Cross-Cultural Stereotypes and Communication

CJ246: Cross-Cultural Stereotypes and Communication

Unit 6-Assignment

When you think about the first initial contact a member of the public has with a police officers you can see how the individual views the society. When any type of incident occurs where the police need to be involved, they usually make sure that the victims are taken care of and assisted properly. Unfortunately, the police in America have a hard time because of how many perceive them as bias towards certain minorities. Many cultural stereotypes are what lead by the perception’s individuals have on one another. Not only do cultural stereotypes play a role in this but also the different communication styles that take place in America. Stereotypes affect victims, suspects, co-workers, and citizens this also plays a role in how the police, and civilian employees struggle with cross-cultural contact. There are language barriers, racial discrimination, cultural value beliefs differences, and distrust are some attitudes are just some of the stereotypes that are affecting cross-cultural contact. When the police have a lack of knowledge when it comes to the cultural understanding of Asian and Pacific Americans it can result in numerous problems. These problems could have been avoided is they had the right cross-cultural knowledge.

With the lack of cross-cultural knowledge about the culture that involves Asian/Pacific America this leads to the problems police officers have with it comes to miscommunication when they are trying to interact with them. A good example of this is the first scenario that we read involving the children of Seng Chang and Kaying Lor. The children of these two were taking away from them because of what was to be believed as child abuse. The Workers at the school noticed that the children had marks on their bodies, and they had no choice but to report it to the police which them lead them to make to decision to take the babies away from the couple. What was interesting is the prosecution had decided to run some medical examinations on the children to see if there were actual signs of being abused, and there were no symptoms of child abuse found. After being away from the couple for over one month, the babies returned to their parents. I think that if the school employees, child protective services and courts had the right knowledge with it comes to the Asian/Pacific culture and why they use alternative medical practices in their country compared to others, then a situation like this one could have easily avoided.

While reading this second scenario, a man by the name of Chai Vang had killed the six hunters after having a racially charged trespassing confrontation. When the hunters trespassed onto Vang property that was a crime committed. While the trespassing took place there were racially charged encounter. Vangs interaction and actions that were taken during this interaction could had been justified if the hunters ere from the minority group. Unfortunately, with Vang being Hmong his actions resulted in racial tensions in Minnesota and Wisconsin this ending up with the killing of a Hmong hunter. These actions show that the individuals took in this scenario shows how cross-cultural communication has failed.

In conclusion, cross-cultural stereotyping can be very counterproductive in society simply because many innocent individuals suffer. If at any point the police and civilian employees were educated, they could gain the knowledge needed to better suit the different cultures. Individuals who are in position that can involve any type of interaction with people from many different cultures should be educated. They also should learn the essential aspects of these cultures like the communicating styles, language, and even the cultural medical practices.

Reference Page

Halsted, G. (2005, November 7). Wisconsin Hunting Season Opens Amid Racial Tension. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4993208

Wilcoxen, W. (2007, January 17). Wisconsin authorities reveal details of Hmong hunter’s death. MPR News. Retrieved from http://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/01/16/huntercharged

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