OGL 350 DIVERSITY AND ORGANIZATIONS

MODULE
FOUR
PAPER
04/02/2021

Austin Halvorson
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Diversity in America can be found at every corner of the country. From the immigrants

who traveled here and laid roots early in the 1900’s, up until now, America has been a center

where everybody was promised a new life. While figuring out who I wanted to interview for this

process, I thought about my sister in-law. She was born and raised in Spain until she was sixteen

and her name is Heather. Her mother was born and is full Spaniard, while her father is a white

American who comes from many different cultural backgrounds. Her mother still lives in Spain

and hopes to see Heather soon, yet Covid has played a role in halting this reunion.

We began the interview process awkwardly. I have known her for a long time, yet I had

never thought to ask Heather about her cultural identity because it never came up in

conversation. Now that we have had this conversation, I feel as if I know more about not only

her, but about her culture. We started our discussion on the topic of family. She told me about

how her family in Spain was extremely close. Everybody else in the family visits each other

every single day. She feels heartbroken because she misses the close bond with family that she

used to have. Ashley Reid states in her article titled “The Powerful Role Of Family In Spanish

Speaking Countries” That, “The family is the most important aspect of society, and it shows in

their loyalty.”[ CITATION Rei20 \l 1033 ] The close bond she experienced in Spain is lost within the

household she is currently in. Her family in Spain continues to have a steady stream of

communication through text messaging though. While talking about her family dynamics she

mentioned to me that she does not really know her grandparents. I immediately began to think of

the “Matriarchal” society held by Hispanics. Is this because of the influence Spaniards carried

with them when they came and conquered most of South America and Mexico?

Heather has lived more than half of her life Spain then acculturated to the American

culture. She was born and raised a Spanish speaker, yet now her mom and siblings in Spain now
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speak a majority of English. So she is a dual lingual person from birth, but she does not have the

opportunity to carry on her Spanish speaking with anyone in her atmosphere as of now. I asked

her if she was going to teach her children how to speak Spanish, and her response was that she

was going to definitely teach her children to speak Spanish. She knows that in the diverse world

we are currently living in that being dual lingual will help aide in her child’s future. An article

written by the Middleburry Language School states, “Living in an interconnected world means

that more and more jobs are advertising positions where knowing more than one language

is essential.”[CITATION Mid20 \l 1033 ] Diversity is here to stay, as it should be, and Heather is

looking out for her child’s future.

Heather had her first child recently. Due to this she explained how she wished she were in Spain

due to the health care available. When she was pregnant (Which she is not anymore), she was

unfortunately uninsured. She spent her time trying to return to Spain because she would be able

to receive the help she needed. Unfortunately, Covid-19 threw a wrench in that plan as well.

Heather has lived her life for a long time in America, yet she misses her native home. I

asked her what her favorite thing about living in the U.S.A was. She thought for a while and then

answered. She said that she loved how free she was as a woman to advance in the workplace.

This made me think about the gender gap. I talked for a minute with her about the fact that

women only make 82 cents on the dollar for every man in America.[ CITATION AAU21 \l 1033 ] She

responded with the fact that her mother has been searching for a good job for years and has been

unable because she is a woman. She said that Spain still holds catholic views, such as women

need to be the heads of their house and the man needs to provide. She did say that Spain has been

on the uptick in the realm of women’s work availability. They are not as segregated as they used

to be. This made me think of the advancements that the U.S has made. We as a country are not
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where we should be, but we are making strides to the place where we need to be. After

discussing her life in the U.S. some more I asked her what her least favorite thing about living in

the U.S. was. Her response troubled me. She spoke on how separated we are when it come to

politics. Spain has been a democracy for a while, yet she said she did not realize how polarizing

politics could be until she started living in the United States. Especially this last year, she saw so

much separation in family, friends, and strangers. She talked about how this past year due to

politics racism came to the forefront. She said this is something that should have been dealt with

already. I then asked her if she experienced any racism. She said the subtle racism is what hurt

the most. After the interview I dug more into subtle or covert racism. I found that most subtle

racism is because of prejudice. In an article in the Huffington Post by Chiaku Hanson titled

“Subtle Racism.” I found that actions are just as important as the words you say.[ CITATION

Chi17 \l 1033 ] Heather spoke about how when she speaks in Spanish, she gets plenty of annoyed

and upset glances by bystanders. She even has gotten comments such as, “We are in America…

Speak English!” My heart broke upon hearing this. How can a nation who labels itself as so

diverse allow this to continue? She then began to tell me about her experience as a Spanish

woman. She said she feels like sometimes she was hit with a double serving of discrimination.

