Negro/Nigga Interview Analysis

The interview by Dr. Veronique Thompson really moved and touched me. She really hit home and it was very informative about the African American community. There are a lot of truth and reality that she spoke during the interview. For example, when she touched on the names that we were once given as a race: Negro, colored, Black and African American. However, my mother never allowed us to use the word nigga, she always told us that the word came from a white group stemming from prejudice. She also informed us that the word negro/nigga caused a lot of pain and hurt to our ancestors because many of our ancestors, were killed, beaten and lynched. In addition to that, I never heard my father say the word Negro/Nigga, the only word he uses is Black
because as Thompson said in the interview: “Let’s say black. I’m black and I’m proud.” Thompson stated, “Most practitioners are not culturally competent”. That statement that she made immediately began to have thought bubbles pop in my head. By me being in human services field I feel that I must value diversity and respect differences between and within cultures.

I like the topics that Chapter 2 focused on. The first topic that I can relate to is perception. There are no two minds alike when it comes to perception. Two individuals can experience different perceptions while witnessing the same event. Another important topic was perception and food. Jandt stated, “ Cultures use food to reinforce and express identities.” I agree with that statement because nearly every culture has it’s own food. I’m not big on eating all different cultures food but I have tasted a few. Some of my favorite culture’s food includes Peruvian, Belizean and Asian.

I agree with Verna Myers statement that everyone is bias in some sort of way or form. I love how she mentioned that fact of being on an airplane and after hearing a woman voice was happy about woman rights, but after turbulence she started to question if the woman was qualified to fly. Many people associate black in a negative view because of media and really don't see them as equal Americans. Overtime racism has existed and still finds away to creep up in different ways today. I love Myers formula of how to deal with being bias by admitting there's a problem.