Micro-Aggressive Attitudes To Different Social Groups

Diversity is said to make us unique and beautiful, yet too often it creates the ugliest conflicts. History will tell us more often than not that fundamental components of human life (race, religion, politics, culture, etc) are the root of many conflicts. Yet, people seem to make our discrepancies seem praiseworthy, and that we must accept them wholeheartedly. Although acceptance is crucial in forming a more empathetic society, it is important to recognize that one’s willingness to accept others is shaped by their past experiences and upbringing.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." As a part of the society, it is unavoidable to enjoy the power and the privilege while experience the discrimination or micro-aggression both consciously or unconsciously. The sexual orientation and race is closely related to the power and the privilege. The perceptions of micro-aggression are largely based on the systems and situations that we are participating in. In this paper, I will talk about my relationship to the power and privilege, my experience with micro-aggression and my past and current perceptions of micro-aggression against LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual).

The presence of fear begins to reduce when students start to create a tolerant, inclusive social normality. This theory is discussed in a study conducted by Rebecca L. Stoltzer and Emily Hosselman. It is concluded that when looking at the pros and cons of a more diversely populated campus climate, these results insinuate a, “promising relationship between increased diversity in the student body and a reduced number of hate crimes on campus” (Stoltzer and Hosselman 654). It is Stoltzer and Hosselman that actually argue the investigation of how students rather than the institutions can reflect on campus climate. This can once again be completely traced back to student interpretation and how they choose to react or not react on those interpretations. This topic is also explored in an article by Raymond A. Winbush in which he pleads to, “Establish a campus committee involving high-level administrators and students from both the victimized group and popular campus organizations such as fraternities and sororities” as one of his do’s on a list of do’s and don’ts (Winbush par. 26). This is a great way in order to promote inclusion without instilling fear or blame on certain groups of

Micro-aggression is described as, “a subtle but offensive but offensive comment or action directed at a minority or other non-dominant group that is often unintentional or unconsciously reinforces a stereotype”. (Dictionary.com). Many people in the world are actually unaware of micro-aggressions, whether it’s actually receiving it or even handing it out. Micro aggression can be really discriminative and can also really do damage to a person. Some universities are actually trying to police these micro aggressive situations. Policing is defined as, “ Archaic regulation and control of the affairs of a community, especially with respect to maintenance of order, law, health, morals, safety, and other matters affecting the public welfare.” (Dictionary.com) Universities are really looking out for these micro aggressions, which really are a danger in society. Honestly

In the article “College students confront subtler forms of bias: slights and snubs”, by Teresa Watanabe and Jason Song, published by Los Angeles Times (November 12,2015) talks about “microaggression” and “victimhood culture”. Microaggression is verbal, nonverbal and environmental slights that communicate hostile towards others by their characteristics (race/beliefs). Watanabe and Song shows us that we have an increase of attention to microaggression in our society today. In my opinion, there has been a dramatic increase of microaggression today. However, it can also be part of victimhood culture.

Bourke (2010) mentions that Black students face many stereotypes based on myths that are held by White students. These stereotypes often lead to microaggressions. Participants in this study discussed situations where they were faced with racial slurs, followed around campus because of assumed threat, left out of important events or just misunderstood due to differences in cultural expression. These feelings often created an environment where Black students were reluctant to interact with White students. These microaggressions caused a level of stress that other students often do not understand. Caplan and Ford (2014) states that migroaggressions lead to feelings of insecurity, frustration, isolation, and powerlessness, which is consistent

Stephanie M. Wildman and Adrienne D. Davis are very convincing by having a well thought out essay, I do agree with them when the say "Building a sense of community across these power categories is our real challenge" (pg. 341). Communities are every where, and factions are developed because of human need to feel exclusive, when communities are able to communicate tolerably standards for tolerance are raised higher. When building a more general populace than divided residents there is more gray area to maneuver in so anybody can assimilate with everybody. Grand Valley State has already taken initiatives to crack down on -isms by always asking its students if they have been targets to intolerance and are active to resolve and prevent such discriminations.

