Personal Statement On Personal Growth

Introduction

I believe that most personal growth comes from surrounding yourself with people who are different, so for my interview, I consulted my Hispanic Male friend, Alberto. I choose him due to the fact that he belonged to a different gender and race than me. I had great anticipation to the responses I would receive from him due to his different identity. In retrospect, I was surprised by my findings and how they related to my teachings and my personal perception.

Race

When I sat down with Alberto, I questioned him on the awareness of the role his race played in his life. His response was similar to my personal experiences in which he felt like he didn 't encounter much racism on a social level. He elaborated by saying that he experienced notable racism only in the workforce. Alberto says that he never had much trouble locating a job because whenever people say his race that would offer him work based on the grounds that he was a "hard worker". When Alberto spoke of this I could hear the irritation in his voice. "People would often hire me because they said I was a hard worker, but truthfully I work as much as anyone else."

When Alberto said this I immediately thought of the definition of a microaggressor. (Cite definition) Alberto gave another example of a common microaggressor he encountered. Alberto goes to an HBCU and people often ask him "where are you from?”, to which Alberto would reply with the name of his hometown. "Whenever I would tell them they would look at me and ask No, where are you really from?”. Alberto explains his frustration with the question, he was an American born citizen, yet people would assume he wasn 't and although his parents were from out of the country he still felt a strong connection to his A...

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...te person made do not call them a racial slur, tell them they are privileged”. This had me reflecting on my role as a social worker. Yes, we believe in social justice, but in what capacity do we go to educate others who believe differently. I wasn’t angry at Alberto for not speaking up, on account of it is easier to surround yourself with people who believe the same as you do than it is to confront someone whose world views differ from your own.

Self-Confidence

For me, self-confidence has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. It is something that affects all levels of personal and professional life. So it was essential to me that I questioned Alberto’s level of self-confidence. In the beginning of the interview, I asked him to list his roles. One thing he mentioned was that people would call him an artist, but he himself did not consider of himself as one.