MICROAGGRESSIONS WITH D.W SUE..

goal of micro challenge

immediately disarm, stop or challenge the biased behavior or statement of the individual because of its injurious nature.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS):

institutional/societal policies, programs, practices and structures. The SOPS may be applied equally to all groups, but serve to maintain the status quo.

Targets of micro interventions

marginalized group members who are objects of racial, gender or sexual orientation prejudice and discrimination expressed through micro/macroaggressions.

3 types of Microinterventions

(1) Microaffirmations (2) Microprotections (3) Microchallenges

White privilege pt2

(1) automatically confers dominance to one group, while subordinating groups of color in a descending relational hierarchy, ´(2) owes its existence to White supremacy, ´(3)) is premised on the mistaken notion of individual meritocracy and deservingness (hard work, family values, etc.) rather than favoritism, ´(4) is deeply embedded in the structural, systemic and cultural workings of U.S. society and (5) operates within an invisible veil of unspoken and protected secrecy

Environmental Microaggressions

(Macro-level) Racial assaults, insults and invalidations which are manifested on systemic and environmental levels.

Micro-assault

(Often Conscious) Explicit racial derogations characterized primarily by a violent verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through name-calling, avoidant behavior or purposeful discriminatory actions

Micro-insult

(Often Unconscious) Behavioral/verbal remarks or comments that convey rudeness, insensitivity and demean a person's racial heritage or identity.

Micro-validations

(Often Unconscious) Verbal comments or behaviors that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person of color.

micro challenges attempt to:

(a) stop or deflect the microaggression, (b) force the perpetrator to consider what they have said or done, (c) communicate disagreement or disapproval toward the behavior of the perpetrator.

perspicacity (micro interventions)

(the ability to see beyond the obvious, to read between the lines, and to deconstruct conscious communications from meta-communications). Perspicacity reassures targets that they are "not crazy", and that their perceptual reality is accurate. It also allows allies and bystanders to accurately perceive the situation or the hidden meta-communication. Thus they may be better able to offer social support and/or take needed interventions. Perspicacity is related to high context rather than low context analysis and communication

Pretense of Innocence

- BARRIER TO UNMASKING WHITE PRIVILEGE -As long as White Americans view racism, unfairness and discrimination as residing in individual acts, and that they did not overtly discriminate or consciously condone private acts of racism, they can alleviate guilt and responsibility for its existence. -a conspiracy among Whites to deny the pain and suffering experienced by people of color, but more importantly, to absolve them of personal responsibility for perpetuating injustice, and allows them to remain passive and inactive.

The White Out Phenomenon

- BARRIER TO UNMASKING WHITE PRIVILEGE -White privilege mimics the norms of fairness, justice, and equity by whiting out differences and perpetuating the belief in sameness. The denial of power imbalance, unearned privilege, and racist domination is couched in the rhetoric of equal treatment and equal opportunity.

Benefits of micro interventions

- they serve to enhance psychological well-being, and provide targets, allies and bystanders with a sense of control and self-efficacy. - They also provide a repertoire of responses that can be used to directly disarm or counteract the effects of microaggressions by challenging perpetrators. - Second, they are interpersonal tools that are intended to counteract, change or stop microaggressions by subtly or overtly confronting and educating the perpetrator.

Bystanders

-Bystanders can be anyone who become aware of and/or witness unjust behavior or practices that are worthy of comment or action. - individuals who may possess only a superficially developed or a nebulous awareness of racially biased behaviors, and of institutional policies and practices that are not fair to a person of color or racial group. - These individuals do not fall into the classes of targets or White allies but represent the largest plurality of people in society

examples of microchallenges

-Challenge and confront biased perpetrator behavior -Challenge and confront biases, policies and practices -Engage in social advocacy -Engage in civil disobedience

Examples of microprotections

-Develop racial literacy/critical consciousness -Promote ethnic pride -Prepare for racism

