Microaggressions are those small annoying
and degrading insults that can devalue the recipient. Sometimes it’s
administered intentional and sometimes unintentional as Dr. Sue explains (Laureate,
2011). As a person of color I am constantly plagued with some type of
microaggression verbal, behavioral, or environmental.
One of my memorable incidents
happened in my neighborhood. A new family moved in a house across the street
from our home. The husband was Caucasian as the majority of the subdivision
residence, and his wife’s features are of Native American Indian. I never asked
her Nationality because I didn’t want to be rude or unkind. After meeting the
husband, I soon met his wife. Our conversation was one of a thousand questions
she proceeded to ask me. One of her questions was what were we doing there, and
how did we find this neighborhood? I kindly answered her because I wasn’t entertaining
the idea that this lady could be having a problem with someone like me as her
neighbor. I was passive and accepting of her obvious puzzled and disagreement
of me living there. It didn’t matter that she moved into my neighborhood. I
watched her house and many others be built from the foundation to the
appliances and the fancy front door that finished the house. I even walked
through the house way before they moved in.
My new neighbor exercised what Dr.
Sue describes as microassault and microinsults to me (Laureate, 2011). She was
attempting to devalue me and take power over me by hidden racial assaults and insults
that said I didn’t belong there and I have no business living in that type of
neighborhood.
Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011).
Microaggressions in everyday life [video file].
Darlene, is this your house and neighbourhood? What a lovely place! I think you managed your conversation well with your neighbour. In many ways, many people seem to judge people of colour, including myself so quickly without looking into the deep culture. I think with our sense of awareness, we can help others to become aware of their unconscious micro-agressive remarks if we do not let opportunities pass and point out the insult right away, we help them become self-aware.
ReplyDeleteThank you Pamela, and yes this is my house, I used to sit under that water fall, but we moved 1 1/2 year ago. This is were I lived when having that unfortunate incidents :-[
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