In preparation for this weeks blog assignment I have paid close attention to interactions of those around me. I must admit that I was shocked at the multiple encounters of micro-aggressions I observed.
During my son's birthday party we were having a conversation about favorite foods and foods we dislike. My cousin (African American) said that he hates fried chicken. And my friend whose Mexican said "Really, I thought all black people ate fried chicken. That's like me not eating tacos". She was not malicious with the comment and meant no disrespect. In fact everyone laughed and continued with the conversation.
The next incident took place in the nail salon. An African American lady in her early twenties said to the nail tech "Dang, yo English fye. Hi long you been over seas". The young Korean girl said "Huh, I don't understand". The African American lady said with an attitude "hi long you been in the U.S.". the Korean girl then said "I was born here", with agitation in her voice. I must admit that I was upset and embarrassed by the entire situation. How dare she speak on someone's English when she could not even speak a proper sentence. then to top it off she was very disrespectful with her mannerism. I could not help but feel that she exhibited all of the negative characteristics of a stereotypical black person.
The observations from this week affirmed my beliefs that discrimination, prejudices, and stereotyping very much exist. Although everyone are not trying to intentionally hurt others, we must be aware of the power that our words and actions hold.
I have noticed the same type of microaggression towards Asian Americans in my community as well. People make disrespectful comments about their speech that can be very offensive. I learned the same lesson as you this week, which is that we have to be mindful of our words at all times. I believe words can hurt just a much as physical pain. Now that I am aware of my own biases, I can begin to change the way I think and speak about other groups.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing,
Krista
Hello,
ReplyDeleteMicroaggressions can be scarastic double meaning remarks that cna be taken as a direct offense or as a joke. I feel that in todays society, we use rasism, sexism...all the isms as jokes around friends to show that we will not take it seriously. It is a way to show that our friendship runs deeper than to get offended with comments like that. It is when peole we dont know or find them differnet than us when we begin to question if it is more than a joke and leading more to direct insult. Thanks for sharing your observations.
Hello Nashika,
ReplyDeleteDats amazing of the microagression that you observed in your life within a week. Its shows that microagression is a apart of our lifes and we did not put much concentration or emphasis on this issue, but its there. I have heard many people,make references that all African Americans eat chicken, and they are in suprise that we all do not eat chicken. I believe that prejudice and stereotyping definitely exists and people have to realize or be more conscious of what they say, so that they want hurt other people feelings.
Hi Nashika,
ReplyDeleteI too have noticed how people make sarcastic remarks towards others and everyone laughs like it is a joke, but in essence they may really mean it in a negative way. In my day, we called it a "Freudian Slip" taken from Sigmund Freud's analogy of saying something negative and then saying, "Oh I didn't really mean what I said" when they really deep down did mean it or feel that way.
Sally