Oh, those "hushed tones." As if they think they're being naughty, even voicing a descriptor - and don't realize that's what puts their bigotry on full display.
Thank you Sharon. Those sound outrageous. I’m remembering a mandatory work Christmas lunch scheduled during Ramadan. Our Muslim colleagues told us to eat or the food would go to waste but I shouldn’t have and should have spoken up to the organizer (who was my temp supervisor). Twenty plus years later I speak up, and I know to check the dates of Ramadan. Another time in a preschool music class I touched a Sikh boy’s topknot. His Mum was so kind in how gently she corrected me. I admired her courage because I recognized how fraught navigating clueless or intentional micro aggressions must be for her, on the daily. I also apologized to the child and told him it would never happen again. Later his Mum told me I was the first white adult who had apologized to him and not just her. Every time I speak up its a win for my dignity, my freedom too. It says something (nothing good) about my country that I’ve not worked in a team with an openly Indigenous Australian.
Some Step In, Some Step Out
Perfect Timing...ONWARDS!
K:-)
This was a great piece! Actionable and a simple presentation about behaviors that I think will resonate with my colleagues. very apprecaited.
Oh, those "hushed tones." As if they think they're being naughty, even voicing a descriptor - and don't realize that's what puts their bigotry on full display.
Thank you Sharon. Those sound outrageous. I’m remembering a mandatory work Christmas lunch scheduled during Ramadan. Our Muslim colleagues told us to eat or the food would go to waste but I shouldn’t have and should have spoken up to the organizer (who was my temp supervisor). Twenty plus years later I speak up, and I know to check the dates of Ramadan. Another time in a preschool music class I touched a Sikh boy’s topknot. His Mum was so kind in how gently she corrected me. I admired her courage because I recognized how fraught navigating clueless or intentional micro aggressions must be for her, on the daily. I also apologized to the child and told him it would never happen again. Later his Mum told me I was the first white adult who had apologized to him and not just her. Every time I speak up its a win for my dignity, my freedom too. It says something (nothing good) about my country that I’ve not worked in a team with an openly Indigenous Australian.