1. After reading the peer response below, craft a brief thoughtful…

AmbassadorViperPerson176 1. After reading the peer response below, craft a brief thoughtful…1. After reading the peer response below, craft a brief thoughtful response, which may include comments, suggestions, questions, etc. Student B – response The experience that has influenced my cultural and ethnic identity was when I first read the book “When I was a Puerto Rican” in 1993. I was thirteen years old . I was confused about what my identity was being a child of both ethnic backgrounds of Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Every last day of June instead of spending the summer with my friends, I was sent to either Venezuela or Puerto Rico for the two months. Before I felt the stage Until I read “When I was a Puerto Rican”, I felt “Cultural Psychological Captivity”. The book illustrates the parodies of assimilation of being Puerto Rican and living in America based on life challenges of a young girl and questioning her cultural identity. . The book provides a story of a young girl from a Puertorican family growing up in “El Barrio”. Santiago, E. (1993) “A Jibaro can never wash away the stain of the Plantain ”, this quote changed my outlook of who I am and what I am a part of. The quote signifies you can never erase who you are as a Puerto Rican. The term “Jibaro”, means country folk in Puerto Rico.  In the town of San Sebastian of Puerto Rico it was very rural and rural. During the summers in Puerto Rico I would isolate myself because I never felt I fit in being of mixed race, speaking mostly English and would often feel misunderstood. Country living was not so glamorous, having to clean at 5 in the morning, going to a bathroom outside of the house, killing chickens and pigs made me a vegan for many years. Before reading the book, I would be ashamed of being part Puerto Rican, oftentimes I was embarrassed when my dad would dress in full Puerto Rican Flag attire.After reading the book “When I was a Puerto Rican”, I felt really connected to my roots of growing up in a Puerto Rican household and knew I was not alone.. I can relate to having the same issues she experienced in the book just as I did. For example: In the book, “Esmeralda” the main character is abandoned by her father, who stays in Puerto Rico to work, while her family moves to Manhattan in El Barrio. Like Esmeralda, my father was away in the military and my mother had to work two jobs to support my sister and I. Like Esmeralda I did not feel comfortable within my community. I grew up in Long Island, I went to middle school and high school. Most of the students in my school were African Americans, Caucasians, and other Latinos who were from  (Mexican,Guatemala, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador) There was a very small group of Puerto Ricans but not any Venezuelans. In my community, there was no real support, especially in Long Island. Similar to Esmeralda’s story, her family would gather on Sundays to play Dominos, and listen to salsa music. Every Saturday, my family would have gatherings and play Dominos and play salsa music. Very similar meanings, values and behaviors play a specific role in making connections of what my cultural identity is and who I am. Post reading of the book, I began to welcome my Puerto Rican side, embrace my cultural identity and slowly transition to biculturalism which took many years to take.  Banks, J. A. (2016) Stage 1 “Cultural Psychological Captivity” is what I experienced at the start of adolescence until I went to college.  According to Banks, he explains how Cultural psychological captivity is a negative way of thinking based on how society sees that particular culture. For a long time, growing up I hated telling people I am mixed with being Venezuelan. Two reasons I felt insecure and ashamed. The reason is because , when people asked me where I was from I would tell them I am American, but my mother is Venezuelan and my father is Puerto Rican. People either did not know where Venezuela is or would mention comments that were implicitly biased and offensive. Often when people associate Venezuela, they think of the most beautiful women of the world winning beauty pageants.Banks, J. A. (2016)  “Rejected by mainstream society”, as mentioned in the text I felt I did not look like  a beauty queen nor did I fit the traditional fit of a Venezuelan female. Yes, my mother was a model, but I was not. When I visited Venezuela, I wore a grunge look, shaved half of my head, wore plaid and listened to Nirvana in the early 90s. I was eccentric and my cousins would mock my attire,voice  and say “Tu eres una Gringa” , a term I really despised. I dislike the term “Gringa” because it means “Green go home” when the American troops would come on South American soil back in the early 50s and 60s was not wanted by the people. For a while I rejected the idea of even belonging to a culture who always looked at me as an outsider whenever I visit.  Banks, J. A. (2016) Point out that “Denied structural assimilation or total societal participation” the feeling of being an outsider within your own culture. It was not until I went to college and met other Venezuelans who made me feel welcomed as if I was part of their family. Banks, J. A. (2016) Highlights stage 4  “Biculturalism”, which means the desire to function effectively in two cultures.  During my first 2 years of college I took a class of Caribbean studies. I was the only Venezuelan student in the room and to my surprise the professor was Venezuelan. He told me the history of Venezuela and we had to read a book called “Cultures and Customs of Venezuela”. No one ever told me the history of Venezuela, not even my own family. As I dove deeper into understanding the history of Venezuela I began to feel more connected with my culture and was intrigued to know more. The next time I went to Venezuela, I would engage in more conversations about the history of Venezuela. One quote that made an impact was how “Venezuela provided several of the most outstanding figures of Latin America independence”.Dinneen, M. (2001). I was unaware how much Venezuela played a key role in gaining independence from the Spaniards. It gave me a sense of pride of belonging to a cultural group. Banks, J. A. (2016) Provides a quote that states ” students should be helped to compare and contrast his or her own culture group with another cultural group”. I would compare the history of others like Columbia, Ecuador , and I realized it is all similar and we as a culture share the same traditions. Banks, J. A. (2016) Mentions “ability to relate positively to his/her own culture”, this quote resonates with me because during stage 4 “Biculturalism” I began to embrace rather than reject being  mixed race Latina. My perceptions began to change and I chose a different mindset of who I am and what I wanted to be. Furthermore, before taking this class I did not know there was a level of stages of cultural  identity. As a Special educator, I will try my best to consider these stages of cultural identity and create a safe educational welcome space for my ELL students.  Arts & HumanitiesEnglish