In Newcomer-USA conversations, one line frequently comes up: “We’re all immigrants, really.” While Feel Like You Belong is committed to telling immigrant stories, we acknowledge an important pre-immigration narrative that is too often missing. That is, the story of the indigenous peoples living on the continent for millennia before Europeans arrived.
We are proud to bring Native American author/activist Jacqueline Keeler to the table to share important stories absent from our U.S. history books. Part 1. Part 2.
Amanda is a Spanish teacher from West Michigan. Guillermo is a businessman from Campeche, Mexico. They met and fell in love in … Spain, of course! They join us to talk about intercontinental romance, business, and life in a bi-cultural world.
Javier Olvera is the president and owner of Supermercado Mexico in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He joins us to tell his own immigrant story, talk about the joys and challenges of business ownership, and share his vision for Hispanic entrepreneurship in his adopted city.
Mohammad “Mo” Ehsani came to the U.S. in the 1970s to study technology. After a distinguished career as professor of civil engineering, he is off to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. An indefatigable engineer with the wrap on very important solutions!
The world is a complicated canvas of varying views, realities, and expectations. The next two installments in the Grand Rapids Ballet‘s innovative contemporary dance series, MOVEMEDIA, will explore and celebrate these beautiful differences.
Experience thought-provoking panel discussions and powerful community outreach bookended by complementary world-premiere works by some of today’s most important choreographers.
For tickets, visit grballet.com. Performances are in February and March 2018.
Attorney Raquel Salas understands the ins and outs of immigration and cultural adaptation, having moved to the U.S. over a decade ago from her native Dominican Republic. She uses that lived experience as a newcomer along with her native Spanish language skills to counsel immigrants in the intricacies of American criminal law. She joins us to talk about culture, belonging, and the myths that surround the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, DACA for short.
Alan Headbloom, host of “Feel Like You Belong” will co-moderate the Grand Valley State University’s Fourth Annual Civil Discourse Symposium, set for Friday, Nov. 2, at the Paul A. Johnson Conference Hall at the L.V. Eberhard Center on the Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus.
The 2017 Padnos/Sarosik Civil Discourse Symposium offers a venue for the community to engage in a civil discussion on immigration by considering both its benefits and challenges. Through round-table discussion and panelist-let dialogue, the symposium offers opportunities to interact with community organizations engaged with immigrants and refugees and examine the dynamics driving global migration.
This year’s symposium topic is “Immigrants and Refugees: Celebrating Our Diversity” and will be facilitated by Dr. Jack Mangala, the 2016-2017 Padnos/Sarosik Endowed Professor of Civil Discourse
A light dinner will be served starting at 5 p.m. Parking is available at no cost Your RSVP is appreciated.
In 2013, Headbloom co-created the show “Feel Like You Belong,” a multi-resource web portal and TV show. Headbloom inviterviews immigrants and expatriate to learn how one goes about being long in a new land, new language and new culture. His guests have included “Sesame Street” pioneer Sonia Manzano and former Chicago Young Lords Jose Cha Cha Jimenez. “Feel Like You Belong” is filmed at WKTV.
Panelists
Dr. Mladjo Ivanovic is a visiting professor at the department of philosophy at Grand Valley State University. His research focuses on moral and political challenges tied with the forceful displacement and migration of people. He is also engaged with NGO communities in Serbia, Greece and Turkey, and serves as an advisor for various student organizations that deal with humanitarianism and social justice.
Steffanie Rosalez is the Program Director for the Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities, Cook Arts Center. Using the arts, she has worked with children from immigrant families in various capacities, including as the manager of the after school program (LOOP) at Cesar Chavez Elementary School.
Kristine Van Noord is the Program Manager for Bethany Christian Services’ Refugee Adult & Family Programs. Kristine has 19 years of experience working with refugees including over seven years with Bethany. She also lived in the Middle East for five years.
Global refugees often find themselves warehoused in makeshift camps for years — or even decades. The lucky ones are eventually resettled by a generous nation to start a new life.
But new struggles, especially for older refugees, then begin: trying to learn a strange language, adapting to new climates and customs. Who is the best to help with the daily tasks that natives take for granted: driver’s license, bank forms, job applications, healthcare appointments, school registration for kids? It’s often fellow refugees who came before. Like the courageous Leela Dhakal.
