- QUESTION
Diversity, Cultural Competence and Human Rights
POST ONE:
In the video, “Hispanics in America The History Channel 20th Century Mike Wallace,” I was able to glean a lot about diversity and human rights within the Hispanic population. Some of them I knew a little about but there were many others that I was not aware of. I found it very interesting how at points the United States was very open to receiving Hispanics from other places such as Cuba. However, there were points in which that tide turned and then there was blame for increase of crime and at another point people were upset because immigrants were taking jobs from people.
Through my field placement at the Palm House, I have really got to see a lot with some of our Hispanic families. Many of them that we have contact with have multiple generations of family living in one house. They usually have someone that is the matriarch of the family and family in very important to them. The person that is the matriarch is the one whom those in the family often seek out for advice and guidance on what to do. So, this can often play a part in how we need to work with the family. We have families that are mixed as far as whether they are bilingual or only speak Spanish. Then there are other families in which the grandparent/s are raising the children as the parents are incarcerated or out of the picture. In these cases, we often run into situations where the grandparent/s do not speak English and want the children to interrupt for them. We try to always find someone that is available that can speak Spanish to not put that burden on the children.
The video that we watched was very helpful. I think that it made me think a lot more about the things that I did not know about the Hispanic population. It also made me think about whether I had any bias of my own that I needed to exam when it comes to the Hispanic population. I also feel that this video helped to confirm the continued need for advocacy on policy change for clients, especially those who are immigrants.
I feel that the application of leadership in advocacy for human rights and social and economic justice for Hispanics can occur by continuing to educate myself and others. I have been realizing that in our community we have some good resources like LULAC (League of Latin American Citizens). Partnering with these resources can also help to ensure that there is continued education to our community as well as my professional peers on cultural competence. As social workers, we need to be knowledgeable in being able to identify resources and educate clients (NASW, 2007).
References
“Hispanics in America The History Channel 20th Century Mike Wallace” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjZJBoAK6bE
National Association of Social Workers (2007). The indicators for the achievement of the NASW standards for cultural competence in the social work profession. Washington, D.C: Author
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POST TWO:
Week 1 – Diversity, Cultural Competence and Human Rights
The YouTube video “ Hispanics in America, The History Channel 20t,h Century Mike Wallace, generates information on Hispanic population regarding diversity and human rights. I learn several interesting facts about the Hispanic population that I was unaware. For instance, in 1984 the U.S. allowed 9706 immigrants to become U.S. Citizens. The Hispanic population rose to 12 percent in 1999 and is predicted to grow to 24 percent in 2050. Also, the United States recruited several immigrants from Mexico during the war time to help farm. A policy was formed during this time allowing immigrants to come work with no regards to their legal status, since the jobs offered were discarded by Americans. However, with time Americans noticed a job shortage and began to protest about the Mexicans. Therefore, a new policy was passed allowing only immigrants with family members living in America to be able to bring others into this country.
During my field experience, I have observed several differences in Hispanic families at the nursing facility. Many Hispanic families are uncomfortable with the idea of leaving their family members in a nursing home they prefer to use a formal long-term care service to go to their residents and take care of their aging parents. The idea of their parents being taken care of at a nursing home is almost considered to be unacceptable for a family. However, these same families are seeking help due to limited insurance. When interacting with the family about their loved one it is the husband making the decisions for the family. Another observation is with the patient in the nursing home most are limited in English and tend to dismiss many of the symptoms they are experiencing because they think they are bother the nursing staff.
The information on YouTube video reinforces the need of cultural competency and importance of diversity’, culture, identity, and difference from other minorities. As stated by Kiser 2012, culture shapes the behavior over time and influences values, beliefs, norms and practices shared by members of one’s group. As a social worker recognizing the importance of cultural competence is essential in providing culturally proper care to our clients. By having an understanding and developing a trusting relationship with a client then addressing the importance of the client’s norms, values and uniqueness will help to allow appropriate care to the client. Through the video I discovered the importance of empowering the client, this approach will help the client make decisions related to his or her care by changing their outlook health behavior. Although from my observation the challenge is most of the patients at the nursing home reflect a comfort level with the women in their family and express their concerns to them instead of the nursing staff. Practicing cultural competency will reveal to the client an understanding of their lifestyle practice and play a significant role in the treatment plan for the client at nursing home.
