Reflection of Racism

The other day in class we watched a video called, “Knowing Who You Are.” The video consisted of a group of foster children who had many experiences with living with different foster parents. The children explained how they were not sure how to identify themselves because their culture had been absent throughout their lives. I felt bad for these children because I can not imagine what it is like to grow up without knowing how I identify myself, even as I transform into an adult. If you do not know how to identify yourself as a person, how can you set goals for yourself to achieve? How do you know which career would be right for you if you do not even know yourself? In class, we have learned that knowledge of client’s culture is familiarization with client’s culture in order to understand his or her behavior in a cultural contect. In the video, one of the social workers had made a point that stood out to me. She said that in order for social workers to perform their job, they have to be familiar with themselves and know how they identify themselves in their own culture. I liked this point that she made because I feel like social workers have to have an open mind and be able to consider the opinion of others; how can they do this if they are unsure of themselves?
We have also been learning about Individual Cultural Competence Skill Areas. Self-awareness is understanding the ways one’s own culture impacts behavior, and understanding when boundaries create conflict. This is one of my favorite topics because I feel like this is an important trait for individuals to have. The problem in America is that we as Americans are not open to other ideas and culture differences of people who are of different races. In my opinion, we would be a much better country if we changed our attitudes and were more considerate of other cultures. For example, holidays. Some school systems may close their schools to celebrate a certain holiday, while other school systems may not. How is...