Bridge the Cultural Gap

　　Once, during the course of a conversation with a colleague who was a woman of color, I happened to refer to her as an African American. Her response left me confused. "Don't call me that," she said. "I've never been to Africa; I don't know the first thing about Africa. You can call me black or you can call me an American, but don't call me African American." She went on to ask me why, if a white person from South Africa became a US citizen, no one would ever refer to that person as African American. Of course, I didn't have a response.

　　And not too long ago, I met a man who bemoaned¹ the fact that everyone automatically refers to him as African American, despite the fact that he has only recently emigrated from Ghana. "I'm African, but I'm certainly not an American," he said.

　　"For census² purposes, we're asked to fit ourselves into one of five categories," says Cornelia Gamlem, president of the GEMS³ Group, a human resources consulting firm based in Herndon, Virginia. These racial/ethnic⁴ categories are as follows: white, black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut. "While people of the same race may share similarities, there are many cultural differences that need to be recognized."

　　For instance, a person who checks "black" on the census form may be American-born, or may hail from elsewhere, such as the Caribbean or an African nation. Likewise, a Hispanic person may be from places as disparate as New York City, Mexico, Cuba or Brazil. "The problem is that there may be a tendency to make assumptions about people, just by looking at their obvious characteristics," says Gamlem. "I see your skin is black, so I lump you into the African American category and figure that you're just like everybody else who grew up in this country. But if you were raised in the Caribbean or an African nation, I've made assumptions that are incorrect. This opens the door to discriminatory treatment and unfair practices."

　　While it might simplify life at the office if we could all just make assumptions about people based on their obvious physical characteristics, that kind of thinking just doesn't fit the bill anymore (not that it ever really did in the first place). "Diversity goes well beyond what one can visually see," Gamlem says. "It can be hidden." Gamlem remembers the time she was on a business trip and dining alone in a restaurant. After her meal, the waiter brought her a check and told her to have a nice Mother's Day. "He categorized me in a certain way. Because of my gender⁵ and age group, he assumed I was a mother."

　　Making assumptions based on a person's race can be an even dicier proposition. The fact is that, census categories notwithstanding, the United States is a vastly diverse population, and growing more so all the time. And in the end, a person's cultural identity is at least as important as his ethnic identity. For instance, the guy from Jamaica with an office next door to an African American may actually have more in common culturally with the light-skinned Cuban person down the hall.

　　So what's a person supposed to do? The answer, says Gamlem, is both incredibly simple and enormously difficult: "Appreciate people for who they are as individuals, not for what class of people they are assumed to be associated with." That means checking your biases⁶ and automatic stereotypes⁷ -- we've all got them -- at the door and taking some time to understand your coworkers' cultural backgrounds and values. Gamlem is the first to admit that this fundamental and necessary change in the way we view our fellow human beings won't happen overnight. "It's a process," she says. "It needs to be nurtured⁸ over time."

1 bemoaned   

v.为（某人或某事）抱怨( bemoan的过去式和过去分词 )；悲悼；为…恸哭；哀叹

参考例句：

• The farmer bemoaned his loss. 农夫抱怨他所受到的损失。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He only bemoaned his fate. 他忍受了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

6 biases   

偏见( bias的名词复数 )； 偏爱； 特殊能力； 斜纹

参考例句：

• Stereotypes represent designer or researcher biases and assumptions, rather than factual data. 它代表设计师或者研究者的偏见和假设，而不是实际的数据。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• The net effect of biases on international comparisons is easily summarized. 偏差对国际比较的基本影响容易概括。

7 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。