Jones, are “acts that single a person out and mark them in a negative way.” An example of a micro-aggression is being followed in a store on suspicion of theft. Micro-aggressions in my opinion, are acts on prejudice thoughts and they are reasons that racism still exists today. Micro-aggression was mentioned in Dear White People, as a reason for many of the challenges Reggie faced on a daily basis, they showed just how singled out Reggie was, as not only an African American, but an African American man. I think that micro-aggression are what drive people to extreme circumstances, considered a macroaggression.

Besides the struggle that come with being able to fund their college education, the racial cognitions associated with the black race have led to ongoing racism and racial microaggressions that more so affects black women’s college experience at predominantly white institutions than historical black colleges and universities. D’Augelli and Hershberger conducted a survey of a pool of black students that resulted in “the majority (89%) of black students indicated having experience some sort of negative racial experience (harassment, racial remark, feelings of mistreatment, etc.) (Shabazz 2015).” Racial microaggressions (RMAs) refer to subtle, yet derogatory communications toward individuals of color (Chambers 2012). These racial microagressions are commonly seen in the academic settings at predominantly white institutions, which tend to perpetuate negative stereotypes. Studies suggest that RMAs remain commonly experienced by many non-White students. For blacks, an example stereotype that is typically expressed is the perception that black students are not intelligent by their classmates and professors. Within the study, a recurring experience for black women was that they were perceived as not being smart enough. Black students tend to form fraternities, sororities, and organizations within themselves to feel more valued whether that may be academically, personally, socially, or culturally. Within the classrooms, dorms, parties, or dining hall are example of places that

In Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) Claudia Rankine emphasizes on micro-aggression aimed at African-Americans. Rankine has combined the stories of countless people and extracted their core signification. A sense of being helpless, disregarded, and condemned by a society that doesn’t understand how to live together in a world where race is not of utmost importance. In every stanza, Rankine utilizes the power of poetry to continuously reiterate the message of all the unnamed souls scattered throughout her book. The lack of a table of contents and the use of a 2nd person pronoun creates a sense of wilderness. But at the same time, it also develops a constant connection between the reader and the story. Intentional or not micro-aggression is harmful. As it instills a sense of oppression that in the end it is answered by an expression of rage and disappointment.

not fit into a pre-determined cultural box or stereotype, and there are certain risks in

The article titled “Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life” really resonated with my experiences. During my field orientation, my field supervisor provided the interns with a handout on microaggressions. This handout was identical to table 2 on page 282. As we read the article, she asked if we were familiar with microaggressions. She also asked, how many of us had ever been waiting to be seated in a restaurant and was seated after another person that came later? Only the black people in the room raised their hands. She let us know that we must be aware of our personal biases, transference, and countertransference. Fortunately, this article further addressed Microaggressions and the different forms of Micro-aggressions like microinvalidation,

Another time I experienced microaggression was when a teacher keep making racial jokes in class. I remember the teacher said something like “does anyone want to hear a very good joke? There was a Muslim, a black and an Indian. The Muslim said… the black said…and the Indian said…” He would expect us to laugh at the joke. This would make me, as well as many students feel uncomfortable. We did not like that the teacher was making such jokes that degrade people’s

Bombarded with an enormous amount of information everyday, the human’s brain has evolved to make the most out of incoming inputs by grouping things with similar characteristics into the same category (Brewer, 2007; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010). As discussed in chapter 13, these categories act as heuristic pathways that aid our cognitive and memory retrieval processes so that we would be able to gain as much knowledge as possible about a stimuli. However, there are always tradeoffs. Though being able to work efficiently with these neurological shortcuts, our brain can easily make crucial mistakes, and it does so by turning categories into stereotypes - the assignment of certain traits of some individuals encountered in the past to all members of

Relational aggression (RA) is defined as nonphysical behaviors that aim to deliberately cause harm to another individual by destroying relationships, harming social status or self-esteem, or public embarrassment (Crick, Werner, Casas, O’Brien, Nelson, Grotpeter, & Markon, 1999). Examples include behaviors such as purposely ignoring a peer, spreading rumors, creating undesirable gossip, and excluding a peer from group activities, (Crick, 1996; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, 2006). RA can occur as early as preschool years, and plays a huge role in the interactions among this population with behaviors such as covering one’s ears as a sign of ignoring another peer (Bonica, Arnold, Fisher, Zeljo, & Yershova, 2003; Crick et al.,