Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. In many cases, these hidden messages may invalidate the group identity or experiential reality of target persons, demean them on a personal or group level, communicate they are lesser human beings, suggest they do not belong with the majority group, threaten and intimidate, or relegate them to inferior status and treatment (Sue, 2010).

A microaggression I detected recently, yesterday actually, was when my husband, my best friend, her husband, and I were waiting to get on an elevator. There was a white couple waiting to get on also. When the elevator came down we got in the elevator, but the white couple just stood there. My husband told them that it was enough room for them to get on, as they could see, but they declined and said that they would just wait for the next one. We all knew why they did not want to get on the elevator. I became really angry and wanted to say something rude to them, but my husband told me not to worry about it. I just wanted to understand why or what they were thinking we would do to them.

My experience this week has confirmed my certainty that prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping will never end. The assumption they made about us was that we were dangerous. This assumption was hurtful to me and it also made me angry. Just because we come from different races does not mean that we are criminals, dangerous, or abnormal. Discriminating against, labeling, and stereotyping people is wrong and can cause long-term effects. There are many who believe that prejudice and discrimination is a problem of the past, but it is not. Prejudice and discrimination still exists and incidents like the one that happened to me occur every day.

Sue, D.W. (2010). Psychology Today. Microaggression in Everyday Life. Retrieved July 26, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-race

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Based on the answers I received, culture is the way a group of people live their lives. Culture is learned, can be shared, and is diverse. Our culture includes our religions, the clothes we wear, what we eat, values, rules, and much more. Culture influences so many things in our lives. Diversity is differences among people and respecting and accepting those differences such as race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, etc. In our conversation, we discussed how cultures can change and are dynamic, but what we did not discuss was how cultures are cumulative. The different information that people learn in their culture can be passed down from one generation to the next. We need to value diversity. Also, anti-bias education and multicultural education are very significant factors of valuing diversity.

My Hispanic friend stated that we all are different. We have different beliefs, values, and rules. He also stated how Hispanics love Mexican food and Americans love American foods, but he loves American and other cultures foods as well. My other friend likes to dress like other cultures because they have a different style than her own. She loves to be different and learn about other cultures.

When I talked to my friends about the definition of culture and diversity, they mainly replied the same. It was surprising to hear that their answers were similar. I believe that if I was to ask more friends, family members, and colleagues to give me their definition of culture and diversity, they would probably have similar definitions. Others definitions of culture and diversity has confirmed my thinking that other’s cultures can be shared and enjoyed by many people. Our cultures are different, but people everywhere have a lot in common.  

My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

It would be very difficult for me to choose only three items because I have so many items that I hold dear to my heart and that represent my family culture. But if I had to choose, the first would be my mother’s silver jewelry box that she bought for me when I was a little girl. This oval shaped jewelry box has my initials carved in it. She gave this jewelry box to me when I graduated from kindergarten. I have been continuing this tradition with my two daughters. The second item would be my huge photo album with all of my family portraits. This photo album is filled with portraits of my husband, children, mother, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, cousins, close friends; basically my entire family. This photo album is filled with people of different races. I have photos of us together at weddings, parties, reunions, baptisms, anniversaries, and many other occasions.  The third item would be the cherry wood cedar chest that my grandmother left to me before she passed away. This cedar chest has been in our family for over 100 years. She left it to me because it was always my hiding place when we played hide and seek together. It is now filled with a lot of my grandmother’s personal belonging.

If I was told upon arrival that I could only keep one of the three items that I brought with me and give up the other two, I would be devastated because each of these items means so much to me. It would be very difficult for me to choose because I have been collecting these photos of my family for a very long time and on special occasions I always put together a slideshow of the different photos. The jewelry box that I have is 30 years old now and I can’t see myself forever departing from it. My cedar chest is like a treasure box to me because of all the items I have stored in it of my grandmother’s.

As a result of this exercise, I had a talk with my mother about our family. I learned that my great great great grandfather had to leave his wife and children behind in another country so she could do better for his family. I have learned that my family was and is filled with influential people who have had many successful opportunities. I also know that since I have been associating myself with people of different cultures, I have learned a tremendous amount about their cultures.