Systemic Manifestation of Macroaggressions

-Institutional and societal macroaggressions can be quite blatant or they can be hidden, considered fair, reasonable, and race-neutral in impact. -Macroaggressions act as an overarching umbrella that validates, supports, and enforces the manifestation of individual acts of racial microaggressions. -macroaggressions vary in terms of their visibility and conscious intentionality -

examples of SOPS

-Systemic societal forces that produce segregation, allowing only certain groups to purchase homes in affluent neighborhoods, resulting in differential worth of real estate. -Bank lending practices that consider credit worthiness on the basis of location, inevitably discriminating against minority communities. -Inequitable school financing in which property taxes of wealthy communities produce greater educational resources than poorer communities. - Biased curricula, textbooks and materials that reaffirm the identity of one group while denigrated others. -Educational testing that is normed and standardized on a White-middle-class population; the results are culturally biased test instruments used to track minority students into non-college bound classes. -Teachers and counselors with expectations, attitudes and racial perceptions that result in beliefs that students of color are less capable; often resulting in a self-fulfilling prophesy among minorities that it is true. -School tracking systems that may unfairly perpetuate inequities in education. -Hiring policies and practices that utilize the "old boy's network" to recruit and hire prospective employees.

Allies

Allies are individuals who belong to dominant social groups (e.g., Whites, males, heterosexuals) and, through their support of non-dominant groups (e.g., people of color, women, LGBTQ individuals), actively work towards the eradication of prejudicial practices they witness in both their personal and professional lives. Allies surpass individuals who simply refrain from engaging in overt sexist, racist, ethnocentrist, or heterosexist behaviors (nonracist); but rather, they are motivated to take action at the interpersonal and institutional levels by actively promoting the rights of the oppressed. Like targets, allyship development involves internal and painful self-reckoning, and a commitment to external action.

COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE: Predicated On Favoritism Rather Than Meritocracy vs. "The Most Qualified Ought To Get The Job"

-the ultimate illusion of meritocracy, that those who occupy a favored position achieved their status through individual effort and merit alone. - If we accept the concept of White privilege, then we must entertain the more realistic notion that many White folks did not succeed because of superior ability, but due to favoritism.

The strategic goals of microinterventions

1) Make the "invisible" visible. (2) Disarm the microaggression. (3) Educate the offender about the meta- communications they send. (4) Seek external support when needed.

Overcoming Microaggressions

1. Acknowledge and accept the fact that you are a product of cultural conditioning and have inherited the biases, fears, stereotypes of your ancestors. 2. Understand yourself as a racial/cultural being by making the "invisible," visible. Race, culture and ethnicity is a function of each and everyone of us. It is not just a "minority" thing. 3. Be open and honest about your vulnerabilities. 4. Monitor and make sense of your emotional reactions. 5. Everyone commits racial, gender, and sexual orientation blunders. Don't become defensive. Recover, not cover up!

Strategic goal 4: seeking support/ reinforcement (Tactics)

1. Alert Leadership. 2. Report Incident. 3. Seek Therapy/Counseling. 4. Seek Spirituality/Religion/Community Support. 5. Establish a Buddy System. 6. Establish or Join a Support Group.

Making the invisible visible: Tactics or Best Practices

1. Develop Perspicacity 2. Disempower the innuendo by naming it. 3. Undermine the meta-communication. 4. Challenge the stereotype 5. Broaden the ascribed trait 6. Ask for clarification of a statement or action. 7. Make the meta-communication explicit via restatement/rephrasing 8. Reverse and restate the compliment, action, and role as if it was meant for the perpetrator.

"Catch-22" of responding to microaggressions: level 1

1. First, the person must determine whether a microaggression has occurred. People of color rely heavily on experiential reality that is contextual in nature and involves life experiences from a variety of situations. To people of color, connecting the dots suggest it is a nonrandom event. Whites evaluate the incident in isolation and fail to see a pattern of bias, are defended by a belief in their own morality, and can in good conscience deny that they discriminated.

