The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

In consideration of a memory or an incident where you experience bias, prejudice or oppression there are many such memories.  Being from the mountains of Southeastern Kentucky there are various stereotypes associated with people from the Appalachian Mountains and most are negative.  I remember watching Bill O’Reilly and listening to comments about the people of Appalachia being a culture of poverty and ignorance and advised when children grow up to just move away.  These types of media representations contribute to the negative stereotypes of people from our region as uneducated, toothless, moonshiners, who intermarry.  Our area has serious issues that must be addressed with poverty, but those of the Appalachians are a proud and generous people that have love of family and traditions.                                                                                                

The dialect is definitely distinctive and easily recognizable and many words used in our area would not be understood elsewhere.  Where our dialect is different it has also established the stereotype of being inferior and people judge intelligence, manners, and values to be lacking—which is far from the truth.  The terms used are often rooted in Elizabethan English with a little Scottish and Irish “thrown in for good measure.” The isolation of the mountains has preserved the language that has been lost by the passing of time.  The dialect that is viewed to be used by ignorant backwoods people is in fact the language historically preserved.                                                                                                                                    

The ways in which these incidents of bias, prejudice, and oppression diminish equity are they reinforce negative stereotypes.  This lack of acceptance of our diversity is especially harmful to young children and has contributed to the loss of cultural pride and perpetrated shame of one’s cultural identity for adults and children alike.  I was extremely offended by these incidents and I experienced feelings of sadness, hurt, and anger that people would not only tolerate but accept stereotypes that discriminate against others in such a way.                                                                 

What would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?  Hopefully, the progress we have seen toward other marginalized groups would be extended to those from the Appalachian Mountains and the next time you see depictions and hear our dialect remember the rich cultural history and repudiate the stereotypes.