As a young kid, Adam Khafif was already developing a sense for business, working in his off-school hours for the family’s cookie business. In high school, he launched a streetwear company, completing his first sale – to his aunt! With the dauntless spirit of an entrepreneur, Adam sharpened his focus, majoring in business at Babson College and cementing his vision for his LSNP clothing line. Today, he sells hip clothing, all the while incorporating his core values that set LisnUp apart in a very competitive industry.
Lola Audu is used to creating firsts in her adopted U.S. home. As an international student in college, she had to teach white administrators about unintended racism. As a real estate professional, she became the first black president in the 117-year history of the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors. As a graduate of the Cultural Intelligence Center, she is now bringing cultural intelligence (CQ) to the real estate industry. Join Alan as he interviews the Nigerian native who has become a West Michigan force to be reckoned with.
David Castro understands hard work. Arriving in the United States, the Mexican native spoke little English but knew he had to work. Luckily, the manager of the Sears men’s department was kind and gave him a job stocking clothing. And helped him learn English. Moving from retail to the catering business, David maintained that same work ethic, moving from Server to Supervisor to Manager. Today, he is the President and Partner of Applause Catering, the largest catering company in Grand Rapids, Mich.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of refugees poured out of their native Vietnam, fleeing persecution, imprisonment, torture, execution, poverty, and alienation. Those who settled in the United States number 1.8 million, almost half of the 4 million members of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Greater Grand Rapids is home to the fourth largest Vietnamese community in the Midwest. With such numbers of ethnic Vietnamese in the area, the West Michigan Asian American Association undertook a special documentary project.
“Newcomer Legacy: A Vietnamese-American Story” focuses on nine individuals from the West Michigan area, ranging from ages 30 to 70, said Alan Headbloom, who was the project manager.
From a recent screening at Grand Valley State University
“What united the communist party was to get the foreigners (in the 1950s, it was the French Colonists and then later, the Americans) out of the country,” Headbloom said. “They talk about moving their families from the north to the south because they couldn’t live with the communists and then fleeing the country all together when Saigon fell in 1975.”
The nine interviewees share their personal stories of how they came to the United States, restarting in a new country, and what now makes West Michigan home.
The last two public screens of the documentary are Thursday, May 4, at 5:30 p.m. at Grand Rapids Community Center’s Calkins Science Center Auditorium 348, 226 Bostwick Ave. NE., and Thursday, May 11, for the City of Grand Rapids Community Relations Commission at 5:30 p.m. at LINC UP Gallery, 341 Hall Street. Each screening includes a panel with an opportunity for a Q&A session.
Headbloom noted that the first four presentations – which have been at Davenport University, Herrick Library, Grand Valley State University’s and the Vietnamese community’s Black April event in remembrance of those who fought and died when Saigon fell on April 30, 1975 – have been very positive. From the documentary’s website, Karen Nelson wrote “I am very glad I had the chance to hear these stories. I was touched by the accounts of hard work and strong family ties. I only wish it were longer!” and Project Administrator Elizabeth MacLaughlan wrote “Today’s film and panel presentation was excellent. Such powerful stories from our West Michigan Vietnamese community that everyone should hear. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of such an important project.”
“What we didn’t anticipate were the comments from students – we have screed this at Davenport University and Grand Valley State University just last week – who said they really had no idea and found the movie incredibly local as these are people who they may have worked with or driven past everyday,” Headbloom said.
Under sponsorship of the Michigan Heritage Council, the project will be made free of charge to area teachers who wish to include it in their history lessons. For more information, on this, contact Headbloom at alan@headbloom.com.
The documentary also will be shown on WKTV and made available to other local stations.
The project sponsor is the Michigan Humanities Council 2016-2017 Heritage Grant Program and the underwriter is the Kellogg Foundation. Local liaison is the West Michigan Asian American Association with project advisers being Connie Dang, Kim McKee, Phillip Nguyen, and Anh Tran.
For more about “Newcomer Legacy: A Vietnamese-American Story,” visit the Facebook page Facebook.com/newcomerlegacy.
Imagine moving to a foreign country where you don’t know the language — or the culture and customs of its people. Now imagine starting a business or going to school there.
I can’t wrap my mind around that and yet, all of my grandparents emigrated here from Greece in the early 1920s, speaking little to no English and starting up candy shops and restaurants to support their families.
It is this experience that bolsters my profound respect for the folks who are daring enough to leave a familiar home to start anew in a strange land.
