Cross-Cultural Communications in the US - Essay Example

Cross-cultural communications have always been difficult in the United s because the country has always been made up of so many different cultures. Since difficult cultures have different ways of doing things, it seems perfectly natural that communication problems would occur over time. The main issue, however, is that different cultures sometimes do not even make an attempt to see things from the other’s point of view. Milton Bennett suggests that in order to truly achieve this communication, the various cultures in the United States must practice empathy, rather than sympathy. The main difference between these two terms is that sympathy calls for people to merely look at a situation from the other’s point of view, while empathy requires a temporary detachment from the self, in order to truly experience what the other side is going through. To truly be empathetic, you will you will have to be an active participant in the other culture, as this will allow you to truly understand the events that have occurred. You do not have to change who you are and completely detach yourself from your own culture in order to achieve this, but must rather have the ability to truly involve yourself in the other culture and see the world from their perspective. Accepting that different cultures lead to people being very different themselves is an important part of this understand, as we have always been taught that all people were created equal. There is a difference, however, between equality and sameness, which must be understood in order for cultures to co-exist. 2) Dear Residents of Sumner, Your anger is completely understood, especially if Fannie Taylor’s story is accurate, but you must look at this situation from the perspective of the people of Rosewood, if you truly want to work through your differences. You must begin by realizing that whites and blacks do have different cultures, although neither culture is superior or inferior. Despite these differences, however, neither culture believes that Fannie Taylor should have been assaulted, as this would have been a particularly heinous activity. Most people on both sides of this conflict would agree that this lone event was not responsible for the racial tension, but rather than this tension had been building for years. Therefore, we must get to the bottom of things of why this tension exists and hopefully prevent these things from happening in the future. You must realize that the black way of doing things is not wrong and put yourself in their situation. Most of these families did not even want to come to the United States, as they were transplanted against their wills and forced into slavery. Now that they are here, they are trying their best to make the most out of things. If your ancestors had suddenly been transplanted to Africa, you would likely struggle with it in the same fashion, especially if the locals did not accept your culture. In order to alleviate this problem, you will have to suspend yourself for the time being and imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. The people of Rosewood did not ask for any of them to happen to them, but they did have the right to defend themselves once it did occur. You must truly experience what it would be like to be in a new country, with a new culture, and then suddenly having many people hate you, even though you have done nothing wrong. If this attack on Fannie Taylor did occur, it was the doing of one individual, not an entire community. You can agree that not all members of your own community are law abiding, but when someone does break a law, he or she is the one that pays for it. Just imagine how you would feel if you had to pay for someone else’s alleged crime over and over again and you can begin working towards a solution. Dear Citizens of Rosewood, It has been a difficult time for all of you, as you were forced out of your town for something that one resident may or may not have done and you were not given the proper support by state officials throughout this process. This must have been a very difficult experience for you, but there are ways for you to work past it and hopefully come to a sense of understanding with the citizens of Sumner, if you are willing to work at it. The most important thing for you to do is learn to accept where their view is coming from, as this will help you to work with them. They do not understand your culture and see you an outsiders. Most people fear what they do not understand, as they see it as threatening, so do not be upset about these differences. If you can learn to accept these differences, and hope that they can do the same, you might be able to co-exist with other cultures in the future. The first thing that you must do is imagine that your families had not been displaced from Africa and that all of a sudden, a number of white families started appearing near your village. You might see this as frightening, especially if their behavior was unlike anything that you had ever seen before. You must detach from yourself for a moment to appreciate how difficult this would be, since you are currently on the opposite side of things. Seeing all of the differences between yourself and the new arrivals might cause you some sort of anxiety, as you would not know how to interact with these new people. You must attempt to get yourself inside this experience to know what it would truly be like. You must attempt to become like them temporarily, as this will help you to eliminate many of the differences in your ways of thinking. If you can truly do this, you might have a chance of co-existing in the future, but you must see where they are coming from before you can accept their differences. Read More