Observing microaggressions

So, over the course of this week, I found myself listening and waiting to observe microaggressions in everyday life. What actually wound up happening is that I discovered more while watching television than in my everyday life, because I was sick in bed all week! The hardest part now is trying to determine which instance of a microaggression I should blog about because there were so many. From Survivor to ABC primetime show, Last Resort to The View, there were many instances that I took note of.

I think the best example would be the incident I witnessed on the season premiere of the television show, Survivor. Members of one tribe were discussing who to vote off the island. The group consisted of 3 white players (2 female, 1 male), 1 africcan-american male and 1 african-american female. The white male was talking to the white female about the african-american female as they observed her speaking to the african-american male further off in the distance. The white male said “Oh, she’s gettin gangsta now.” I immediately stopped and thought what a great example this was of a microaggression. It speaks to the stereotype of the African-American female being “the angry Black woman”. When he said the comment of her ‘gettin gangsta’, he changed his vernacular to sound like a Black rapper using slang.

This microaggression is a prime example of racial and gender microagression. Maybe in so many ways, he didn’t necessarily know or realize that what he was doing could be deemed insulting of offensive, yet it shows the prominent dominance of the White culture over everything minority. I’ve noticed a lot with certain reality-type game shows that microaggressions play a big part in determining who stays, who goes, who wins, who loses. The game show aspect in and of itself is a competitive environment, so taking scenarios of dominance from the “real world” proves to exacerbate the competition more.

 

 

My three items..

This is a hard topic to blog about, as I think about what 3 items I would bring with me to represent my culture. Imagining the scenario as a refugee with my family, I would have to make the decision-do I bring items that represent the American culture or items that represent my African-American culture? And as I think more about what I would bring to represent my African-American culture, I have a hard time thinking of items that effectively characterize the culture without perpetuating a stereotype or inadvertently misrepresenting the culture.

So, I have decided to bring:

• A copy of the transcript of President Barack Obama’s first inaugaural speech (As this was a defining moment in history and especially African-American history, I would want to bring this with me to show the other country how important this is to me. More so, I would want it to represent my African-American culture, to demonstrate that we are educated and we can and do have power, despite how much the dominant culture tries to take it away or disregard it.)
• The entire DVD collection of The Cosby Show, A Different World and Martin. This counts as one item simply because they are portraying the same concept. I would want to show the host country that we, as a people, are successful, brilliant, talented, educated and passionate. Since these are 3 of my favorite shows that show my demographic in a positive and real way, I would want to expose them to this, rather than the alternative “reality” shows that have arisen in the past few years.
• Fianlly, I would bring my Bible. Even though many feel that the Christian religion was something that was also forced upon us by the dominant culture, we cannot deny that in times of struggle, we as a group, rely on faith and scripture and that religion to get us through tough times. Bringing my Bible would show the host country more about my faith and hopefully open the door to learn more about their faith. It would also help me and my family to get through this difficult time of transition.

If upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one item, it would be my Bible. I would feel strongly connected to my Bible as it is the same Bible I’ve had since I was a little girl and aside from the verses and the scriptures, there are numerous mementos and trinkets in there to keep me grounded and remind me of special people and times.