A couple with the same mindset, husband and wife team, Alan Headbloom (host) and Kim Roberts (creator and executive producer) have created a television show, Feel Like You Belong (FLYB), that shares the life stories of immigrants, expatriates and refugees to the United States. Now in its third year, FLYB celebrates its 100th episode, Anan Ameri: Love and Leadership in Arab America, on WKTV this month.
FLYB’s goal is to help immigrants acclimate to our community and learn colloquialisms of the English language, such as slang and humor. Since the program’s inception, people from Guatemala, Vietnam, the Middle East, Bhutan, the Dominican Republic and other places across the globe have shared their cultural experiences on-camera.
Paola Mendivil shares a laugh on set with the host. (Photo courtesy of FeelLikeYouBelong.com)
“Different is not bad,” said Headbloom, who teaches English as a second language and has an extensive background as an applied linguist and cross-cultural consultant. “Different is just different. White Americans — especially West Michiganders — need to get out and meet people who have accents and better tans than they do. That’s the only way we’re going to survive in this globally diversifying world.”
In addition to helping new residents acclimate to new surroundings, the show helps make a difference in how Americans perceive those who are beginning their lives anew in our country. With a few exceptions, most interviewees live and work in the greater Grand Rapids area.
“It’s a two-way street: Just as immigrants learn about our culture, we glean fascinating insights in our own culture and language, plus we’re exposed to other cultures. It’s a win-win,” said Headbloom.
The FLYB website archives the interviews as well as short educational segments for immigrants to learn from — including tips on culture and etiquette, lessons on American English grammar and slang, and examples of American humor (which is the hardest part of learning a new language). There’s also a blog for natives to educate themselves on issues of language, race/ethnicity and culture.
Alan Headbloom (Courtesy FeelLikeYouBelong.com)
Headbloom finds that the most challenging aspect of the show is having to train new crew every semester.
“We have no budget, so all crew members (production and post-production) are unpaid college interns.”
Roberts is a film/video professor at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). Headbloom has made a career of coaching international workers on how to live and communicate among Americans. He trains Americans how to work with local co-workers from overseas as well as their foreign-based counterparts around this shrinking globe. He also does training and facilitation around race, ethnicity, unconscious bias, respect in the workplace and diversity/inclusion. He finds the show rewarding on several levels.
Kim Roberts (Courtesy FeelLikeYouBelong.com
“It validates the immigrant experience and tells non-immigrant viewers that these stories, these humans are important too,” Headbloom said. “Everyone wants to be heard, be acknowledged. Many are honored to have a public forum for sharing their journey, both the challenges and the successes.”
And FLYB is making a difference in the community.
“I recently heard from a newer viewer, an 85-year-old conservative, white suburban male,” said Headbloom. “He told me he was unhappy about the country’s immigration ‘problem’ but found that watching our shows made ‘them’ seem like real people.
“In particular, I believe he was referencing Natanael “Nate” Krische’s story. Mr. Krische came here at age 18 without documents from Guatemala. He worked at odd jobs (often underpaid or unpaid) until he got his green card and then citizenship. Today, Mr. Krische employs seven area workers at his janitorial company. He is making jobs for — not taking them away from — other Americans.”
The crew of FLYB (Courtesy FeelLikeYouBelong.com)
Feel Like You Belongairs on WKTV Channel 25 (Comcast) and Channel 99 (ATT) Mondays at 8:30 pm and Wednesdays at 10:30 am. FLYB also airs on GRTV (Grand Rapids) and HCTV (Holland). Outside the area, folks can follow FLYB on its website, where the team archives all their interviews as well as the educational segments 24/7.
It’s a long way from the tropical sunshine of the Dominican Republic to the snowy shores of Lake Michigan. Miguelina Quiñones has made not only a journey of miles but also a journey of emotional discovery to share her story of struggle and acceptance with us. Once an awkward immigrant child herself, she now works in a local school district that could be called the United Nations of the Midwest.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
The saying goes that the eyes are the windows to one’s soul. Unmistakably, there is a dancing intensity reflecting from the two shining panes of our coming featured guest. Raúl Alvarez is a high-octane communications strategist during the week. On the weekends, he trades his business suit for basketball shorts and plays some of the most fervent over-40 roundball in the city of Grand Rapids. He joins Alan to talk about personal identity and getting stuff done.
