“I went from sleeping on dirt floors on night to sleeping in a king size bed the next. Life changed in a blink of an eye and I didn’t know how to handle it.” This is a quote from my dear friend, Moki, who identifies herself as Marshallese. She was born in the Marshall Islands but was adopted at age 7 and moved to the United States. She went from extreme poverty to being a part of a rich American family. Despite the challenges faced since moving to the United States, she has noticed Macroaggression and cultural learning and Identity. She had to learn who she truly was despite the pressures of her family to forget her past culture. Even through the challenges she wouldn’t change her life experiences for anything.
Going to the United States Moki …show more content…
Moki said it was a struggle to keep up in school. There were times when she didn’t feel like she was fitting in or times she wondered if she wasn’t invited to someone’s birthday party because she was different than the rest of the kids her age. Moki expressed how all through elementary school she had very little friends. Middle school was hard because she was different and kids are mean. She explained that even though there was a lot of Mexicans in her grade, neither the white people nor the Mexicans accepted her into their group. She was the only island girl in her school and people didn’t understand that she was just the same as everyone else. Lucky for her, high school came and her family moved from Ogden, Utah to Tremonton, Utah. The very first day Moki was overwhelmed by friends and those who accepted her. She said that first day of high school changed her life. For the very first time since she had moved to the United States, she felt love and accepted no matter her race, ethnicity, or the fact that she was adopted. Moki often wondered if the reason why everyone was so nice in high school was because some people were too afraid to bring up the fact that she was a different race. One study showed that in adolescence, racial diversity, age diversity, and other forms of diversity are taught and kids understand what is and is not acceptable to talk and interact about (Timmerman,
Going to the United States Moki …show more content…
Moki said it was a struggle to keep up in school. There were times when she didn’t feel like she was fitting in or times she wondered if she wasn’t invited to someone’s birthday party because she was different than the rest of the kids her age. Moki expressed how all through elementary school she had very little friends. Middle school was hard because she was different and kids are mean. She explained that even though there was a lot of Mexicans in her grade, neither the white people nor the Mexicans accepted her into their group. She was the only island girl in her school and people didn’t understand that she was just the same as everyone else. Lucky for her, high school came and her family moved from Ogden, Utah to Tremonton, Utah. The very first day Moki was overwhelmed by friends and those who accepted her. She said that first day of high school changed her life. For the very first time since she had moved to the United States, she felt love and accepted no matter her race, ethnicity, or the fact that she was adopted. Moki often wondered if the reason why everyone was so nice in high school was because some people were too afraid to bring up the fact that she was a different race. One study showed that in adolescence, racial diversity, age diversity, and other forms of diversity are taught and kids understand what is and is not acceptable to talk and interact about (Timmerman,