This
week after learning what microaggression was I started to be more aware about
the world around me. I was watching a
movie on how a man could trade places and become the other person. There was a brief encounter with an African
American male who was presented as angry, argumentative, abrasive and
forceful. The Caucasian man who could
switch places was scared of the man. The
day when he could replace the other person, he became an African American man
and presented himself as angry and forceful to get something from a Caucasian
man. The Caucasian man gave the African
American what he wanted. The man who
could switch places was shocked that this worked.
I
was unfortunately not shocked by the portrayal but sadden to see that even on
television this is how African American males are viewed. Often this is the case of how African
American males are seen in the world.
Being a mother of two boys that are African Americans has me worrying
about how they will be viewed or treated in this world. As a
parent I try to stay optimistic that my children will be viewed as young men who
can do great things in this world. I do
not want them to be stereotyped as what the media or others think of African
American males. Watching the multimedia
segment Microaggressions in everyday life
I learned that according to Dr. Derald Wing Sue, microaggressions are “brief
everyday indignities which may be verbal, behaviors or environmental” (Laureate,
2011). I know that after I viewed the
video I am much more aware of what I say and do can affect others. I hope that more people in the world will also
be educated on microaggressions and how they can affect people in life whether
it is unintentional or not.
Daphine,
ReplyDeleteI get so upset on how African American males are portrayed, especially in the media. We have so much going on in this world and this particular stereotype has been in the news a lot lately. It is sad and unfortunate that you have to worry about how your boys are going to be portrayed as young, African American males. What is even more sad is you have to have these conversations with them to ensure that they "behave" or "act" a certain way so they aren't stereotyped and remain safe. I had to have a similar conversation with my 16 year old step son. He looked at me as if I was playing around but I had to put my foot down and explain to him that this is a serious conversation. Young black boys these days are a target so I needed him to understand this and be mindful of it. It is sad that this is the world we live in but if we want our young boys safe, these conversations need to happen.
Great post Daphine, I too am raising an African American male child who is now 18, and have experience a lot of microaggression from people who were not like him. I can say that word now "microaggression" because now I know what it means. My husband is Caucasian, German descent and he does not know how to relate to him because he has never experience what African American males go through on a nearly daily bases. I think with conversations like these will help, by educating one person at a time. I am grateful for this class, my peers and this assignment.
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