Strategic Goal # 3: Educate the Offender tactics

1. Help microaggressors differentiate between good intent and harmful impact. 2. Contradict the group-based stereotype with opposing evidence by personalizing it to specific individuals. 3. Appeal to the offender's values and principles. 4. Point out the commonalities. 5. Promote empathy. 6. Point out how they benefit.

Strategies for Intervention

1. Individual Level 2. Institutional Level 3. Societal Level 4. Cultural Level

Individual level of intervention

1. Individual Level - The goal here is to change attitudes, beliefs, emotions and behaviors that are prejudicial and fraught with explicit and implicit biases. (Microaggressions)

Strategic Goal # 2: Disarm the Microaggression :objectives

1. Instantly stop or deflect the micro/macroaggression. 2. Force the perpetrator to immediately consider what they have just said or done. 3. Communicate your disagreement or disapproval towards the perpetrator actions in the moment.

Societal Level

goal here is to challenge and change societal programs, policies, practices and structures that deny equal access and opportunities through social policy. (Macroaggressions)

6 BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

1. We have been socialized into a society in which there exists individual, institutional and societal biases associated with race, gender and sexual orientation 2. None of us are immune from inheriting the biases of our ancestors, institutions and society 3. It is not "old-fashioned" racism, sexism and heterosexism that is most harmful to people of color, women and LGBT persons but the contemporary forms known as microaggressions. 4. 4. The characteristics of these forms of bias are their invisible, unintentional and subtle nature; usually outside the level of conscious awareness. 5. Racial, gender and sexual orientation microaggressions create psychological dilemmas for the perpetrator and recipient because they represent a clash of racial, gender and sexual orientation realities. 6. Microaggressions create a hostile and invalidating climate for marginalized groups, saps their spiritual and psychic energies, and their cumulative nature can result in depression, frustration, anger, rage, loss of self esteem, anxiety, etc.

Disarming the micro aggressions Tactics or Best Practices:

1.Interrupt the communication and redirect it. 2. State values and set limits. 3. Express disagreement. 4. Describe what is happening. 5. Use an exclamatory short expression. 6. Remind them of the rules.

Examples of Micro invalidations

Alien in Own Land- Belief that visible racial/ethnic minority citizens are foreigners. Color Blindness- Denial or pretense that a White person does not see color or race. Myth of Meritocracy- Statements which assert that race plays a minor role in life success. Denial of Individual Racism- Denial of personal racism or one's role in its perpetuation.

What does it mean to be white?

Being socialized into a world of White supremacy. To inherit and benefit from a world of White privilege. To knowingly or unknowingly have a stake in the perpetuation of White racism. Denying the reality of people of color and defining it from a White perspective. To be oblivious to your own biases and prejudices To be right. To possess the luxury of not exploring yourself as a racial/cultural being. Being able to equate a "human being" with being White. Being an oppressor with the power to force your will upon persons of color. More importantly, being a White American means living in a world of self-deception, a world in which your skin color is an asset while all other colors are a liability.

Racial Microaggressions

Commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults.

"Catch-22" of responding to microaggressions: level 2

Deciding to do nothing by sitting on one's anger is one response. This response can occur because recipients may (a) be unable to determine whether a microaggression has occurred, (b) be at a loss of how to respond, (c) rationalize that "it won't do any good anyway", (d) engage in self-deception through denial - "It didn't happen," (e) determine the consequences are too great or (f) rescue or protect the offender. While these explanations for non-response may hold validity to the person of color, not doing anything has potential psychological harm. It may mean a denial of one's experiential reality, dealing with a loss of integrity, or dealing with pent up anger and frustration likely to take both a psychological and physical toll.

Micro challenges

Direct action that challenges and attempts to disarm, end, neutralize, or deflect the biased behavior or policy. They are much more forceful and confrontational forms to combat discrimination and bias.

