she is incompetent, this is
lack of equity.
I took that up as a challenge to sharpen my pastoral skills,
leadership skills, communication and social skills so that I can effectively
lead the church. I took some short biblical courses and I was really glad I
did. I became good and skillful and the church loved it. Most of the men became
satisfied and found out that their fears were not worth it in the first place,
and what a man can do, a woman can do also. I do not consider this is a
feminist movement thing; it is just that women too have brain and if given the
same opportunity, they can thrive also. My attitude and response is the first
to change. I needed to change the way I think and see myself so that I can
decide how to progress in my self development to excel rather than compete with
others.
Mercy,
ReplyDeleteI hate that you have felt isolated in this program... one of the first things we "learned" was how important it is to form a community of learners since we all run the risk of isolation. I love the perspectives you bring to the courses we've shared but mostly your determination to grow and improve the lives of children.
Concerning your pastoral challenge (I would guess that you face most challenges the same way), you state it so beautifully by recognizing that change starts within ourselves and only then can we impact our environment! It is about self improvement, not competition.
Thanks!
DeleteHi Laura,
I am sorry you felt bad about my comments of feeling isolated. You are actually one of the people I have related with in this program and really appreciated your input and connections with me. I commented because I realized that we as online students community may not even be aware of our biases at this level because it is not what we deliberately set out to do. My understanding of diversity made me to look inward and search to see areas where I am unconsciously prejudiced and exhibit some biases and decided to make changes. My comment is to enable all of us do a search as well. Thank you very much.
Mercy,
ReplyDeleteI also feel terrible that you have felt isolated in this program... I have learned many insights from your posts and I truly appreciated your warm and kind response to my own blog post this week. I feel sometimes I take for granted the internalized privilege of not having to deal with being an international student. I can understand the challenges of learning information mostly US-related, but I think we could all learn from a more global approach!
By the way, I admire your strength and courage for having stood your ground and prove the men you too could be a pastor!
-Angie
Hi Mercy,
ReplyDeleteYou are right. We all have many differing social identities, but we are all students in this course - we should be a community.
I am so happy that you took the negativity in the comments of the men, and turned it into motvation to succeed. When we were learning about microaggressions, this was something I shared about my fiance. He was always told he would never succeed, that he couldn't amount to anything, and that people were shocked he could be smart or helpful or nice, just simply becuase he was covered in tattoos. He took these comments as a reason to show them they were wrong, instead of letting it hurt him or bring him down. Congratulations on your success!
DeleteThanks. I appreciate your encouragement. Microaggressions came to me as a new term in this course and made to think more deeply. Understanding how our reactions, comments and attitude to people can come out to mean insults or invalidations and deeply affect their emotions and personality has helped me to be more careful in the way I look at people and things.
When I read your blog I could relate with what you were feeling. its funny that someone can feel isolated online but I also had some feelings of not being apart of the group. I think after this it will open some peoples eyes. Hopeful a change will come thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMercy,
ReplyDeleteYou are spunky and rise to meet challenges! I can imagine that your role as a woman pastor is a challenging one. I can also understand the resistance from men. In our denomination, women aren't even allowed to be pastors. These men perhaps have a history or foundation in such a denomination making it difficult for them to change their thought processes. Do you find that our coursework and discussions make it easier to see people like these men in a light of understanding? In my experience, the more personal the offense, the more difficult that is. Do you find that your faith helps you to extend grace to ignorance?
Thanks Mercy!