The Self Reflection

My experience at the African Community Center has provided great insight about the influence of language on a person’s first impression or judgment of another person. Due to weather and other conflicts, I have only had the opportunity to go the ACC once; however, I already feel as if I am being exposed to a whole other viewpoint of reality. My experience at ACC is illuminating my own tendency to associate one’s intelligence with his or her language capabilities.

           

I am already thankful for my experience at ACC because I believe this experience will help me work on one of my prejudices. When speaking to a non-native English speaker or to a person who is just learning English, I view their lack of grammar and vocabulary proficiency as a sign of lower intelligence. At the ACC, I am working in the interview prepatory program, so teaching English is a vital part of my work. Last Tuesday, I worked with a Sudanese woman who had only been in the US for a few short months and who, consequently, knew very little English. While I did not experience impatience or frustration with her pace, I did begin to notice that I was making automatic assumptions that she was less intelligent than I was because she struggled with my native language. It was not until she mentioned that she had been a nurse in Sudan that I gave her the intellectual credit she deserved. I was very disturbed at the ignorance and elitism present in my own thinking. I couldn’t help but think of the lessons in Of Beetles and Angels. By doubting the intellectual dignity of the woman I was teaching, I had essentially turned her from an angel to nothing more than a beetle; I had dehumanized her in a significant way, allowing her to only “survive … in the ghostly shadow of [her] former [self]" (Hron 39). In essence, I had reduced her story to “easy-to-consume images and narrative forms” (Fadlalla 81). I now plan to use my experience at ACC not only as an opportunity to learn about refugee lives and stories but also as an opportunity to disrupt my own privilege and exclusionist ways of thinking. I am grateful that my own prejudices have been brought to light because now, I have a full opportunity to move forward toward a more understanding and accepting perspective about the world.