Microprotections

Everyday actions from parents or influential figures that (a) teach the young to understand the reality of racism, (b) send messages or engage in actions that promote ethnic pride, and (c) equip them with the tools to deal with bias and discrimination

4 levels of racism

Individual, institutional, cultural, environmental

Pathologizing cultural values/communication styles

Notion that the values and communication styles of people of color are abnormal example of a micro insult

Strategic Goal # 1: Make the "Invisible" Visible

Objectives: 1. Bring the micro/macroaggression to the forefront of the person's awareness. 3. Indicate to the perpetrator that they have behaved or said something offensive to you or others. 4. Force the perpetrator to consider the impact and meaning of what was said/done or, in the case of the bystander, what was not said/done. Rationale: 1. Allows targets, allies and bystanders to verbally describe what is happening in a nonthreatening manner. 2. When allies and bystanders intervene, reassures targets that they are not "crazy" and that their experiences are valid. 3. When those with power and privilege respond, may have greater impact on perpetrator.

Strategic goal 3: Educating the offender (objectives and rational)

Objectives: 1. Engage in a one-on-one dialogue with the perpetrator to indicate how and why their behavior is offensive to you and others. 2. Facilitate a possible more enlightening conversation and exploration of the perpetrator's biases. 3. Encourage the perpetrator to explore the origins of their believes and attitudes toward targets. Rationale: 1. Allows targets, allies and bystanders the opportunity to express their experiences while maintaining a relationship with the offender. 2. Lowers the defense of the perpetrator and helps them recognize the harmful impact. 3. Perpetrator becomes keen to microaggressions committed by those within their social circle and educates others.

Strategic goal 4: seeking support/ reinforcement (objectives and rationale)

Objectives: 1. Partake in regular self-care to maintain psychological and physical wellness. 2. Check in with self and others to ensure optimal levels of functioning. 3. Send a message to perpetrators at large that bigoted behavior will not be tolerated or accepted. Rationale: 1. Mitigates impact of psychological and physiological harm associated with continual and cumulative exposure to microaggressions. 2. Reminds targets, allies, and bystanders that they are not alone in the battle. 3. Ensures situations of discrimination or bias do not go unnoticed.

Microaffirmations

Small acts that validate and affirm a person's humanity, racial/cultural identity, experiential reality, and worth or value. They make a person feel welcomed, seen, heard, respected, valued, supported, and affirmed. ex: Microcompliments, Microsupports, Microvalidations

Cultural level of micro intervention

The goal here is to challenge ethnocentric monoculturalism or the expression of the superiority of one group's cultural heritage over another (i e., religion, language, traditions, arts, crafts, holidays, values and worldview) and to move toward multiculturalism. (Ethnocentric Monoculturalism)

Institutional level of intervention

The goal here is to change or create new programs, policies, practices and structures in organizations that deny equal access and opportunity. (Macroaggressions)

Dilemma Two: The Invisibility of Unintentional Expressions of Bias.

The perpetrator of a microaggression is usually sincere in the belief they acted without racial bias. The most accurate assessment about whether racist acts have occurred in a particular situation is most likely to be made from those most disempowered rather than those who enjoy the privileges of "power"

Dilemma One: Clash of racial realities.

The racial reality of people of color is different from the racial reality of White Americans.

whiteness in relation to microaggressions

Themes from Sue's Study -Never thought about being White because it's unimportant. People are individuals and color isn't important. - Denial and/or conflicted about being White. Unable to indicate any thing more than superficial understanding of ethnic meaning. Expresses annoyance at the question. - Never thinks about being White. Defensive about prejudicial associations with whiteness. Desires to eliminate or dilute race differences. Believes people are people and everyone should be proud to be American. -Believes question stereotypes Whites and expresses resentment with being categorized. Views White people as ethnic groups. Expresses belief that anyone can be successful if they work hard. Believes African Americans are lazy and that Asian Americans are successful. Strong anger directed toward minority groups. -Being White means you view minorities as less competent and capable. You have the power to define reality. You can deceive yourself into believing you're not prejudiced.

Dilemma Four: The Catch-22 of Responding to Microaggressions.

