My cultural identity is a part of me I have to understand must only be seen by a select few, depending on the person/environment. I grew up in a household and neighborhood that corporate America would deem as unprofessional and ignorant. My upbringing plays a huge part of my personality. When I am comfortable I tend to use slang and have somewhat of a “urban accent”. Due to discrimination and systematic oppression this type of communication is frowned upon by places that would deem itself as professional. I always seem to be in a constant state of vigilance because of this. I fear of discrimination and playing my stereotype. This switching of communication between your rooted culture and what is seen as normal communication is called code switching. In recent years it is encouraged for people to talk comfortable and genuine, but for a person of color this does not apply due to the fact that stereotypes are ingrained into societies subconscious.
Interview tell me about your self question:
I would like to believe that I am an analytical thinker. I tend to assess my situations and hedge all of my options. I think that one of my weaknesses is that I stress myself a lot, and tend to get caught up in details. Whenever I feel like this I consciously make the effort to understand is this really worth stressing over or am I just wasting my energy on something that in a bigger scope is not important.
