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“If you want to accept others, you should think more clearly about what you are."-We went to a New York study tour under the theme of “diversity and inclusion.”
On the first day, we visited Ground Zero and I found that even now when 17 years have passed since the 9/11 terror attacks, many people still visit there. It was the first time I visited the site and I felt its sad atmosphere even though it has been completely renovated.
On the second day, we first visited MOCA, which displays the history of Chinese Americans. In some periods, Chinese immigrants were persecuted as workforce, while in others they enjoyed friendly treatment as friend of the Allies. I noticed America changed their attitude toward Chinese according to the social situations.
As an guided tour of Tenement Museum, we visited an old apartment where Irish immigrants lived. We learned that the Irish were discriminated against because they were considered to be not white, of a different sect and poor. We were able to imagine from the way they were drawn like monkeys that they were treated inhumanely.
At the United Nations, we saw the meeting room for the Security Council and I thought they have been working so long for international peace and security. I also felt there were some problems in the system of the United Nations such as veto.
Later that evening we had dinner with Mr. Numata, who had been working for the UN. He told us how important curiosity and taking actions are.
On the third day, we visited the Town School in the morning. After a brief introduction of the school from Ms. Eva Vega, we had a lecture from Cynthia Bowman who is working for Bank of America. I understood their efforts to include certain proportion of female and handicapped workers. However, I was not totally convinced, for I felt as if they were categorizing workers. I felt as if they were telling those people that they were socially weak. I thought this would not lead to a fundamental solution to the problem.
Then we had a tour guided by Eva. The halls and classrooms were decorated with many pictures and other artworks created by students. I thought the students can learn how to express themselves and understand personalities of others naturally in their school life.
In the afternoon at ADL (Anti-Defamation League) we had another lecture on racial discriminations. I was strongly impressed by the concept of “micro-aggression.”
On the fourth day, we visited the Town School again in the morning. What impressed me the most was the story of an ex-Olympic athlete, Caitlyn Marie Jenner. I think it is a complicated issue because when an athlete has a gender identity disorder, the person will have physical advantage or disadvantage by going with his/her gender.
At the Story Corps, which we visited afternoon, it was nice to find out how much impact their activities are giving on the society. We learned that by listening to recorded real stories, people can become aware of their own prejudices and adopt a new view point.
今回の研修を通して、多様性を受容し活かすための取組みを行っている学校や企業の方々と交流し、人種や性など多様性があって当たり前であるという教育を行うことの必要性や、マイクロアグレッションという悪意のない小さな差別的な言動をどのように減らしていけばよいかなど、多様性に関する様々な課題が見えるようになりました。
Through this study tour, we exchanged ideas with people working at school and companies who are taking actions to make the society accept diversity. I thought we need to tell people that diversities, such as racial and gender diversity, are natural, and I noticed various issues, such as how to reduce micro-aggression, are related to diversity.
また、“I am…”から始まる文で文化的背景や人種、宗教、家族構成などの自己紹介をする活動はとても記憶に残るものでした。初めはこの活動が”Diversity & Inclusion”とどのような関係があるのか分かりませんでしたが、自分が何者なのかを表現するときに自然と「認めてほしい、受け容れてほしい」と感じたことから、自分を確立することで他の人との違いを受け容れられるようになるのではないかと思いました。
I also impressed by the activities starting with “I am ...” introducing ourselves in terms of cultural background, race, religion, family structure. At the beginning, I did not know how this activity is related to "Diversity & Inclusion", but when I expressed what I was, I felt that I wanted others to accept me and I thought that establishing ourselves would allow us to accept the differences with other people.
ニューヨークという日本とは異なる土地で、教育者や民間企業、ＮＧＯなど様々な立場の方とともに研修を行うことで得られた新たな気づきや学びを、将来の私たち、そして社会に活かしていきたいです。
I would like to make the most of what we realized and learned through the various seminars we had from people in different fields in New York.
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※参加者全員によるレポートはこちらのPDFをご覧ください。
