Related To Microaggressions

Introduction

The current day of our present society generally frowns upon acts of racism, and many believe that racism has died down for the most part. However, an underlying racism lies in everyday interactions and situations with significant implications. I discuss the topic of unconscious biases in relation to microaggressions. Microaggressions can be explained as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of colour because they belong to a racial minority group” (Sue et al. 1) They are subtle and often are unintentional. Although this concept can be applied to all ethnicities, I will mainly focus on the ways that these biases can be expressed, specifically towards Asians and Blacks. I have categorized three ways

The physical act of visual contact demonstrates increased attraction, intimacy and respect (Davidio 95). On the other hand, frequent blinking means a negative attraction. Dovidio investigated interracial interactions by videotaping a Black and White person discussing a neutral topic. The results concluded that White participants described their interactions as positive whereas Black participants felt they had a negative experience. The reason was that Blacks “attend to both the spontaneous (eg. nonverbal) and the deliberative (e.g., verbal) behaviours of Whites” (96) The discrepancy in experience for both participants shows that Whites are oblivious to the actual effect felt by Blacks when engaged in conversation. As evident, Whites do not feel the effects of implicit biases and are unaware of their unconscious visual

Although it may seem that one small incident can be minuscule, the effects have slowly been built from these biases. Whites that display microaggressions, address their explicit racism and feel satisfied that they are not exemplifying any prejudice. They are unknowing of their implicit intentions, but it is apparent to people of colour. As a result, there is a built up of distrust, misperception and miscommunication in regards to White people. (Dovidio 89) In Sue’s essay the theme of “Denial of Racial Reality” is especially true for Asians. One encounter by a White person said that “Asians are the new Whites” The White person may not understand the offence taken towards something that they had said. People can also be considered “sensitive” if confronted the situation. (Sue 78) Thus, microaggressions are hard to openly call out since they could be accused of overreacting and may elicit no reactions towards the White