This week in my Diversity course, we talked about
microaggressions and the different isms that people are subjected to because of
the idiosyncrasy of others. “Microaggressions
are brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral or environmental,
that they may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to
people of color, to gay/lesbians that have an insulting message behind them
that often time cause severe psychological distress and harm.” (Laureate, 2011) Sometimes people say things but don’t really
mean to cause the person any harm or distress.
But there are times when people intentionally say things to cause the
person to react in anger because they feel insulted.
I would like to share an instance in which the
things were said intentionally to insult a man that was just trying to do his
job but could not communicate effectively due to a language barrier and another
man that unintentionally spoke a microaggression.
- A Caucasian worker made a comment to me about his Haitian co-worker after he tried to communicate with the worker. I suggested that he ask the man how to say simple words in his language, the Caucasian worker replied, “If he wants to work in the States, then he needs to learn English.”
ü
- As I waited on my daughter to finish her closing duties at work, I overheard a Caucasian worker ask a Haitian worker if he ever waved to people that visited his country and did he try to talk with anyone that was visiting in English? He also asked did you ever try to sell anything to the visitors. The young Haitian man spoke perfect English and declared that he never sold anything on the streets. The Caucasian worker classified his co-worker as an unlearned street worker from Haiti. I asked him why did he ask him those questions and he replied because that is the activities that he saw when he had visited other countries and he just wanted to know if the other guy partook in those activities before coming to live in the States.
These instances were a
result of another person’s learned behaviors that are discriminatory. We as people tend to make judgments of others
based on what we see without seeking to learn more about the person. One was an intentional comment and the other
was unintentional not seeking to cause harm.
As an educator, we have
a special assignment to teach the young children in our care to be respectful
of others and to accept them as they are; despite race, ability, culture,
religion or gender. I believe that if we
are able to teach just one child to treat another as they would like to be
treated-that child can influence change in many others.
This week’s assignment has opened my
understanding and has caused me to look
within myself to ensure that I do not make any microaggressions in the future
to any of my employees, colleagues, parents or the children that I will be
blessed to educate.
I would like to share a link with my colleagues that I found by mistake during my search for images. Its to a facebook page called the Microaggressions Project. This is a real topic and we should learn more about it so that we can be agents of change.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive
Producer). (2010). Microaggressions in
Everyday Life. Baltimore, MD
Hi Janine. What a fantastic post and I like the picture example, ‘You just don’t understand why I am so angry.’ That is a powerful example of why people of different races and status are looked and judged upon. We do have to teach young children to respect others as regardless of race, culture and so on. Children can suffer from a climate of prejudice. Prejudice creates social and emotional tension and can lead to fear and anxiety and occasionally hostility and violence. Prejudice and discrimination can undermine the self-esteem and self-confidence of those being ridiculed and make them feel terrible, unaccepted and unworthy. Jay
ReplyDeleteReferences: Children and prejudice. American Academy of Pediatrics (2012). Retrieved on July 27, 2013 from http://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/Pages/Children-and-Prejudice.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token
Thanks for you comment Jay.
ReplyDeleteHi Janine,
ReplyDeleteI can see that this week's assignment has really changed our perspective on how we communicate with others and the hidden messages we send as well as messages sent to us by others.
I also appreciate the picture you posted! I can remember being frustrated by the way people in some of our African American communities conduct themselves however, education is always key in understanding human behaviors and how we perceive things around us and that picture tells a profound story.
Thank you so much!
Berdetta
Hi Janine, I really enjoyed your post this week! It was very informative and the insights you shared were powerful. Before this class, I had never heard of the word “microaggression” or understood how to put into context the situations that caused me to experience negative feelings or explain how I have caused others to feel negatively. I am so thankful for all that I have learned so far in this class. I accessed the link you provided in your blog and I can see that “microaggression” is in fact a real topic and as you have indicated, our lives and the lives we touch will be so much better if we learn more about it so that we can be agents of change. Thank you for this great post!
ReplyDelete