Does the Presence of an Accent mean the Lack of Intelligence in HoCo? A couple of months ago, my mother and I went to the doctor's office, and once the receptionist heard the accented words leave my mother's mouth to announce that she was here for her appointment, she immediately got irritated and repeated that she could not understand my mother at all. It continued like that for about a minute until my mom asked me to repeat what she had said. I could see that my mother was struggling and … [Read more...]
Triggering
During a meeting a white woman leaned over to a Black acquaintance telling her "I just have to say I am so impressed by how articulate you are." … [Read more...]
Fear of Differences
Someone of mixed race was accused of bringing COVID to the US, even though this person has never been outside of the US. … [Read more...]
Words misinterpreted!
I had a customer highly upset that someone in the Branch asked, "Where are you from?" The customer was upset since she is of mixed race, and thought it was inappropriate for anyone to ask her that question. After speaking to the customer and speaking to the staff member, I contacted the customer back and let her know what the employee was really asking--was she from Howard County or from another County (wanted to know where people were coming from for her class), not asking about her race. I … [Read more...]
Intentional Engagement
I am a part of a Rotary Club that has recently read the book White Fragility and are having intentional engagement to address implicit bias. … [Read more...]
Don’t Assume
On a phone conversation making a purchase. Company located in Elkridge. When I gave my name to complete the sale - the representative said, " Wow you're English is great? Where are you from? I said my English should be great - I've been speaking this language all my life. … [Read more...]
Race and Disability
I work with individuals with autism and families...all too often children who are black and brown are diagnosed and receiving services much later than while children by a few years. Behaviors are identified instead of considering underlying disability. … [Read more...]
Everyday Trauma
I am traumatized daily around the pronunciation of my name, which to some, is an ethnic spin on a traditionally white name. I am full of grace for mispronunciation. We all need that. What is never graceful is others asking why my name is spelled or pronounced the way it is. Or, those who go further to tell me I am mispronouncing my own name! I formerly thought of these interactions as microaggressions, but as it literally happens almost everyday, there's nothing micro about it at all. It mounts … [Read more...]
Neighbor for a Neighbor
I work in a non-profit organization that helps new Americans to get access to opportunities. I witnessed a situation that gave me hope about racial equality in HoCo. It was a US citizen, a white guy that called to our organization to help a family that recently moved to their neighborhood, they didn't speak English and this neighbor just step up and call us to get some help and opportunities for this family just because he saw that need. That gave me hope, it wasn't someone that he knew for a … [Read more...]
Embrace Languages
"It's so immensely frustrating when I hear customers/employees/random passerby say, "They should speak English, this is America." I've seen it when caregivers speak to their little ones in other languages (Korean, Spanish, Polish, etc), translating books in real-time. It frustrates me because that person reading out loud to their child already knows people are saying just that, but they want to provide their child a space to learn another language, and give them the same experience everyone in … [Read more...]
