The clip “Please Check Your Cultural Baggage” is about an encounter between people with different viewpoints on culture, typical of human experiences in everyday life. The characters do not just hold divergent views but also belong to other cultures. The conversation begins with Lauren talking about her plight in the hands of someone who is not pleased with her being homosexual. The discussion takes an exciting turn when Gabriela responds to Lauren's predicament from a religious perspective. What follows is everyone arguing for or against what they believe is right or wrong; what Tannen's (2012) refers to as the argument culture. It appears they have all just realized that every interaction they have with others is influenced by culture; Lauren relates her woes to religion as Scott and Ashley believe their race is the reason people do not see them for who they are. This perspective agrees with Hutchison (2019), who asserts that human behaviors are better understood in the context of culture.
The argument degenerates into a kind of conflict involving various aspects of culture. Everyone is so sensitive about their cultural affiliation and swiftly moves to counter any statement that appears to discriminate against them. Lauren wants to hear no negative mention of LGBT but is highly resents religion to Suzanne's displeasure. As the conversation progresses, there is some sort of influence between the characters such that they seem to agree that one's identity is shaped by culture, and they all see the need to embrace each one regardless of their background. The unfolding is a perfect array of Hutchison's (2019) assertion that culture influences and borrows from each other. In the end, Suzanne says, "… I can’t do a good work unless I see and accept each person.…. now I know I have to sheds of grey," implying the need to acknowledge diversity.
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Society today consists of humans of diverse cultural backgrounds. Unlike in the past, when people lived in relatively unchanging culturally segregated neighborhoods, today, the rate of interaction between individuals of different cultural norms and values is expected (Hutchison, 2019). Daily life activities bring encounters between people who are different in various aspects such as religion, sexual orientation, race, gender, and ethnicity. All of these groups have different beliefs, behaviors, and customs (Hutchison, 2019). One's ability to work with people who are different from him/her, therefore, becomes an essential aspect of human life.
From the video, Scott Chapman displays some values that make me believe he can work well with clients who are different from him. The ability to effectively coexist, interact, work, and develop meaningful relations with people from a diverse cultural background is known as cultural competence (T. de Guzman et al., 2016). It demands that we appreciate diversity in all that we engage in, whether through spoken words or actions (T. de Guzman et al., 2016). This principle calls for specific values and characteristics which are visibly present in Scott. The first one is self-awareness. It means that one can appreciate his own cultural identity and that of others (National Association of Social Workers, 2020). Scott demonstrates self-awareness by admitting his knowledge of the reality that his race makes him view things differently from Black people. Being aware of his own cultural identity helps him understand how he is different from the rest and makes him respect the other party's cultural identity.
Cultural competence is more than just the willingness to disregard the uniqueness of others. Instead, it requires one to have the ability to advocate for the rest (T. de Guzman et al., 2016). Scott comes out before his colleagues to defend those who suffer prejudice by virtue of their racial background. "I happen to be a white man; does that automatically makes me the oppressor?" he poses (Please Check Your Cultural Baggage, 02:55-02:58). in an attempt to enlighten his colleagues that coming from a particular background is, in most cases, associated with some unpleasant behavior or character yet that is not automatically true. Prejudice leads to discrimination and interferes with individuals’ integration into the social fabric of the work environment (Russinova et al., 2011). Such happenings would strain relations with clients and impact negatively on all stakeholders. Therefore, it is critical that each person be given a chance to be seen for who they are, just as Scott said. His recognition of this fact makes him able to deal with clients without prejudicing them only because they originate from different backgrounds from his.
Scott has also demonstrated a commendable level of cultural humility. Tervalon and Murray-Garcia (1998, as cited by Greene-Moton & Minkler, 2019) define cultural humility as the commitment by one to self-evaluate and critique in order to fix power imbalances and create relations that are beneficial to all those involved. When referring to the young woman Ashley talked about, Scott readily admits that the young lady could be right in thinking he does not understand what she is going through. His sentiment is evidence that he is self-analyzing; he does not only credit himself with strengths but also accepts where he might be having a weakness, which is synonymous with T. de Guzman et al. (2016) definition of self-evaluation. Approaching diversity with such a mentality will enable one to realize what obstacles he/she may be placed on their path to developing mutual relations with others (Hutchison, 2019). This way, they get an opportunity to improve on their weaknesses and, in turn, minimize conflict and misunderstanding that could arise due to cultural differences.
References
Greene-Moton, E., & Minkler, M. (2019). Cultural competence or cultural humility? Moving beyond the debate. Health Promotion Practice , 21 (1), 142-145. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1524839919884912
Hutchison, E. (2019). Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment (6th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. https://libgen.lc/ads.php?md5=8ACDDD5B21810958CA38D609ECBBE02F
National Association of Social Workers. (2020). Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice . NASW. https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=PonPTDEBrn4%3D&portalid=0
Russinova, Z., Griffin, S., Bloch, P., Wewiorski, N. J., & Rosoklija, I. (2011). Workplace prejudice and discrimination toward individuals with mental illnesses. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation , 35 (3), 227-241. https://cpr.bu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Russinova-et-al.-2011.pdf
T. de Guzman, M. R., Durden, T. R., Taylor, S. A., Guzman, J. M., & Potthoff, K. L. (2016). Cultural competence: An important skill set for the 21st century . Extension publications. https://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/html/g1375/build/g1375.htm
Tannen, D. (2012). The argument culture: Stopping America's war of words. Ballantine Books. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.453.6632&rep=rep1&type=pdf
