Microaggressions in the College Classroom: Recognizing and

Responding to IncidentsPresentation

By Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D.

Teachers College, Columbia University

Statement of the Problem

What are microaggressions?

How do they trigger difficult dialogues on race?

Why is it so difficult for students and faculty to honestly dialogue on topics like race?

Why do students and teachers alike become so guarded and

uncomfortable when racial topics are raised in and outside of the classroom?

Do Students of Color and White students perceive dialogues on race differently from one another?

How can educators learn to become comfortable when addressing race issues and what effective strategies can be used to facilitate a difficult dialogue?

Racial Microaggressions

Racial microaggressions can be defined as 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 race.

Microaggressions are “subtle, stunning, often automatic, and verbal and non-verbal exchanges which are ‘put downs’. They have also been described as subtle insults delivered through dismissive looks, gestures and tones (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously.

Racial Microaggressions

Simply stated, microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group.

In the classroom, students of color often describe microaggressions as a pattern of being overlooked, under-respected and devalued because of their race.

When racial microaggressions occur, they present a highly charged racial situation that challenges both teacher and students alike.

The perpetrators (whether teachers or other students) are often unaware that a microaggressive event, incident or communication has occurred. They may, however, sense that something is brewing but be unable to identify or articulate it.

Harmful Impact

Studies reveal, that racial microaggressions, while seemingly trivial in nature have major consequences for persons of color because they:

(a) assail the mental health of recipients (Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008),

(b) create a hostile and invalidating campus climate (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000),

(c) perpetuate stereotype threat (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002),

(d) create physical health problems (Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999),

(e) saturate the broader society with cues that signal devaluation of social group identities (Purdie-Vaughns, Steele, Davies, & Ditlmann, 2008),

(f) lower work productivity and problem solving abilities (Dovidio, 2001; Salvatore & Shelton, 2007).

(g) and are responsible for creating inequities in education, employment and health care (Purdie-Vaughns, et al, 2008; Sue, 2010).

Far from being benign slights, racial microaggressions have major detrimental consequences for people of color.

Racial MicroaggressionsCommonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile,

derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults.

Microinsult(Often Unconscious)

Behavioral/verbal remarks or comments that convey rudeness, insensitivity and demean a person’s racial heritage or identity.

Microassault(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

Microinvalidation(Often Unconscious)

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

Environmental Microaggressions

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

Figure 1 – Categories and Relationship of Racial Microaggressions

Ascription of IntelligenceAssigning a degree of intelligence to a person of color based on their race.Second Class CitizenTreated as a lesser person or group.Pathologizing cultural values/communication stylesNotion that the values and communication styles of people of color are abnormalAssumption of Criminal statusPresumed to be a criminal, dangerous, or deviant based on race.

Alien in Own LandBelief that visible racial/ethnic minority citizens are foreigners.Color BlindnessDenial or pretense that a White person does not see color or race.Myth of MeritocracyStatements which assert that race plays a minor role in life success. Denial of Individual RacismDenial of personal racism or one’s role in its perpetuation.

Definition of Difficult Dialogue

Difficult dialogues on race are likely to occur when interpersonal encounters

(a) highlight major differences in worldviews, personalities and perspectives,

(b) are challenged publicly,

(c) are found to be offensive to others,

(a) may reveal uncomfortable personal racial biases and prejudices, and

(b) arouse or trigger intense emotional responses.

Difficult dialogues on race are made more difficult when they

(a) Involve an unequal status relationship of power and privilege between the participants, and

(b) Contain a hidden disparaging message to People of Color (racial microaggression) who find them offensive, triggering intense emotional responses.

The explosive nature of difficult dialogues makes it hard for participants to understand one another’s points of view. Any individual or group engaged in a difficult dialogue feels at risk for potentially disclosing intimate thoughts, beliefs or feelings related to the topic of race.

Reactions to a Difficult Dialogue

Our studies tend to reveal that most well-intentioned teachers are ill-prepared to facilitate such dialogues among students, and interestingly, themselves as well.

Because “emotional hot buttons” are likely to be pushed in

people, teachers often confess that they do not know how to deal with the situation and experience considerable discomfort and anxiety over broaching a racial topic.

They may halt a discussion in the classroom when intense feelings make teachers believe the debate may get out of control or when they themselves become uncomfortable with the dialogue. (“Let’s table the discussion for now. Calm down everyone; Let’s respect one another’s points of view. Why don’t we talk about this matter in my office?”)

Rather than facilitate a discussion, they act in ways to ignore, dilute, diminish, or cut off the dialogue. Ironically, cutting off or avoiding a difficult dialogue often increases the tensions and anxieties of the players involved by creating the “invisible elephant in the room”.

What Makes Dialogues on Race Difficult for Faculty and Students of Color?

Race is an intimate part of racial/cultural identity. Students of color often feel shut off from discussing how it impacts their lives in this society.

Raising race issues come with fears of being accused of being “being oversensitive,” “paranoid” and having them dismissed as illegitimate issues.

Imposition of EuroAmerican racial reality and the power to define reality.

“Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

What Makes Dialogues on Race Difficult for White People?

1. Fear of Appearing Racist.

2. Fear of Realizing their Racism.

3. Fear of Confronting White Privilege.

4. Fear of Taking Personal Responsibility to End Racism

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

1. First and foremost, you must understand yourself as a racial/cultural being by making the “invisible, visible”.

What does it mean to be White, Black/African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Latino/Hispanic American or Native American?