It’s often hard to be the kid at school who’s different from the others. It could mean you’re the short kid, the chubby kid, the kid with an accent… or the kid with a different religion. These days, that feeling of isolation and “otherness” can extend into the adult world, especially for Arab Americans. Joining Alan in studio is Nadia El-Zein Tonova, Director of the National Network for Arab American Communities, to talk about community building and their new Take On Hate initiative.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Every four years, the United States elects (or re-elects) a President, as is the case with the fall of 2016. Many people, immigrants and natives alike, are confused how the system works, however. What is the Electoral College? (Hint: it’s not some kind of university.) And why are people obsessed with the number 270?
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Theresa Tran understands the fears of the immigrant voter. Her parents are Vietnamese refugees, and she circulates in the Asian Pacific Islander community, listening to stories. Feelings of uncertainty, the awkwardness of not fitting in, and even tales of intimidation. APIA Vote – Michigan is looking to change that. By getting the Asian Pacific Island American community to register and to understand the voting process. It is critical that all voices be heard, according to Tran, and she is working hard to ensure just that. Your country, your right, your vote!
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
The needs of the Hispanic immigrant community are varied and often urgent. Services in demand run the gamut from nutrition education to job mentoring, legal counsel, language services, and domestic violence counseling. Sara Proaño speaks proudly of the rich resource that is the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Most of the world plays “football” with the feet. They use a round, black-and-white ball. North Americans, on the other hand, use an oblong, brown ball to play “football” but only touch the ball with the feet on 13% of the plays.
If you grew up in the 95% of the world that plays soccer, then North American football is a mystery. The play is hard to follow, and the rules seem confusing. At work on Monday morning, you can’t join the water cooler conversation because you weren’t watching The Big Game over the weekend. Worse yet, at an afternoon sales meeting, someone says they’ll either have to punt or throw up a Hail Mary. Say what?!
Before you throw up your hands and give up, know that help is here: a 90-minute seminar on the rules of American football. We will show you, play-by-play, how the game works and teach you the essential vocabulary for watching a live game. We’ll also go over cultural aspects like rivalries, tailgating, and The Wave. And we’ll talk about the common football expressions that Americans use in everyday life – both at work and at home.
And finally, to help you practice what you’ve learned, we’ll watch a televised game in the adjacent sports bar so you can apply your knowledge while nibbling tasty appetizers and sipping the beverage of your choice. Don’t be left out! Sign up today!
Having lived on three continents, Jack Mangala is eminently qualified to talk about the politics and practicalities of global migration. Born in the Democratic Rep. of Congo, Jack earned his PhD in Belgium before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he teaches political science. He talks with Alan about the challenges and opportunities when large numbers of people pick up and go somewhere else.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Kaushik Nag knows a thing or two about global workforce development. Working for Amway Corporation, Nag leads Talent Acquisition, Employee Benefits and Global Change Management functions in the multinational arena. He is also actively involved in building regional talent strategies for West Michigan. What’s one critical element of that development? After seeking out highly qualified professionals from around the world, a major challenge is how to retain them. From Calcutta, India to Grand Rapids, Michigan, this human resources leader shares his observations on creating a sense of belonging.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
The United States is not a melting pot. Although the expression got its official voice a century ago, it ignores an uglier side to our national history which we must acknowledge. We’ll come back to the actual expression in a moment.
First, what is true: over centuries of immigration, scores of ethnicities have moved to the U.S. However, in the earliest years, colonizers predominantly came from northern and western Europe. That prevailing ethnic Whiteness set the tone for the nation’s future. Laws–the visible symbol of power–were constructed around race and ethnicity.
The following is a partial list of rules, made up by White (European-American) men:
1531 – Indian Reductions: appropriation of land, forced religious conversion of Native Americans
1619 – The first African slaves brought by Dutch ships to Virginia as “indentured servants”
1652 – Interracial relationships banned
1692 – Interracial marriage banned
1781 – 3/5 Rule: Slaves count partially for state representation, not equal to full personhood
1790 – Naturalization Act: Only free whites can become citizens, vote, own property
1802 – Jefferson signs Georgia Compact, extinguishing Cherokee land treaties
1830 – Indian Removal Act: forcible emigration of five native nations to the West
1838 – Trail of Tears: forced relocation kills 4,000 of 15,000 affected Cherokee
1854 – Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision that no African could be a U.S. citizen
1877 – Jim Crow laws mandating systematic segregation, inferior housing, education, etc.