Applying leadership in advocacy for the Hispanic families is crucial since the Hispanic population has grown tremendously in the United States. According to U.S. Department of Commerce 2002, Hispanic families have nearly doubled between 1980 through 2002, therefore a need for awareness, knowledge, understanding should include a client’s emotions, language, diet body image and attitudes towards illness should be consider when providing the best treatment. The video was beneficial in many ways, I feel that I am more knowledgeable about the Hispanic population’s struggles and their history in the United states. My plan is to continue to advocate for social justice, medical care, and human rights and to ensure my clients receive the best assistances possible. More than ever I am inspired to do the best when providing services to the Hispanic families. The insight gather from watching the video on immigration policies in the U.S. allows a clear understanding on how policies can change and can either help the oppress population or impact our clients negatively. As a social worker I will continue to advocate for Hispanic families since I understand the needs of the whole family as an importance of social organization system. Hispanic families depend on their extended family members to help and be support of each other (Delgado, M., 2007).
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References:
Delgado, M. (2007). Latino cultural values and beliefs. In Social work with Latinos: A cultural assets paradigm (pp. 141-166). New York: Oxford University Press
Hispanics in America The History Channel 20th Century Mike Wallace” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjZJBoAK6bE
Kiser, P. (2012). The human services internship: Getting the most from your experience. Brooks/Cole: Belmont, CA.
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| Subject | Law and governance | Pages | 6 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Replies to Discussion Posts
I agree with this discussion post that Hispanic families in the USA indeed faced myriad of severe problems in their daily lives. They endured the pains of discrimination from school children to their parents at various places of work. They were further beaten, arrested, and deported by the US authorities in an unfair manner. Essentially, the brutality against Hispanics is often fueled by the hatred inherited from the war of the British against Spain. In this war, the British raided the Spanish shipments and looted their gold and silver. The stated conflict began around the 19thcentury when the US army took control of a part of Mexico and conquered it completely (Rodriguez, 1993). The lands taken are the today Arizona, New Mexico .Texas, Colorado Nevada Utah and California.
Clearly, my views coincide with that of the author that the Hispanic Latino Children were segregated from British American schools. As argued by the author, the Hispanic Latino Children built their own schools with poor infrastructures in which they had few teachers. These institutions were established to serve children of Spanish-speaking laborers at rural ranches. Many of these schools only taught vocational and for a shorter period than the normal recommendations of 12 year of instructional education.
As argued in the post, most of these families were headed by grandparents because the energetic middle aged was taken unfairly into prisons. Moreover, some were killed by the mobs that felt that their jobs were stolen by the Hispanic and Latino immigrants. While I agree with the author that some of the Latino and Hispanic immigrants were deported to Mexico, I completely disagree with his assertion that hundreds of critically ill Hispanic and Latinos were taken from the hospital bed dumped at the borders to either die or cross the border on their own. However, the truth is that after reading this post, it is evident that although Latinos and Hispanic were treated in inhumane way, some considerations were done.
Essentially, this post has clearly provided the real picture of the bad ordeals that Hispanic families experienced. Am attracted to the manner in which the author has clearly articulated how the violation of human rights happened. Interestingly, I agree with the post that killings, enslavements, denial of medical services and arrests were indeed the traumatizing events that Hispanic families endured.
Reply to the Second Post
I do not agree with sentiments echoed by the author of this post that Hispanic families across the US experienced various medical issues. In fact, this is not a true account of occurrences. While it is not anything to doubt that the Hispanic persons were never given proper medical services in the hospital, this cannot be attributed to the fear that they had that barred them from seeking medication for their elderly relatives. () argued that Latino and Hispanic families were usually thrown out of hospitals at any slight provocations. It should as well be remembered that there was a general feeling in the administration of most hospitals that those Hispanic elderlies were nagging and troublesome to hospital staff. This made it uncomfortable for the Hispanic people to leave their sick relatives in those hospitals. They rather took them home and found time to give them care in their own way and comfort.
Apparently, I share the same position with the author of this post there was a widespread random violence against the Hispanics from the police and the general Anglo public. This state of affairs according to Smith and Holmes (2003) made the Hispanic and Latino people fear for each other making them feel safe only when they were together. They therefore opted to take home their sick people to watch over them in order to feel secured. Smith and Holmes (2003) intimates that a large number of the middle aged Hispanic populations were either in police prisons or were killed by the mobs in the streets. This left the responsibility of taking care of children to the elderly who needed help themselves. There could be a shortage of caregivers to both children and the sick if the sick remained in hospitals. This forced the few care givers that were available to take home the sick so as for them to take care of them all at once.
Conclusively, I disagree with this post that states that Hispanic populations voluntarily took their sick home without medical insurances. However, it is evident from the issues discussed herein that Hispanic population felt that their people were never safe in those hospitals and thus they decided to take them home not for pleasure but out of fear.
References
Rodriguez, R. (1993). Researchers Study Police Brutality against Hispanics and Blacks. Black Issues in Higher Education, 10(4), 18-19.
Smith, B. W., & Holmes, M. D. (2003). Community accountability, minority threat, and police brutality: An examination of civil rights criminal complaints. Criminology, 41(4), 1035-1064.
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