Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Some forms of racism are so subtle that neither the victim nor the perpetrator are completely aware of what is going on, which may be particularly harmful to people of color (DeAngelis, 2009, p.40). Microagrgressions aren’t just a term you read and theorize about. They happen everyday to people just like you and me. Often, they are never meant to hurt, acts done with little conscious awareness of their meanings and effects. Instead, their slow accumulation during a childhood and over a lifetime is in part what defines a marginalized experience, making explanation and communication with someone who does not share this identity particularly difficult. These stinging comments create and enforce uncomfortable, violent and unsafe realities onto people's' workplace, home, school, childhood/adolescence/adulthood, and environments.

My recent encounter with microaggression this week was at a bingo hall. I had an incident with man at a bingo hall while playing bingo. They were passing out bingo papers and I was not sure what the cost was for the bingo papers. When he told me the price I made a comment that I thought the cost was cheaper he replied “It’s not good when you think”. I immediately felt insulted and replied “that was very rude for you to say”. I think he was joking but he never said “sorry” but went on about his business. This feeling of being belittled stayed with me the rest of the evening and I deliberately avoided eye contact with the man for the rest of the evening. Did I mention that he was White? What was the meaning for his remark? Was it a joke or intentional? Did he say this because I was woman, Black, elderly, or all of these reasons? Sometimes comments have hidden meanings and it is hard to decipher exact the intentions behind them. Needless to say the feelings that come from the comments are real.

Dr, Sue explains since it is frightening to white people, getting them to recognize that they are delivering microaggressions is a monumental task. It shatters their self-image as healthy, moral, honest people to know that they may have racist opinions, actions, and emotions that hurt people of color on an unconscious level (Laureate Education (Producer), 2011). He further adds that regular dose of these psychological slings and arrows may erode people's mental health, job performance and the quality of social experience (DeAngelis, 2009).

I think that today's younger generation is being more conscious of what they say and do not to offend others and to fight for social change, but it is the old school or older generation that has not, or will not change their biased ways in accepting the diverse population that now exist.

Below are pictures I found that portray the daily common microaggressions that people encounter.

References

DeAngelis, T. (2009, February). Unmasking racial micro aggressions. Monitor on Psychology 40 (2). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/02/microaggression

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Macroaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu