Cultural Awareness

Standing outside waiting for the bus to pick her up for school, Mary Mejie said she remembers the constant teasing of kids taunting her to play kung fu with them as they pulled and tugged on her long jet-black hair. “The kids would speak in some made up language and call me Chinese,” Mary said.
Mary’s father is Japanese and her mother is Filipino. “I grew up in the Philippines, but my early schooling was in the city of Baltimore,” Mary noted. Reluctant to admit initially that the teasing came from kids of other cultural backgrounds, Mary later admitted it primarily came from African- American kids. According to an article on the Democrat and Chronicle website, a newspaper in Rochester, N.Y., studies show that children exposed to different cultures at a young age have enhanced social and emotional development. According to the study, children learn about differences and similarities and increase their sense of self. In addition, this understanding prevents aggressive and self-controlling behaviors in children, the study explained and helps them adapt better to a changing environment.
Now an adult, Mary says she realizes that, as children in school, they were not taught to understand or care about the differences or similarities of other cultures. “We were just happy to have friends that looked like we did to play with,” Mary noted.
As a young adult, Suzette Hampton, an African-American mother of four and a Lanham, Md. resident, said she remembers going into an upscale clothing store with a friend and “being the only blacks in the store at the time.” They were asked if they needed any assistance by a store employee. “And when we responded that we were just looking, the employee requested for us to let her know if we needed further assistance,” Suzette said. As they went on to browse, “I