1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act: 10-year moratorium on Chinese immigration
1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme Court upholds separate-but-equal segregation
1922 – Ozawa v. United States: Supreme Court denies citizenship to Japanese immigrant
1923 – Thind v. United States: Supreme Court denies citizenship to Indian Sikh immigrant
2010 – Arizona state legislature enacts SB-1070, so-called Show Me Your Papers Law
In short, membership in the “club” known as the USA was decided by males who looked like this:
Left: 1776 – founding fathers in Philadelphia Right: 1923 – U.S. Supreme Court
It has only been slowly and grudgingly that lawmakers of this land have given legal status to non-whites (and non-men, for that matter). When Israel Zangwill wrote his now-famous 1909 play, The Melting Pot, the British writer used these words:
“America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming… Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians – into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.”
Do you notice anyone missing? Native Americans maybe? Perhaps the Chinese? Or Arabs? What about Latinos? Or Africans? Zangwill reflected the racism of his time by saying that various European groups of immigrants could enter the United States and “blend” into a harmonious White race. But the generosity of welcome ended there.
Left: 1916 Playbill Right: author Israel Zangwill
Apart from the inherent racism of the melting pot metaphor lies the vanilla tragedy of sameness. What happens when we melt down our collection of beautiful rings and bracelets and necklaces? It becomes one indistinguishable molten slurry. Must immigrants from anywhere give up who they are to live in a new land?
On the other hand, what happens when we combine our many and diverse strengths while still maintaining our unique properties? We become a tasty salad, where our individual assets stand out. We work together to make a healthy meal, yet there you experience the crispy carrots, the juicy tomatoes, or the tender lettuce. With a more artistic metaphor, we become an attractive mosaic, where our diversity works together to produce a striking thing of beauty.
In parallel fashion, we need to ditch the concept of assimilation, an overused word that represents an unquestioned blending into a system without acknowledging our innate human diversity. Instead of assimilating (at its root, to make similar), let us take up the mantle of acculturation, where newcomers learn to work together, to lend our distinctive talents and viewpoints, as we contribute to the whole of this wonderful experiment in democracy called the United States of America.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Whether you’re from Africa, the Middle East, or Eastern Europe, nothing says “home” more than finding the foods that give you comfort. Enter Jordanian-born Khalid Karadsheh, co-owner of Mediterranean Island grocery in southeast Grand Rapids. For two decades, Khalid has provided thousands of imported foodstuffs to his diverse and growing clientele. He talks with Alan about his love of food, pride in his Arab roots, and affection for his adopted American homeland.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
In the conversation around the diversity of our organizations, we are often confused by the terms Inclusion and Equity. My wise colleague Chris Macon likes to illustrate the difference with the metaphor of bleachers at a sporting event. Let’s take a closer look.
If the fans in the bleachers represent the people in your organization, we can take a snapshot of everyone in their seats. As you study the photo, do you see everyone represented? Is there a representative number of females (51% of the U.S. population)? What about people of color (38%)? If the headcount of those two categories (race and gender) matches national statistics, then your organization is Inclusive. That is, people are included in numbers representing the population.*
If most of the best seats—the ones in the front—are filled with whites and with males, then your organization is not Equitable. The seats down in the front are the most expensive and represent the highest-paid workers. Seat position represents power and seniority. The seats at the top of the bleachers represent the lowest paid workers. They also represent the last hired and the first to be fired in a downturn. Take note of who is seated there.
Within your organization, who has access to the better seats and, therefore, has access to decision making? If your snapshot is inclusive but not equitable, it’s time to ask what obstacles are in place that limit everyone’s access to the good seats. Is your company, your school, or your nonprofit ready for the hard questions? If so, give me a call so we can begin that conversation.
*Note: There are several elements of diversity not discussed here: age/generation, physical ability, sexual orientation, etc. Some of these are visible in photographs, and some are not. These categories will add to your inclusion and equity conversation!
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
At seven years of age, when the bullets came flying and people said, “Run!” Augustin Nsabimana ran. As he and family members fled the advancing troops of the RPF, this Rwandan youth saw what no child should see: decapitated and decomposing bodies of the sick, the slow, and the unlucky. Underneath it all was the terror that bespoke his family’s flight: Run! Run, or you could be next. In this story of loss and redemption, grown-up “Auggie” tells of the national chaos that was 1994 Rwanda and the parting words of his brother, which became the title for his book, “See You In Heaven.”
