Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week’s coursework has heightened my awareness that there are times when verbal behaviors create feelings of uncertainty, inferiority or marginalization even though no offense was consciously intended. Such behaviors are called microaggressions (Course Media, WK 4).

 

My personal experience with microaggressions or with having witnessed microaggressions came to mind after I studied this week’s resource materials.  Several years ago, I went out to dinner with some colleagues after attending a training session in Denver, CO.  There were six of us and I was the only African American.   As I was looking over the menu, one of my colleagues said “You won’t find any Hog Chitterlings on the menu.”  After laughing, he added “Why do y’all eat that stuff, don’t you know it holds the hog’s bowels?”  Before I could respond, another colleague spoke up and said she loved Chitterlings and that he shouldn’t “knock them until he has tried them.”  Another of my colleagues said he liked them, also and that his mother often prepared them every New Year’s dinner.  They realized how insensitive his remarks were and tried to defuse the situation as I tried hard to not show my anger at his remarks.  This colleague had been so kind to me all week during the training sessions.  We had worked closely together on group projects during the week and I had not detected any signs that he was racist or bias.   I don’t believe he really meant any harm, but was probably just trying to be funny.  Never the less, his remarks infuriated me and I believed they were made because of my race and southern heritage. 

My insensitive colleague displayed the characteristic of racial microaggressions that is most harmful, including the two that I learned about this week, microinsults and microinvalidation.  According to this week’s course media, they are unintentional, subtle, and invisible to the perpetrator, outside the level of awareness. And as a result, the person never has the ability to self-correct, because they are unaware that they have engaged in something that is harmful, oppressive and detrimental to the person of color or to other individuals that represent what we call marginalized groups in the society.  If we are to overcome bias stereotyping, intimate contact must occur, not just transitory, superficial contact (Course Media, WK 4).  

Reference

Course Media: "Microaggressions in Everyday Life"