As a woman, she loves the fact that she has a little more freedom in the united states to make

something of herself, yet she continually still feels like she has to try harder than any other man.

Her husband, who is also my brother, was described as a helping hand. She said she loves that he

creates the space for her to chase her dreams and desires. In Spain she said that she would not

have had the opportunity by most Spanish men. Even though she has had this freedom, she still

has also been discriminated against because of her accent. While she was pregnant another

option of hers was to get a job at the call center her father worked at in order to gain insurance.
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Unfortunately, the hiring manager denied her due to her accent. In the interview the manager

asked her to speak in a more American accent, and she walked out on the interview. I believe this

has happened to more people than we believe.

After the interview was over, I thanked her for her time and began to ponder on

my results. I am a very sheltered as a heterosexual white man. I have never had to experience the

different culture, or prejudice that she or many other people have had to experience. I was

thankful for the opportunity to speak to Heather and gain some more insight into the Spanish

culture as well as dive into the experiences she has had in America. We as a nation have a long

way to go, but we can get there with every step we take.
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Appendix

Here lies the list of questions asked to Heather during the interview.

Question One: What is your cultural/or ethnic background? Heather replied by saying

she was born and raised in Spain, and her mother is full Spaniard while her father is a

combination of different Caucasian races.

Question Two: What is your family structure? Heather replied by saying that her

family structure is built on separation due to being a child of divorce and living with her mom in

Spain until she was 16. She spoke about how close her family was and currently still is. She

emphasized how much family means to her.

Question Three: What is the primary language spoken in your family, any foreign

language speakers? Heather replied by saying that she grew up learning English as a second

language but speaks a majority of English now. Her family in Spain speaks English now as well.

Question Four: If you are from a culture that speaks English as a second language, do you

speak your native language?  If not, why?  If so, will you teach your native language to any

children you have? Heather replied by saying she doesn’t have an opportunity to speak Spanish

as much as she would like to. She would also love to teach her child Spanish in order to aide

them in their future by being dual lingual.

Question Five: What kind of governmental system do you have in Spain? Heather

replied by saying that they are a democratic country but it does not feel similar to the united

stated democracy.
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Question Six: What kind of health care system does Spain have? Heather replied by

saying that they have a socialist health care system and while she was pregnant, she was trying to

return to Spain in order to have her doctor’s appointments for free.

Question Seven: What is the best thing about living in the United States? Heather

replied by saying she loves the freedom to carve her own path to success. She stated that there

are some opportunities in Spain, but America allows for her to have more success by herself than

Spain ever would.

Question Eight: What is the worst thing about living in the United States? Heather

replied by saying that the worst thing is the political divide. She has never seen neighbor versus

neighbor, or family member versus family member like she has now.

Question Nine: Have you ever experienced racism? Heather replied with yes. She said

that subtle racism is the worst. She hates how people stare when she speaks Spanish or makes

comments under their breath.

Question Ten: Have you ever been discriminated against because of your ethnicity?

Heather replied by saying yes. Since she was born a Spanish speaker, she still carries an accent.

So when she went to interview for a call service job, the interviewer told her to speak with a

more American accent.

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Works Cited
AAUW. (2021, April 3). The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap. Retrieved from AAUW.com:
https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/simple-truth/

Hanson, C. (2017, January 13). Subtle Racism: Huffington Post. Retrieved from Huffpost.com:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/subtle-racism_b_14113118

Reid, A. (2020, September 22). The Powerful Role Of Family In SPanish Speaking Culture. Retrieved from
Spanish.Academy: https://www.spanish.academy/blog/the-powerful-role-of-family-in-spanish-
speaking-countries/

School, M. L. (2020, May 12). Why You Should Learn a Second Language and Gain New Skills. Retrieved
from Middleburry.edu: https://www.middlebury.edu/language-schools/blog/why-you-should-
learn-second-language-and-gain-new-skills