You cannot be an effective facilitator if you are not aware of your own values, biases and assumptions about human behavior.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

2. On an intellectual/cognitive level, you must be able to acknowledge and accept the fact that you are a product of the cultural conditioning of this society and, as such, you have inherited the biases, fears, stereotypes of your ancestors. This honest acknowledgement does several things:

(a) It frees you from the constant guardedness and vigilance exercised in denying your own racism, sexism and other biases;

(b) You can use it to model truthfulness, openness, and honesty

to students on conversations about race and racism;

(c) You communicate your courage in making yourself vulnerable by taking a risk to share with students your own biases, limitations and attempts to deal with your own racism; and

(d) It may encourage other students to approach the topic with honesty, because their own professor is equally “flawed”.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

3. On an emotional level, it is best if you are comfortable in discussing issues of race and racism, and/or being open, honest and vulnerable to exploring your own biases and those of students. If students sense you are uncomfortable, it will only add fuel to their own discomfort and defenses.

Attaining comfort means practice outside of the classroom. Remember addressing your own personal biases is more than an intellectual exercise of going to training sessions like the one today.

Most suggestions to achieve this goal is to focus on lived reality experiences that require interaction and dialogue with people who differ from you in race, culture and ethnicity. It means placing yourself in situations that will make you uncomfortable.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

4. Do not deny or avoid feelings of discomfort, anxiety and defensiveness. Rather, try to make sense of them and what they say about you.

This means the ability to monitor and attribute meaning to your own feelings and emotional reactions as well as those of students.

Emotive responses are often what are called “emotional roadblocks” to having a successful difficult dialogue.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

EMOTIONAL ROADBLOCKS:

1. I FEEL GUILTY. “I could be doing more.”

2. I FEEL ANGRY. “I don’t like to feel I’m wrong.”

3. I FEEL DEFENSIVE. “Why blame me, I do enough already.”

4. I FEEL TURNED OFF. “I have other priorities in life.”

5. I FEEL HELPLESS. “The problem is too big…What can I do?”

6. I FEEL AFRAID. “I’m going to lose something.” “I don’t know what will happen.”

If you experience these feelings, acknowledge them to yourself and to the group even if it does not make sense then. By doing so, anxiety or confusion is lessened. Teach and encourage your students to do it as well.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

5. Control the process and not the content in a difficult dialogue. When a heated dialogue occurs on race, the duel between students is nearly always at the content level. When referring to dreams, Freud took the stand that the manifest content (conscious level) is not the “real” or latent content of the unconscious. Some common statements when racism is discussed from White students to students of color are:

“So what, we women are oppressed to!”

“My family didn’t own slaves. I had nothing to do with the incarceration of Japanese Americans or the taking away of lands from Native Americans.”

“Excuse me sir, but prejudice and oppression were and are part of every

society in the world ad infinitum, not just the U.S.”

“We Italians (Irish) experienced severe discrimination when we arrived here. Did my family harp on the prejudice? We excelled despite the prejudice? Why? Because the basic founding principles of this country made it possible!”

“I resent you calling me White. You are equally guilty of stereotyping. We are all human beings or we are unique.”

Can you analyze these statements from both the content and process levels?

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

6. Unmask the difficult dialogue by (a) acknowledging the accuracy of statements (when appropriate), (b) intervening in the process rather than the content (c) helping students see the difference between intention and impact, and (d) moving to the feeling tone level of the communication.

(a) While these statements are to most extent “true”, they can hinder a successful dialogue by covering up the real dialogue. By agreeing with the statement, it no longer becomes the distraction and allows the facilitator to focus on the real issues, feelings and conflicts in worldview.

(b) Do not get “sucked into the dialogue” by taking sides in the debate of content. Rather intervene in the process by directing students to examine their own reactions and feelings. Encourage them to explore how their feelings may be saying something about them.

(c) The blame game creates monologues. Help students differentiate between their intention and the impact. When a White female student says “So what, we women are oppressed as well!” What was the intention and impact?

(d) Refocus the dialogue to feelings. “I wonder if you can tell me how and what you are feeling.” Teacher: “John (Black student) has just agreed with you that women are an oppressed group. Does that make you feel better? (Usually the student says “no”.) “No, I wonder why not?” (Try to help the student to explore why the feelings are still there. If there is continued difficulty, enlist speculation from the whole class. The last option is that you, the teacher make the observation or interpretation.)

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

7. When a difficult dialogue occurs and an impasse seems to have been reached, do not allow it to be brewed in silence. The facilitator has three options:

(a) tell the class that you want the group to take it up at the

next meeting after everyone has had time to process their thoughts and feelings;

(b) personally intervene by using interpersonal recall, microtraining, or any number of relationship models that attempt to have students listen, observe and reflect or paraphrase back to one another; or

(c) enlist the aid of the class members.

This latter technique is very useful because it actively involves other members of the class by asking: “What do you see happening between John and Mary?”

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

8. Express appreciation and validation to the members and class for their courage, openness and willingness to risk participating in a difficult dialogue. This should be done throughout the event.

“Mary, I know this has been a very emotional experience for you, but I value your courage in sharing with the group your personal thoughts and feelings.” I hope I can be equally brave when topics of sexism or homophobia are brought up in this class”.

“As a class, we have just experienced a difficult dialogue. I admire you all for not ‘running away’ but facing it squarely. I hope you all will continue to feel free about bringing up these topics. Real courage is being honest and risking offending others when the situation is not safe. Today, that is what I saw happen with several of you and for that, the class should be grateful.”

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

9. Understand differences in communication styles. Being aware of racial/cultural differences in communication styles as they influence a difficult dialogue is a necessity.

African American communication styles; Asian American communication styles; and White communication styles.

FACILITATING CONDITIONS/ STRATEGIES

10. Becoming culturally skilled and competent in facilitating difficult dialogues on race is a constant lifelong journey. Understand that everyone will commit racial blunders or make insensitive statements.

The issue is how you recover, not how you cover up!