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.
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