let's talk about microaggressions

microaggressions.com

Professor: Where did you go to school to write like this?

Me: In New Jersey.

Professor: No, was it a private school?

Me: No, is something wrong?

Professor: Well you say “ask” versus “ax” and your writing is impeccable.

Me: O‟kaaaaayyyyyyyy.

“Why are there so many party stores in the ghetto? Like do all the poor people like to celebrate they’re poor?”

A friend, while driving near my work in a primarily central American immigrant community.

“Wow, I’m so autistic.”

This boy said this after spilling a drink all over his new suede shoes.

“When are you going to have some kids? You know you‟re not getting any younger.”

This is what a co-worker said to me after learning that someone we both know is expecting a child. What if I can‟t have children? What if I don‟t want children? Why don‟t people think about that before speaking?

Hey! HEY! Are you a guy or a girl?

Teenage guys in Wisconsin, me wearing

cargo shorts. Made me feel angry,

threatened, afraid.

“I don‟t mean to be rude, but…

WHAT are you? Your ethnic mixture

is gorgeous.”

White woman coming up to me in the public

restroom. As a Chinese-Malay/Russian-Canadian

multiracial woman, it made me feel fetishized.

Intent and IMPACT

“I always get asked to be an interpreter

for patients who are not native English

speakers, specifically for those of Asian

background. Because I am of Asian

background as well, there is this

assumption that I speak every language

in Asia or that there is only one

language/country in Asia. Unbelievable.”

“If you don’t like it here then why don’t you just move somewhere else?”

My White classmate suggested I leave the US because of all the social problems. I‟m Native American.

“I’m sure you can speak to this.”

Teacher, referring to me in a class discussing how race influences therapy. I‟m the only Black person in the room.

“You don’t look disabled…”

A high school classmate in diversity class said this to me in a discussion about disabilities. I have an emotional disability. It made me feel upset and shocked.

“Wouldn’t it make it so much easier if everyone celebrated Christmas?”

My boss, complaining about company policy to have “holiday” activities instead of “Christmas” ones.

Intent vs. IMPACT

“You should apply for the assistant manager job. You‟re the most knowledgeable here, and besides, for a female you‟ve got a backbone.”

Older male boss to me, a 21-year-old woman, while at work. As if by being a woman, I should be inherently weak and passive.

Working in issues of diversity at a large pre-dominantly white university and standing up in front of a group of peers, academics and top administrators in response to a „diversity report.‟ I critiqued the lack of words like „racism‟, „oppression‟, etc., in the report. The President of the school responded that the report was written to not „offend or alienate anyone‟.

Apparently, myself and thousands of other racialised and marginalized students do not count as „anyone.‟ At a predominantly white university. Made me feel worthless, tired, disappointed, weak.

“You look normal.”

When I tell people that I have bipolar disorder.

Makes me feel invalidated, irritated, tired.

“My professor asks me if something she is thinking about saying about another student is racist.”

I am black (& apparently a spokesperson for black people), but I have nothing to do with this other student‟s situation with the department.

“How is it fair that some

people can get scholarships

for just being black? Where is

my scholarship for being a

hard-working person?”

A white male to a group of mostly

white people.

“That‟s ghetto!”

Said often by mainly white middle-class

students at my university in reference to

anything viewed as “black,” “poor and

black,” or “bad.”

“One of my coworkers is messing

with another coworker by

“accusing” her of being gay.She‟s furious with him. Meanwhile,

I‟m sitting there, being gay.”

I‟m taking a film photography course at my college. In the dark room while developing film, these two other girls were in there as well. One girl turns to the other and says, “you look dark in this photo!” The other girl responds with, “Oh? Am I fabulously tan or hood dark?”

I‟m a 22 year old, brown skinned African American girl. In school in Maryland. I felt out of place and isolated.

“Is your son in a “Hardship Program?”

Mother of my son‟s friend, asking why my son

was in a good school. I am an immigrant, and

she could not even think of my son being a

straight-A student & being accepted into

a good school.

“Yes, I understand you‟re Asian Australian, but where are you really from?”

Intent______________________________________

IMPACT