Microaggression

Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

I was trying to go back in my mind to forms of microaggression that I have witnessed. I was having a hard time recalling any.  I remember going out with a group of people in college. We were all discussing where we should go to dinner; someone suggested that we go to a fried chicken joint. My girlfriend said I do not like fried chicken. A friend of ours said, I thought all your people like fried chicken and watermelon.  We all laughed including my friend. Now I realize now that it was a microinsult.  My friend never mentioned it to me, but now I wonder what my friend really felt.  Looking back, I feel sad that she could have been hurt.

In what ways did, your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people.

This week my family and I drove 2000 miles to our new home in Florida. Along the way, I encountered many different people and often people watched. I paid attention to some of my thinking and some of my thinking saddened me.  I always strive not to be judgmental; however, I realized this week that I do make judgments on the inside. I was sitting in a play area in a shopping center. A family walked up. The husband was dressed in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals. The little girl was dressed in a fashionable summer dress. The mother was covered from the top of her head to her ankles.  Being new to this climate, I thought, man, she must be hot. I immediately thought, her husband must be cool, must be nice. I gasped inside knowing that I had assumed the woman was uncomfortable and I have no knowledge of the woman’s thinking or culture.  This week’s studies have made me aware of how I think and view the world around me. I am working on changing it and having less discriminatory, prejudice, and discriminatory thinking. 

I heard this poem many years ago (before 2006) and I loved it and wanted to share it.

And you call me coloured..??

Written by an African child and nominated by The United Nations
as the Best Poem of 2006.

And you calling me colored??

When I born, I black.
When I grow up, I black.
When I go in sun, I black.
When I scared, I black.
When I sick, I black.
And when I die, I still black.

And you white people.
When you born, you pink.
When you grow up, you white.
When you go in sun, you red.
When you cold, you blue.
When you scared, you yellow.
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey…

And you calling me colored??