Microaggressions

I really enjoyed this week’s lessons about micro-aggression. I have experienced and witnessed this type of behavior many times in my adult life, but did not know the proper term for it.

In the video “Micro-Aggressions in Everyday Life”, Dr. Derald Wing Sue talked about how he felt when people assumed he was not born in America, because he did not look like your stereotypical American. This also happens to me quite often. I am bi-racial, half black and half white and even though my Dad has a beautiful chocolate brown completion, I am extremely pale white, even paler than many of my “white American” co-workers, (this could be from my mother’s Irish heritage) but my hair is jet black. So, given this information you could say that I do not look like a stereotypical half black and half white individual; because of this I am constantly being asked “What country are you from?” When I reply “I’m from here, I’m American” they say “No, where are your parents from?” then I have to explain that I am biracial. It was not until I watched this video that I even thought about why people would question whether I am American or not, even though they always do. It opened my eyes to what people think a “real American” should look like. It made me realize that when people see me, they don’t see a “real American”, though I am truly American, born and raised. I began to feel a little insulted, even though it never bothered me before. Now, that I have a new insight and I little more knowledge, I realized that the people asking me this question may harbor biased that they don’t even know that they have. I believe this question of my nationality falls under a non-deliberate, microassualt. Though the comment was not meant to be negative, it is. The comment “Where are you from?” makes the assumption that all Americans should look a certain way and I do not fall into that category, so I could not possibly be American. It is an unintended insult.

After carefully looking back at my own experiences and watching those around me this week, I came to the conclusion that racial stereotypes are still very much alive in this country. I can be quite naive about this type of thing do to my upbringing. I may or may not have mentioned in an earlier post that my family is extremely bi-racial on both my mother’s and father’s sides. I have black, white and Asian family members on both sides of my family. Growing up and seeing our commonalities, despite our difference in appearance, made me very insensitive to stereotypes. I have intimate relationships with people of other races, they are my family members, therefore I know that these stereotypes are not always true, we even joke about them in our family.

I have absorbed this week’s lessons about microaggresion and will be much more aware of them in my everyday life.