When a microaggression occurs, the recipient is usually placed in a Catch-22. The immediate reaction might be a series of questions: "Did what I think happen, really happen? Was this a deliberate act or an unintentional slight? How should I respond? Sit and stew on it or confront the person? What are the consequences if I do? If I bring the topic up, how do I prove it? Is it really worth the effort? Should I just drop the matter?

Dilemma Three: Perceived Minimal Harm of Racial Microaggressions.

When individuals are confronted with their microaggressive behaviors, the perpetrator usually believes that the victim has overreacted, is being overly sensitive and/or petty. Usually, Whites consider microaggressive incidents to be minor and people of color are encouraged (by Whites and oftentimes by other people of color) to "not waste time or effort on it." "Let it go!" However, microagressions are associated with a negative racial climate and emotions of self-doubt, frustration, and isolation. While microaggressions may be seemingly innocuous and insignificant, their effects can be quite dramatic (psychological well-being and inequities in health care, education, and employment.

living A False White Reality

White Americans have power precisely because they are able to define reality. ´Black people are over-represented in the media as criminals, underrepresented as victims in proportion to the true crime statistics for their race. ´ ´This imbalance in coverage creates a situation where persons of color are inaccurately perceived while Whites are "law abiding". Indeed, the term "young Black male" has become synonymous with criminal.

COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE: Exists on White Supremacy vs. "I'm Not Responsible For The Oppression Of Others"

White privilege could not exist without White supremacy. White supremacy as a doctrine of racial superiority that justifies discrimination, segregation and domination of persons of color based upon an ideology and belief system that considers all other non-White groups inferior. They are manifested not just in individual acts of bias and discrimination, but also in the very institutional and cultural foundations of our society.

WHITE PRIVILEGE

White privilege is the unearned advantages and benefits that accrue to White folks by virtue of a system normed on the experiences, values, and perceptions of their group.

COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE: Automatically Confers Dominance vs. "I Made It On My Own"

because we live in a society normed and standardized on White EuroAmerican values, most of the structures, policies and practices of our institutions are situated in such a manner as to pave the road for White folks while creating obstacles for other groups.

MICROAGGRESSIONS

brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights, invalidations, and insults to an individual or group because of their marginalized status in society.

micro supports

communications that are provided in situations where the person feels unwelcome or "invisible." It may also communicate to targets or socially devalued groups that they are valued, understood, and not alone.

microvalidations

communications that express appreciation for the lived realities of people of color, their thoughts, abilities and feelings

microinterventions

everyday anti-bias actions taken by targets, parents/significant others, allies, and well intentioned bystanders to counteract, challenge, diminish, or neutralize individual (microaggressions) and the institutional/societal (macroaggressions) expressions of prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.

micro compliments

statements or actions that imply praise, admiration and respect for the person's identity, heritage, or for taking courageous actions in the face of trying and difficult times.

Macroaggressions

the active manifestation of systemic or institutional biases that reside in the customs, philosophy, policies, programs, practices and structures of institutions and communities directed at whole groups or classes of people.

Macro impact of micro interventions

the everyday interventions of allies and well-intentioned bystanders have a profound environmental and contextual positive impact in creating an inclusive and welcoming environment, discouraging negative behavior, challenging false consensus, and reinforcing a norm that values respectful interactions. microinterventions can have a macro-impact by creating a societal climate in public forums, employment settings, and educational institutions that encourage the positive and discourage the negative.

Micro aggressions Vs. Macro Aggressions

the manifestation of microaggressions resides in the biased attitudes and behaviors of an individual (the perpetrator) VS macroaggressions reside in the biased programs, policies, practices and customs of institutions, communities, and society. Microaggressions are generally directed toward a specific individual target, VS macroaggressions are group-focused and affect an entire socially marginalized class of people. Remedying microaggressions involves changing or neutralizing the bigotry of the person VS combatting macroaggressions means altering institutional policies and practices that oppress and deny equal access and opportunity to marginalized groups.

