The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As I was watching the movie 27 Dresses this week, I witnessed oppression of a Hispanic boy.  Tess, the bride, used her fiance's Hispanic little brother (from Big Brother program) to clean their apartment.  She told the boy that she was going to help him start his own cleaning business but he had to keep it a secret from his Big Brother (her fiancee) even though this was not true.

This incident diminished equity by treating the boy as a second-rate citizen because of his race and age.  It reflected her assumptions about what Hispanics can do.  As I watched this brief incident in the film, I felt shocked and upset that someone would project their stereotypes onto a child, even though the child was unaware of being marginalized.  Actually, he looked at it as an opportunity.   

In this incident, I feel Tess (the bride) needs to change.  She needs to be aware of how her actions reflect her biases and prejudices onto others. In addition, she needs to realize how her perspectives of others can adversely affect them. “The better you know yourself, the better you can understand your own responses to the children and families you work with” (Derman Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 21). 

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).