Race, class, and my place in the world

[mother_beech]

I've been doing a lot of thinking about race, class, and how I fit into the world. In case it's not painfully obvious: I'm a white middle class 20 something from rural NH. There were 6 black kids in my entire high school, and we had a thousand kids. NH is really, really white. My parents had no friends of color. None. My uncle is black, but we only

Comments

[vordark]

I'm stuck figuring out if I need to make more of an effort to understand and participate in Black or Latina culture, or if I should simply accept that there are going to be imponderables. Does accepting the existence of imponderables mean I'm not trying or am not culturally sensitive? Or does it mean that I am noting and respecting differences and maintaining professional relationships/friendships regardless? Does trying to understand and asking about things upset/offend people? I ask so that I can know, so that I can be helpful, or at least not clueless the next time a similar situation comes along. I also understand that by simply asking these questions I am inviting backlash, and that I am asking these questions from a position of privilege.Understanding other cultures in more than a passing/layperson way is an entire field of study on its own (cultural anthropology), so I'm fairly certain that what you are asking to be able to do (interact as your colleagues do with your clients) is impossible

[anonymous]

It takes seven years to learn a language. Probably, if you immersed yourself in another culture, in seven years, you could be proficient in the culture as well.