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Mira Krishnan knows a thing or two about otherness. She grew up in mostly-white neighborhoods of Michigan, the child of Tamil Indian immigrants. After college, she directed her professional skills from engineering and neuropsychology to helping families with autistic children. As a transgender citizen, she uses her speaking and advocacy skills to speak on LGBT issues. With such a broad range of life experiences, Mira is profoundly qualified to talk about community and the meaning of belonging.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Why do Americans fear foreigners? Author Deepa Iyer, herself an immigrant from India, talks about Islamophobia, racial anxiety, and “othering” following the attacks of September 11, 2001. She shares stories from her new book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Today’s conversation around race and racism has moved beyond mere hateful acts of discrimination and bigotry. Fortunately. We are beginning to acknowledge that human beings respond to different races in unintended ways that are nonetheless biased and unfair. In conversations regarding race and ethnicity, we now use the expression Implicit Bias or Unconscious Bias. For our discussion, these terms are interchangeable. Two definitions are important.
Bias = prejudice or attitude against (or in favor of) one group of people compared with others, usually in an unfair way
Unconscious = not recognized, existing below our conscious awareness
We all have biases.
Let me repeat. We ALL have biases. We were raised by parents and teachers and neighbors who tried their best to teach us. They taught us useful things, but they also taught us their prejudices. Sometimes this was by direct instruction: “Don’t hang out with kids from that neighborhood!”
Sometimes this was by unspoken example: They never invited people from other races to their gatherings.
All the while they were teaching us, we were making mental notes. When we became adults, we may have experienced contradictory examples, but we still held some values that we received as children.
Unconscious bias is a huge topic. There are two examples of unconscious bias I’d like to look at today: orchestras and police departments.
Biases in Orchestra Membership
In the 1970s, U.S. orchestras were nine-tenths male. In order to increase female membership, orchestra leaders started auditioning musician applicants behind a screen, so they could hear the playing but not see who was playing. These “blind auditions” are believed to be responsible for a jump in female musician membership to around 35% two decades later. If we believe that women can also be excellent musicians, why did past orchestras include so few women? Well, if judges are used to seeing males playing in orchestras, they have an easy time choosing new musicians based on what they’ve experienced in the past. It’s a bias they unconsciously held that influenced their hiring practices. By using blind audition techniques, other industries now report similar results in the hiring of both women and racially underrepresented applicants.
Biases in Policing
Police officers, like all members of society, have grown up with messages about race. The messages may have come from family members’ storytelling and stereotyping. Messages may come from lived experience. They certainly also came from the media. How are people of color, especially African Americans, portrayed in the media? Who is portrayed as powerful, in charge, innovative, responsible, or accomplished on the front page? (This is something you can test out when you pass a newsstand.) Answer: mostly whites (and most often males). Who is portrayed as needing help or in trouble? Answer: mostly people of color.
A word on brain function: our fear center is the amygdala, sometimes called our reptilian brain. It does not analyze; it does not reason; it acts quickly to protect us. It says “Run away!” or it says “Stand and fight!” It is based on thousands of years of biological survival. Now, if smart, good-willed police officers go to their jobs and need to assess emergency situations quickly, what information informs those decisions? Quiet, rational reflections? Or responses from the amygdala? If we have hundreds of bits of input saying that black people, brown people are dangerous, how will we respond?
Why did a white police officer shoot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014 only two seconds after arriving at the park where Rice was playing with a toy gun? Would the officer have responded similarly if Rice had been white? Policing statistics suggest no.
What Can We Do?
Given this frightening outcome—much more dangerous than discriminating against female orchestra applicants, what can we do?
The first step is recognizing that we all have biases. Where did we come from, what are our biases (surrounding race as well as other differentiating characteristics)? After we understand these roots, we can begin to put practices in place to override the natural biases we have accumulated in our lives. Remember: It does no good to beat ourselves up; our history is our history. What we do to educate ourselves for the future, however, is completely up to us.
