Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

For week 4 of this course, we began to discuss the topic of microaggressions and the importance of being aware of such instances taking place in the world around you and in your own world and conversations. In order to complete this assignment, we had to discuss an example of an observed microaggression instance taking place that involved us or happened around us in the world.

First of all, let's begin with the concept of microaggression. If you are like me, prior to this week I had never even heard of this term before. However, upon researching this week I have come to understand the meaning and importance of knowing what this term means. Dr. Sue began talking about this concept by stating, "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," (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). The important thing to realize that the majority of the time a microaggression takes place it is unintentional and unconsciously taking place. Dr. Sue continues, "Microaggressions are brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral, or environmental that may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to people of color, to gay and lesbians that have an insulting message behind them that often times causes severe psychological distress and harm," (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).

Understanding what this term meant and the depth of the consequences behind it helped me to be more aware of my own decisions and conversations, as well as those happening around me at work, at home, with friends, at restaurants, at stores, etc. After spending the first part of the week reading and becoming familiar with this concept, I observed an example of microaggression taking place while at dinner with my boyfriend and my dad on Wednesday evening. We were sitting at a pub for dinner and were at a table close to the bar area of the restaurant. There were two groups of people sitting nearby - one group at a table next to us and one group sitting at the bar a few feet away. I couldn't help but overhear the group at the table sharing jokes and using language that was not necessarily appropriate. The group at the table was a mixed group of men and women of various races and ethnicities. The group at the bar was similar but only two men and one woman. The group at the table made comments in a joking or friendly manner in regards to women and African Americans - both of which were in both groups. I felt uncomfortable with the conversation, especially when noticing one person from each of the groups seemed uncomfortable and offended, even though it was evident that was not the intention. This was an eye opening moment for me to witness this first hand taking place in society. I not only was aware of the microaggression, but also the perpetrator and recipient's responses to it, to which I would not have noticed before in the same way.

This observation helped me to understand the gravity of the situation and of the overall concept of microaggression. While we may not realize what we are doing, this can be harmful to the recipient. As people, especially Early Childhood Educators, we need to become aware of our unconscious biases or stereotypes in order to avoid making our children and families feel victim to such encounters. The instance that I had witnessed was a perfect example of the perpetrator feeling oblivious to the potential harm they just enlisted on a friend, as well as on a stranger who overheard the conversation. Our children and families should not be subject to such instances so it is important that we understand this issue and work on overcoming and preventing it, if possible.




References:

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