A microaggression can be a verbal, behavioral, environmental, conscience or unconscious insulting message that inflicts severe psychological stress and harm; it reflects views of inferiority, superiority, inclusion and exclusion (Laureate Education, 2011). This week I was challenged with the task of providing an example of at least one microaggression that I have witnessed. I decided to make a conscience effort to pay close attention to all communication that was happening around me so that I can pick up on any microagressive behaviors. I was able to witness several situations where someone was using a mircoaggression unintentionally. 

I was shocked by the microaggressive behavior shown by one of my colleagues who came to visit my classroom. One of my lead peer trainers trains me to provide professional development to my colleagues. We were selecting a date for my next professional development so that she could come and observe me. When I gave her the date and the time, she said, "We should make this 30 minutes earlier because you know we are training 'our people' so we need to schedule an earlier time." She was referring to fact that we are both African American and majority of the staff are African American and are stereotypically always late. The form of microaggression that was witnessed was mircoinsult because she unintentionally used a stereotype to commonly generalize a group of people. What was interesting about this to me was the fact that she was being racist against herself. I was immediately offended, but did not address how I felt because I did not know how to approach the situation. I was shocked that someone that I admire and look up to for professional guidance would use such a term and plan a professional development training based off a stereotype. I do not feel that she meant to offend anyone, but unfortunately I was offended and disappointed by her actions. I was more disappointed with myself because I froze and did not know how to respond in a way that would not make endanger my career.         

Based on this observation, I realized that within a particular social identity that prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes of people can manifest. It is sad to think that another Black person will use stereotypes to judge other black people, but this example is a clear indicator that it can happen. This experience has left me with a lot of questions like: Why didn't I say something? What could I have said? Would I have been considered being too sensitive or overly aggressive? How would this impact my professional career? I know at that very moment I was left powerless and could not express how that comment made me feel. This was an interesting experience, one that I would not have recognize until this class. This was an eye-opening experience that helped to make me more consciously aware of microaggressions that exist . 

Reference 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu