My Story
Bryant is an inclusive community that encourages its members to share their experiences, educate each other to broaden perspectives, and engage in an open-dialogue. The Diversity Council of Champions welcomes all members of our community to share their story.
We encourage everyone to read these stories with respect and understanding, and hope that others will submit their stories to share on this site.
As I watch the highlights of President Obama's swearing in, I think back to a conversation I had with my seven year old daughter the day after the election in November. We were watching TV, and she was asking me why some of the African American people who were interviewed were crying at the news that Barack Obama had been elected President of the United States. This led to a conversation about segregation in certain parts of our country not all that long ago. One of the practices I described was that in some places Whites sat in the front of the bus, while Blacks were required to sit in the back of the bus. She thought for a moment, looked up at me and said, "Mommy, where would I sit on the bus?"
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I was raised in a large, tight-knit Puerto Rican family. My mother came to the United States when she was fourteen with her ten siblings. My grandmother immediately sent her three oldest sons to work in factories. The girls were taught cooking, cleaning and housekeeping, all the skills needed to be a good Puerto Rican wife. Forty years later, my maternal grandmother still does not speak English.
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An energetic, outgoing seventeen year old is about to start her new job as a telemarketer. Little did she know that within three months her sales numbers would be so high that she would be promoted to senior telemarketer. You can just imagine her excitement when she was given the news by her manager. Unfortunately, that excitement didn't last very long. Once the announcement of her promotion was made, everyone in her team started talking behind her back.
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In thinking about my experiences with diversity, I remember the feeling of "difference" during a trip to visit my daughter. She was volunteering in western Africa with the Peace Corps and I decided what a great opportunity for new experiences a trip to Africa would be.
Suddenly finding myself in a foreign culture, not speaking the language and clearly standing out in the crowd was a new experience for me. Everywhere we traveled I felt as if we were on display. We were stared at, pointed to, whispered about, and usually followed by curious children.
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Diversity is important to me because I believe understanding and living on common ground amongst diverse thoughts and practices is how we all must live in order for our family, community, society and country to succeed in the world of today.
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During my childhood I often wondered why my grandparents didn't have anything to do with my family and why at holiday gatherings, some of my aunts and uncles would join together with us for family celebrations and others would not. It wasn't until I was in my teens that my mother explained to me that she had been Catholic and when she married my father, who was Protestant, she was disowned by her parents.
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