"Catch-22" of responding to microaggressions: level 3

third, responding with anger and striking back is likely to engender negative consequences for persons of color as well. They are likely to be accused of being racially oversensitive, paranoid or that their emotional outbursts confirm stereotypes about minorities. In this case while feeling better in the immediate moment by relieving pent-up emotions, the reality is that the general situation has not been changed. In essence, the Catch-22 means you are "damned if you do, and damned if you don't".

whiteness and humanity/universal identity

´"Differences are divisive, so lets avoid acknowledging them and seek out our commonalities. I'm uncomfortable with racial differences, so lets pretend they don't exist. To keep me comfortable, just pretend to be White. Meet me on my ground and we'll do fine." ´According to this stance, being a human being or an American are the same as being White. Whiteness surrounds the use of these terms and on a conscious and unconscious level, there is an aversion to seeing race, color or differences.

WHITE REACTIONS TO WHITENESS

´(1) often find the question perplexing, ´(2) would rather not think about their whiteness, ´ ´(3) are uncomfortable or react negatively to being labeled "White", ´ ´(4) deny its importance in affecting their lives, and ´ ´(5) seem to believe that they are unjustifiably accused of being bigoted by virtue of being White.

COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE: The Unspoken and Protected Secret vs. "We Should Be A Color-Blind Society"

´The "invisible whiteness of being" maintains its viability precisely because it is a protected and seldom spoken secret, where racial issues and color are diluted, ignored, or considered irrelevant. ´Many White Americans have distorted and or conveniently used color-blindness as a means of color denial or, more accurately, power denial. ´ ´An understanding of White privilege ultimately unmasks a dirty secret kept hidden by White Americans: much of what they have attained is unearned, and even if they are not overtly racist, Whites cannot choose to relinquish benefits from it.

WHITENESS AND COLOR BLINDNESS AS A DEFAULT KEY

´The pretense by White Americans of not seeing color is motivated by the need to appear free of bias and prejudice, fears that what they say or do may appear racist, or an attempt to cover up hidden biases. ´ To be color blind not only denies the central importance of racial differences in the psychological experience of minorities (racism and discrimination), but also allows the White person to deny how his or her whiteness intrudes upon the person of color

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF WHITE PRIVILEGE

´White privilege continues to be a taboo topic for White people in our society. It is an unacknowledged secret that is overtly and covertly denied and protected through the use of self-deception. ´ ´ It protects White folks from realizing that they benefit from racism; as long as it is hidden from consciousness, they can maintain the illusion that they are not responsible for the state of race relations because they do not knowingly engage in racist behaviors. ´The invisible nature of White privilege serves to keep Whites comfortable, confident and relatively oblivious to how it has the opposite effects on persons of color; harms, intimidates, oppresses, alienates, and makes for discomfort. ´Making the "invisible" visible is the first step toward dismantling the unfair and harmful nature of White privilege. The deconstruction of White privilege requires an analysis of its five basic components.

COMPONENTS OF WHITE PRIVILEGE: "Embedded Systemically In Society vs. "The Cream Always Rises To The Top"

´White privilege is not confined to just the individual perceptions or actions of EuroAmericans. Discriminatory benefits that favor Whites are seen in all facets of our society: bank lending practices, access to health care, housing, jobs, education, media portrayals, law enforcement, and court decisions that mete out justice. ´The existence of institutional racism shields the operation of White privilege through standard operating procedures (SOPS), which represent the rules, habits, procedures and structures of organizations that oppress persons of color while favoring Whites.

individual manifestations of macroaggressions

´people act as agents of institutions by practicing and applying their biased rules and regulations. ´Macroaggressions are most likely meted out by people in positions of power, authority or leadership: ´employers who decide who to hire, fire, retain and promote; ´judges who make judicial rulings about the fate of defendants; ´educators who administer school policies that affect curriculum and acquisition of knowledge; ´politicians who pass laws and social policies; ´and health care providers who determine the quality and quantity of care for patients or clients.