What Is Microaggression?

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Entry 6 I think that reading Dr. Sue’s work was one of the most informative things I have read for the class. Microaggressions are so common in our everyday lives that they are hard to recognize, they usually passed by me without a second look. Reading Dr. Sue (and the other works on Microaggressions) helped me pinpoint exactly what they were. Even though I have seen those videos of “what [blanks] say to [blanks],” I never truly understood what made something a microaggression. Now, I think, I understand them better – even though they are hidden inside our vernacular. I am guilty of microaggressions, and now I am so embarrassed of them. One of my friends is half Columbian and when I first met him I asked him why he didn’t speak Spanish. …show more content…

The statements were “Wow, you are so exotic” “where are you from” and “You speak really good English.” All of the statements are microaggressions. I was prepared for most people to not identify all of them, but I did not think that the question would cause a discussion as large as it did. The group I was sitting did not feel that telling someone they spoke really well was a microaggression. They added stipulations – what if they really do speak well or what if they are from a different country. They thought it was more of a compliment. I guess compared to the other statements, it seemed less obvious that it was a microaggression. I heard their comments, and I started to think maybe it is not a microaggression, if the person really did think the other spoke eloquently, does that still carry the weight of racism? If you said the statement differently, maybe it would not be a microaggression. I know that a when people microaggress they usually do not know it, but it still made me wonder. Maybe being in the class has made me super aware – or maybe it was only the video and that we were trying to tailor the statements a certain …show more content…

I think I have been feeling self-conscious about living in my White culture, not because I am making up issues that are not there, but because I feel guilty about how much of my existence is informed by racism. I was thinking if I came from a more liberal space – if my parents, siblings, family, friends didn’t microaggress – then that would lessen how much I participated with and benefitted from this country’s systematic racism, maybe it would help me come to terms with the fact that I could never have been Eric Garner or Trayvon Martin or Sandra Bland. Cops trust me inevitably. I can do most things without suspicion. But I am realizing that this is not, and will never, be true – no matter who I am friends with. I guess I have to fully come to terms with the fact that my White Culture will always be informed by racism that I an inherently racist, and that this guilt I am feeling is a part of my privilege. I have the privilege to feel guilty about all the things I have, about how my society values my life over POC, while for POC, it is always evident even from when they are young. To POC microaggressions and systemic racism are always a force in their lives; they always know it is there. I have to privilege not only to feel bad about not experiencing these things, but also to not have to even see them. I do not know what to do with this guilt; I just know I have finally realized where it is

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