Self-Analysis of Cultural Identity
As the proposed chair of the new Community Relations team, I would like to create a diverse committee to serve as part of this team. The team’s goals will be to increase workplace awareness of diversity, as well as to sponsor annual community events. First, though, I would like to share with my fellow community members a self-analysis of my own cultural identity in order to be an effective chairperson.
Cultural Background
I am a 51-year-old woman who works as a behavioral specialist for a Southern California school district. Using a term I learned several decades ago, I self-identify as Caucasian, which I understand in the past couple of decades has changed to White. On applications that leave a space for writing in a race or ethnicity, I typically write “human,” because as a humanist, I feel all people are equal no matter what their perceived categorization and that ultimately my racial or ethnic identification should not matter for what I am applying for. However, I have reconsidered this in recent years and for official paperwork that is employment-related where I would be concerned about coming across as dismissive, I write Caucasian or check White.
Outside of the work environment, I self-identify as a mom. Specifically, I have always considered myself a single mom, and even though I was married for several years and had my children while married, none of the child rearing was shared with my ex-husband. My family is very important to me, and my free time is spent being active with my family, including my new husband, my children, and my grandchildren. I interact face-to-face with my family who lives in the same house with me on a daily basis. My youngest child is at boarding school, and we communicate daily by texting, talking by video chat, or sending each other messages and/or chatting on Facebook. With my mom in Washington state, we text and talk on the phone daily. With my closest friends, we text or talk by phone either every day or every other day, and we get together in person as our schedules allow.
I believe my communication methods to be a product of my environment, surrounded by young adults who use technology to keep in touch, as well as having the financial means to buy smartphones, tablets, and laptops that keep me connected with my family members no matter where they are at the moment.
As indicated above, family is of utmost importance to me, and I enjoy spending all my free time with them. For leisure activities, we like to have family dinners and barbecues, we go to the movies, and we play in the pool together. Recently, we are starting to do family hikes, exploring the beauty of Southern California while trying to get physically fit.
I believe that my socioeconomic background adds to my cultural background in that I am part of a middle income household with enough discretionary income and leisure time to allow us to spend quality time together doing activities we enjoy. While cost is a factor, we are able to pool our money together to buy food to share with each other, I have a nice home with a pool to share with my family, and we have enough money to pay for gas to allow us to travel within reason around the area to explore together.
Because I come from an advantaged background as compared to others with lower socioeconomic status, I value helping my fellow community members. Working with the Hemet Unified School District means that I travel to different schools in a multiple environments, some with diverse student populations, schools in urban to suburban to nearly rural settings. I am dedicated to working with youth with special skill sets who needed more attention and guidance, which I feel is a part of my love for children as concerned mother, as well as someone who wants to give back to my community. I believe that these assets will benefit me in this role as Community Relations chair, but I also realize that I do not come from a diverse background and instead represent the demographic majority of Hemet Unified School District.
By completing a similar self-analysis, committee members will be able to see how they can directly benefit the committee, as well as the community at large. They will be able to see where they fit into the community, whether they are part of the majority or the minority, as well as identify any potential barriers or issues to serving on the Community Relations committee. They will be able to clearly see what role they can play as part of this committee, as well as what role they can play in the community at large. Different perspectives of the community and the world in general can be a very strong benefit in understanding diversity, overcoming barriers such as communication issues, meaning not just linguistic barriers but boosting awareness of cultural distinctiveness overall. We will be able to see each other’s benefits, as well as ways we can help each other improve and boost awareness, creating a balance in this committee with our combined strengths and perspectives that will benefit the community at large.
Cultural or Diversity Issues of Concern
While this is a committee and usually

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