I invite you to join me in this conversation of identifying your blind spots––whether in hiring practices, promotions, discipline policy, and more––and then creating procedures that move your organization forward. Call me today to set up an appointment to talk about your specific concerns. No change happens without intentionality. Let’s act on those intentions today.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
An immigrant child, Ana Ramirez-Saenz was raised in West Michigan by a single mom who worked long hours in a pickle factory. During her days at MBA school and at work in the banking industry, she saw first hand the lack of diversity in leadership and its cost on morale and the bottom line. Today, as President of La Fuente Consulting, she guides companies towards more inclusive practices and more powerful decision making. An exclusive chat with an insightful leader.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
With a vision of something better for their children’s futures, Elisa Perez-Arellano’s parents did what countless others have done before: immigrated to the United States, a land of opportunity. They stressed traditional Mexican values: hard work, family, and staying in school. Those values paid off.
Today, Perez-Arellano is a college graduate–with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Work–working tirelessly to support those she preceded on the journey: immigrants without insurance, without a knowledge of the system, and those without hope. Her after-hours advocacy extends to supporting the Latino LGBT community as it looks to overcome stigmas and stereotypes. An inspirational woman with the wellbeing of her adopted community in her heart!
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Growing up Puerto Rican in the South Bronx of the 1950s and 60s was tough. Poverty, alcoholism, domestic violence, and being the “invisible minority” were daily occurrences. Yet, Sonia Manzano found her refuge in the performing arts, and the young dancer was poised to accept the job of a lifetime when the Children’s Television Workshop cast her as Maria on the now-acclaimed Sesame Street children’s program. After four decades of performing on PBS, author Manzano reflects on the importance of children of color seeing themselves represented in the media–both on the stage and behind the camera.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Growing up in Latvia is tough in any century. If it wasn’t being overrun by the Poles, Swedes, and Germans, it was being crushed by Soviet oppression. This led to floods of Latvian refugees to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Decades later, the aging Latvian Lutheran congregations needed a fresh supply of pastors for their churches. Enter Ilze Larsen, former cellist and newly ordained minister from the Baltic. Listen as Ilze tells of the feisty fortitude that still characterizes her people 5,000 miles from their homeland.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
Terence Reuben discusses discrimination and racial segregation growing up in Durban, South Africa. Rising above his Apartheid roots, he earned a physical therapy degree and landed a career an ocean away. At Metro Health Hospital, therapist Reuben helps patients recover from injuries. On weekends, triathlete Reuben pushes wheelchair “captains” over marathon courses and across finish lines.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
What is the difference between the following statements?
1. Latinos are closed to outsiders; they only do business among themselves.
2. Trust is important in the Latino community; to do business, you first need to build relationships.
In intercultural conversations, we make a big distinction between stereotypes and generalizations. If you remember only one idea from this conversation, remember this:
• Generalizations are helpful.
• Stereotypes are hurtful.
These two concepts are often confused because they both involve making broad statements about a group of people. This is where the similarity ends.
When we make a generalization, we are attempting to look at the behavior of many people and note similarities. While we do this, we focus on being descriptive and not judgmental. We are also able to modify this broad view if we encounter new examples which disprove the description we are trying to make.
On the other hand, stereotypes tend to lock people into categories with the idea of limiting that group. Stereotypes seek to make judgments rather than to describe. Once we make stereotypes, we then are reluctant to modify them.
In the examples we mentioned earlier, statement #1 uses judgmental words like “closed” and “only.” By contrast, statement #2 gives examples to describe (and not judge) interpersonal behavior. We can use this second statement to inform how we might approach Latinos for the purpose of doing business.
The first statement gives us a negative view which doesn’t allow any flexibility or growth; this negative view will be retained in our subconscious (where we don’t think about it) and can influence our future interactions. On the other hand, the generalization of #2 gives us actionable knowledge which may (or may not) be borne out in individual interactions with, say, Venezuelans or Mexicans, for example. We don’t take the generalization as iron-clad, but it gives us principles to consider when we enter into relationships with members of that group.
Here’s a useful summary to keep in mind.
Generalizations are helpful because they
1. Are used consciously and analytically
2. Are descriptive and flexible
3. Seek to be accurate
4. Are an attempt to capture similarities and principles
5. Are constantly modified by new input
Stereotypes are harmful because they
1. Are used unconsciously and reactively
2. Are judgmental and rigid
3. Seek to be simple
4. Are an attempt to limit and pigeonhole
5. Are fixed and not open to revisiting
I hope this distinction is useful to you. Let us know if you have good examples of generalizations that have helped you in intercultural situations.
Alan Headbloom hosts Feel Like You Belong, a show filmed at WKTV that is focused on sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States.
By: Alan Headbloom – 
