The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I am an African American woman and have experienced much prejudice in the work place. I felt that other color was giving more opportunity at my preschool jobs. The  director I will call her Ms. Tosa will always let other teacher take longer break and time off from work , but when it came to me I will always get the running around or she will say “ I not able to let you have this week off because , I need you to cover a certain class this week” but she would never ask the other teachers. I remember one time I was a 1 second over and she went crazy. But when other teacher was late or took a longer break nothing would be said.. Many times, Caucasians was allowed to take time off with ,but when it came to me there was always an excuse why I was not able to take days off. It was very irritating.  My director did not have any problem changing the schedule around when it came to certain teachers, but when it came to me I would always get the attitude.

This  made it really hard for me to perform my job duties never neglecting or abuse or rude to parent and children but had a hard time trust the team around me because they would allow people  of other color to take off, but when it came to me I am a black person it would always be a problem. A couple of times, I felt like leaving. but I really enjoyed working with the co - teacher in my class and of course the children and families.  When I would decide to take time off, I would put my notice in one week before and Ms.Tosa said she did not have anyone to fill my spot, but this one particular teacher   from another class I will call her Rosa put in her request the same time, I did and was approved.  I felt like just because, I was the only black there and I felt like I was being discrating against due to my color.  According to Dr. Sue I feel we should all be respected and treated fairly in the work environment regardless of race, belief, religion or gender. On one hand, I was upset and on the other hand, I was glad it happened to me so I could learn  from this situation on how  I can make sure when I get my child care center , I will not treat my  staff that way. I will make sure I am making every race feel comfortable

 I became very angry on several occasions and on top of that I had three miscarriages I was dealing with at the time of going through all these issues at work and that did not. I felt like I was not being appreciated and having to make special arrangements to go to my doctor appointments. These issues at work did not make me feel any better, but I learned how to manage the abuse. I felt I was not important, embarrassed and shameful. As a floater, I felt that I always had to pick up the slack.  I felt like I was really being taking advantage of.  I will never treat anyone this way and the director needs to make sure that she is being fair across the board.

Referemce

 Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Temika McCann

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