You know that old adage, to much is given much is expected never rang so true until very recently for the kid. I mean I am extremely thankful and very blessed to have been giving such a FANTASTIC opportunity to build, create and oversee programs that better lives and contribute to the human development of people. Truthfully, LIFE is GOOD on this side. This week has been a remarkable one for my family and we give the man up above all the praise for his watchful eye over us and the strength to preserver during moments of darkness and dismay this very difficult year. It is without question that when I say “Boys who’s got it better than us?” The answer is unequivocally is NOBODY!
Ok people; let me get focused…
I was
facilitating a workshop earlier this week on Cultural Competency and Diversity
when one of the attendees asked a very interesting question, what is the
difference between race and ethnicity? Hmmmmmmmm; I made sure I gave myself a
good minute to think before I responded because clearly if you going to teach a
workshop on a hot button topic such as cultural competency you best know what
you talking about. You ever felt like someone is asking you a question to test
you just to check if you know WTF you talking about? So in short my response to
the gentleman was race refers to the group you identify with typically through
one’s physical appearance i.e. skin color, eye color, hair. Ethnicity on the
other hand relates to cultural factors such as nationality, ancestry and
language. I was so proud of myself after I gave my response I almost wanted to
say now shut-up and take notes for the rest of the workshop. How you gonna try
and test the “Capital P”? Loooooool.
So all jokes aside there are over 350
ethnic groups identified today in Nigeria. This is clearly as my homeboy
Steve-O thought me this week during our intense planning meeting an
illustration of one of the “Competing
Constraints” that is troubling our country in its current state. Yeah, I
know you all liked that “Competing
Constraints”. I did not graduate from Notre Dame like Steve-o but I sure
know how to talk that talk and trust and believe me I got more of that to come
in the future.
If I was to compare Nigeria in size,
only Alaska in the United State is bigger in terms of square kilometers. Alaska
is very diverse in terms of population but no where near 374 ethnic groups.
Hence; once again there lies one of our major fundamental flaws as a country. I
am all for acculturation and will only promote the ideas of assimilating only
when appropriate. Those are two cultural competency terms and incase you are
not sure of their meaning; acculturation is the process of adapting to the
norms of a dominant group while maintaining your ideas, values and beliefs.
While assimilation is the process in which a group adopts all the customs and
attitude of the dominant culture and ultimately rejects its own ideas and
values common to his/her own indigenous roots.
The bottom line is be it Nigeria,
United States or any other country for that matter people are no longer
connecting or putting too much stock in their race or ethnicity like many years
ago. The group that people all across the globe first identify themselves with
and want to connect better with is their social-economic group. People truly
only see themselves as either being, RICH, POOR or SUFFERING.
I just want to be comfortable.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment