PRACTICING AWARENESS OF MICROAGGRESSIONS

Some persons reading my blog may ask “What are Microaggressions?”  

Well, they are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that contains an insulting message behind them.   Racial microaggressions communicate hostile, derogatory or negative racial slights and insults toward people of colour.   

Microaggressions reflect a worldview of inferiority/superiority and inclusions/exclusions.  Microaggressions can be intentional and conscious but it is the unintentional, unconscious forms that are outside the level of awareness that create the greatest difficulty for people of colour, women and other marginalized groups in this society.   It saps one’s spiritual and psychological energy because it is cumulative in nature – not one act but numerous acts that get tiring and fatiguing.  It can also be detrimental and damaging on self-esteem and human integrity.

I have noticed various examples of microaggression:

• As a black female, I no longer chemically process my hair but I keep it natural.  A family members comments “I liked your hair better when it was straight now you look unprofessional – like a dreadlocks”.  As the target of the microaggression, I felt annoyed that my natural hair was not accepted for what it was and that I was being stereotyped.

• A female friend relates that she is in a meeting with a group of men at her workplace.  The male visitor from another company who came after the introductions, upon leaving, walks past her chair, shakes hands with the other men, walks past her chair again and leaves. Since she is female, he obviously assumes she is the stenographer and therefore invisible.

Microaggressions in any shape or form are disrespectful and demeaning.   There is a need for concerted efforts to be made to prevent microaggressions whether by:

1. Having intimate contact with people different from ourselves to overcome biased stereotyping.

2. Being cooperative rather than competitive.  Not buying into the policy that for someone to succeed someone has to be less successful.  

3. Having mutually shared goals which need to be actualized into meaningful policies and programs.

4. Accurately exchanging information rather than stereotypes and mis-information that are perpetuated in our society via mass media.   If mass media feeds us mis-information, then we will always be biased.  

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions. [DVD]. Perspectives on diversity and equity. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Sue, D., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286.