Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

What are Microaggressions?

As stated in Linbong (2020), "Microaggressions are defined as everyday, subtle, intentional — and oftentimes unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups."

Further stated in Washington et al. (2020), "Microaggressions are defined as verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group."

According to Dr Wong Sue, Laureate Education (2011), "Microaggressions can be intentional, conscious, it is the unintentional, unconscious forms that are outside the level of awareness that creates the greatest difficulty for people of color, for women and other marginalized groups in this society."

My Experience of Being a Target of Microaggression

It was August 2020, and I had just purchased a brand new 2020 Hyundai Creta. So, the next day I drove my car into the town center to grab a few items for the car itself. However, before I reached my intended destination, along the way, I was stopped by five different sets of police officers. After asking one of the officers the main reason, I was targeted by the officers. Only to be stopped five times in one day. Finally, he replied, "it is because your car is new, and they do not know it."

I am sharing this incident because, during one of the random stops, a particular officer ordered me out of the vehicle and asked me to accompany him to the opposite side of the road. I replied that my two-year-old was inside the vehicle so I am unable to go that far. But, he insisted that I accompany him to the rear of the vehicle. During this time, he requested my name, address and telephone number in a seducing manner. I have thought about the incident ever since. I believed I was stopped by the offers for more reasons than one. It is my opinion that they believe I was involved in some sort of illegal activities to be driving such a fancy car. Also, the officer who wanted my telephone number and was also making sexual advances using his power to dominate me, whom he considered as lesser powerful.

I believe this was an extreme act of microaggression. In fact, there were microinsults and microinvalidations directed at me by this police officer. In addition, I have seen where the concepts of gender microaggressions and sexual orientation microaggressions were evident. "Microaggressions seem small; but compounded over time, they can have a deleterious impact on an individual's experience, physical health, and psychological well-being. In fact, research suggests that subtle forms of interpersonal discrimination like microaggressions are at least as harmful as more overt expressions of discrimination" Washington et al. (2020). There is a saying that goes like this "what you don't know, won't hurt you." However, I beg to differ, because even though I did now know about microaggressions until now, I do know that I was offended by the actions of the police officer.

The insights gained from my observational experiences have changed my perception of how people must be treated. As human beings and as the definitions above suggests, sometimes we unintentionally display microaggressions, meaning we do and say things and not even realized what we have done. However, we can be the agent of change by being more aware of our biases and impact on people. We all need to commit to working on these things in order to create a more harmonious society.  According to Dr Sue, Laureate Education (2011) "Microaggressions are harmful because they indeed reflect a world view that is one of inferiority/superiority, inclusion/exclusion or in some sense reflect an oppressive belief in if we talk about racial microaggressions, white supremacy." We are challenged to avoid discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes on all individuals, especially our children who are less fortunate and most vulnerable in society, along with their families.

References

Limbong, A. (2020, June 9). Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/872371063/microaggressions-are-a-big-deal-how-to-talk-them-out-and-when-to-walk-away

Washington, E. F., Hall Birch, A., & Roberts, M. (2020, July 3). When and How to Respond to Microaggressions. https://hbr.org/2020/07/when-and-how-to-respond-to-microaggressions