Experiences Of Microaggressions

In “Illegal Alien” Pat Mora writes about the problem of the difficulty people have communicating when they are of different backgrounds. For years now people have been judged by their skin color, their race, or where the originally come from. In “Illegal Alien” Pat Mora gives us a good example of this as the character in her poem goes through this trial of being from both the Mexican and the American cultures. Pat Mora indicates her difficulties that she is going through being born into two different cultures.

Our class was inspired by Shankar Vedantam’s piece to conduct research on stereotypes at Point Loma High School. We were provided questions by Ms. Roberts and asked one person in class and another outside of class. The ages of those interviewed ranged from freshmen to seniors in highschool. Later, we input our data in a Google form and later converted it into a summary data chart and spreadsheet. The results were sorted by ethnicity and gender. Using our results we were able to find trends/similarities of the impact/aftermath and responses of those who were interviewed

In literature, an immigrant is almost always seen as an outsider. This also happens in real life as well. It’s possible that one can feel like an outsider in both the place that they’re coming from and moving to. It’s not that hard to imagine that a person would struggle with their identity if they can’t even fit into the world.

In Pat Mora's poem, "Legal Alien," the author describes her biracial character as being "viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, / perhaps inferior, definitely different, / viewed by Mexicans as alien," a description which highlights the situation encountered by people who strive to be prestigious individuals by floating between cultures and who consequently fail to be a part of any particular group (Mora 9-11). Often the individuals are biologically trapped between two probable lives, and they forge ahead to meet the opportunity of possibly belonging to the higher society while they degrade the small culture which has weaned them from birth. These people find themselves

Microaggression is a form of negative communication in which the speaker is targeting a certain group of people. This could be the female gender, people of a different race, or lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBTs). The speakers behave, talk, or act in manners belittling others. For example, when men whistle or laugh as a woman passes by, they are insinuating that the body of that woman is used to give them entertainment. Similarly, an indigenous American who tells a customer not to ‘Jew’ intends to communicate that the customer should not behave stingily as Jews do. Although this form of behavior is seen as a pure form of an act of hatred, psychologists believe that there is a connection between personality and microaggressions. It is a mental condition reflecting how the perpetrators view the world in four ways; dominance/inferiority,

When Americans meet someone new they are already sticking that person into some sort of category because of their appearance. If someone looks different than Americans are use to, they automatically stick some sort of stereotype to them. Stereotypes are strongly displayed in the media; stereotype can be based of someone’s color, culture, religion, or sex. In Black men in public spaces by Brent Staples, and in The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the authors talk about stereotypes based on their gender and ethnicity and the experiences they both encounter because of their ethnicity and gender which have many similarities and differences. Stereotypes can lead

“My dog and you have the same name.” Does this sound hurtful? Did I offend you? Yes, you did offend the person and it is called microaggression. Microaggressions are hurtful statements that can inflict insult. Microaggression is an everyday action that people do without knowing it. However, sometimes comments people say do not seem like microaggression and they do not sound offensive, but they may be insulting to the person. How does an individual deal with microaggression? Microaggression is difficult to deal with depending on how you react to the statement/insult. An individual can respond to microaggression in different forms. One can respond by counting backwards from ten or ignore the comment/ insult.

An example of a microassault would be intentionally serving a Caucasian family at a restaurant first before serving an African American family (Neville, Spanierman, & Lewis, 2012). Microinsults are depicted by communications that express insensitivity and rudeness. They also disgrace an individual’s racial heritage. Microinsults comprise of insensitive comments that are made on the basis of a range of racial assumptions about citizenship, intelligence, criminality, and cultural values and aesthetics. While microinsults are subtle insults that are unknown to the perpetrator, they communicate a hidden insulting message to the recipient. The context of what is communicated is very important. Microinsults can be communicated nonverbally. An example of a microinsult would be when an employee asking a coworker of color how they got their job, suggesting that they only got the job because they needed a minority in the group (Neville, Spanierman, & Lewis, 2012). The last form of microaggressions, microinvalidation are communications that negate or minimize the racialized experiences of people of

They can tend to convey rudeness and insensitivity. Even the most well intentioned person can let out some sort of microaggression, being unaware that their conduct was harmful. Unfortunately a lot of microagression is conscious in the intention to oppress people not similar to them. Microassaults are intentional aggressive actions that involve race such as denying ones children to date someone of a different race. Lastly there is microinvalidation, where one excludes a persons thoughts or feelings, such as colorblindness, to the disregard of the characteristics of race. The process of microgression is order of five phases. Phase one, the incident, is where the participant experiences the situation. Phase two, the perception is when the participant has the belief whether the situation was racial or not. Phase three, the reaction, is where they respond to the situation. Then there is phase four where the participant interprets the meaning. Lastly is phase five, consequence, where behavior or thought processes happen over time as an outcome of the situation.

Soul Searching for Tomorrow Mexicans are like roaches when it comes to renting you see two go in and then you see twelve come out. Black people comes from monkeys I bet that they have a tail also. Chinese’s can’t drive I wish that they would stay off the road. These are some of the racist remarks and common phrases used about people who are different, also when there is failure to except people or their culture.

The term immigrant is defined as “a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence” (“Immigrant”). In her autobiography, Barefoot Heart, Elva Trevino Hart speaks of her immigrant ways and how she fought to become the Mexican-American writer she is today. She speaks about the working of land, the migrant camps, plus the existence she had to deal with in both the Mexican and American worlds. Hart tells the story of her family and the trials they went through along with her physical detachment and sense of alienation at home and in the American (Anglo) society. The loneliness and deprivation was the desire that drove Hart to defy the odds and acquire the unattainable sense of belonging into American

One time, while my family and I were walking towards a bus station, a group regarding blacks was stereotyped.I overheard some parents addressing to their children to not get associated with them since they assumed they are untrustable because of their color.

For instance, the meaning of racial microaggression is brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards people of

For many years now people have judged one another based on characteristics and family background. Some judge based on skin color, race, where your family has come from, and how you came about. “Legal Alien/ Extranjera Legal” by Pat Mora gives a very realistic message of how it can feel to be a mexican american and to be seen as a ‘legal alien’. To feel not wanted by either side, and to be judged based on the origins of your ancestors and your race. “viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,/ perhaps inferior, definitely different,/ viewed by mexicans as alien.” This here, is a perfect example of the way Mora feels about being judged and seen as an alien and her interesting use of diction, metaphors and similes. I think the tone Mora has is one

“Legal Alien” by Pat Mora is a poem that describes the life of a Mexican American girl, she was born in America but her parents are Mexican. In the poem Mora mentioned that she is “Bi-lingual, Bi-cultural, able to slip from How is life to Me estan volviendo loca” (Mora 370). She is caught between two cultures. She feels that she does not belong to any society, people from America see her in different ways “viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different” (Mora 370), but also Mexicans have a different opinion “ viewed by Mexicans as alien, (their eyes says “you may speak Spanish but you are not like me”)” (Mora 370). In this poem exists the cultural border, she does not fit either in America or Mexico “An American to Mexicans a Mexican to America” (Mora 370). She is confused about her culture, and has a cultural border problem.