1. Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Making the “Invisible” VisibleBy
Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University
Lawrence University: Diversity Conference
August 18, 2017

2. Race Talk
January
2015

3. IN In Memory of Maya Angelou OF

4. Dedication Maya Angelou 1928-2014 Still I Rise
“You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.”
“You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.”

5. African Proverb
“The true tale of the lion hunt will never be told as long as the hunter tells the story.”
White Talk vs. Back Talk: Challenging the Master Narrative (Stories)

6. White Talk vs. Back Talk: The Rest of the Story
“You speak excellent English!”
“Where were you born?”
Environmental Microaggressions

7. Manifestation and Impact of Microaggressions
Adapted from: Caplan & Ford (2014). Voices in Diversity. Aporia, 6,
Arab American Male Student:
My [last name] is a very Muslim name, and even though I act like everyone else….people make terrorist jokes “What’s up Bin Ladin?” or “Oh yeah, you have a bomb in your backpack?”.. I kind of looked at him and I was like “Shut up, don’t say that” and he was like “You know I’m just joking.”

8. Manifestation and Impact of Microaggressions
African American female Student:
I was with a girlfriend who is white. We have been best friends since grade school. We were shuffling through yearbook pictures and she said look at that “nigger.” I said “What!” She said to me, “Not you, just them. You’re not like them… you’re different…you are a good person.” I hit her and stomped out. Even though she later apologized, she was never my friend again.

9. Racial Microaggression Impact
“It gets so tiring, you know. It sucks you dry. People don’t trust you. From the moment I [African American male] wake up, I know stepping out the door, that it will be the same, day after day. The bus can be packed, but no one will sit next to you……I guess it may be a good thing because you always get more room, no one crowds you. You get served last…when they serve you, they have this phony smile and just want to get rid of you….you have to show more ID to cash a check, you turn on the TV and there you always see someone like you, being handcuffed and jailed. They look like you and sometimes you begin to think it is you! You are a plague! You try to hold it in, but sometimes you lose it. Explaining doesn’t help. They don’t want to hear. Even when they ask, ‘Why do you have a chip on your shoulder?’ Shit…I just walk away now. It doesn’t do any good explaining.” (Sue, 2010, p. 87).
Questions: Is life as hard as this Black man describes? Is he exaggerating or misreading the action of others? Is he oversensitive or paranoid? Is he right in concluding that others don’t want to listen to his explanations? Why is he so angry and resentful? Do you believe him or not? If not, what are your reasons?

10. Microaggressions 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 marginalized status in society.

11. Microaggressions
Microaggressions are “subtle, stunning, often automatic 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, women or LGBTpersons often automatically or unconsciously.

12. Microaggressions
Simply stated, microaggressions are brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to marginalized groups.
In private and public situations, people of color, for example, 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 perpetrator and target.
The perpetrators (whether mental health professionals, co-workers or teachers) 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.

13. Microaggressive Examples
Racial Microaggressions
A third generation Asian American student is complimented by a White classmate for speaking such “good English.” (Hidden Message: Asian Americans are perpetual aliens in their own country.)
A Black student is complimented by the teacher for being so articulate and bright. (Hidden Message: Most Blacks are inarticulate and lack intelligence.)
Gender Microaggressions
A female resident (physician) wearing a stethoscope is mistaken by medical students for a nurse. (Hidden Message: Women should occupy nurturing and not decision-making roles. Women are less capable than men.)
Male students in private refer to a female teachers as “bitchy” while their male counterparts are described as “decisive and confident teachers.” (Hidden Message: Women should be passive and allow men to be decision makers.)

14. Microaggressive Examples
Sexual Orientation Microaggressions
Students in class refer to a fellow straight student as “gay” (“That’s so gay!”)who is socially ostracized. (Hidden Message: People considered weird, strange, deviant or different are “gay.”)
A lesbian client reluctantly discloses her sexual orientation to a straight counselor trainee by stating that she was “into women.” The counselor indicates he is not shocked by the disclosure because he once worked with a client who was “into dogs.” (Hidden Message: Same-sex attraction is abnormal and deviant.)
Other Socially Devalued Group Microaggressions
When bargaining over the price of a used book, one student says to the other “Don’t try to Jew me down.” (Hidden Message: Jews are stingy and money-grubbing.)
A blind student reports that teachers, staff, and fellow students raise their voices when speaking to him in the school. He responds by saying “Please don’t raise your voice; I can hear you perfectly well.” (Hidden Message: A person with a disability is defined as lesser in all aspects of physical and mental functioning.)

15. Microaggressive Themes: People of Color and Women in Academia
Employees and students of color often report:
experiencing the work or campus climate or public and private spaces as isolating, alienating, extremely stressful, risky, unsafe, and invalidating (Harlow, 2003; Stanley, 2006; Turner, Gonzalez & Wood, 2008);
being “the only one” that leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness (Alexander & Moore, 2008);
lacking mentors who possess knowledge of the “people of color experience” (Stanley, 2006);
having their intelligence, competence and scholarship devalued and considered illegitimate (Guzman, Trevino, Lubuguin, & Aryan, 2010);
having their racial or gender identities assailed (Harlow, 2003);
experiencing elevated levels of stress and distress (APA, 2016, Johnson-Bailey & Cervero, 2008);
being subjected to biased criteria in hiring, retention, and promotion decisions (Fenelon, 2003), and
having many more White co-workers, supervisors, and colleagues question their qualifications or credentials (Harlow, 2003).

16. Six Basic Assumptions
1. We have been socialized into a society in which there exists individual, institutional and societal biases associated with race, gender and sexual orientation.
2. None of us are immune from inheriting the biases of our ancestors, institutions and society.

17. Six Basic Assumptions
3. It is not “old-fashioned” racism, sexism and heterosexism that is most harmful to people of color, women and LGBT persons but the contemporary forms known as microaggressions.

18. Disparities: Old Fashioned Bigotry or Microaggressions
White EuroAmerican males are only 33% of the population:
1. They occupy 80% of tenured positions in higher education.
2. 80% of House of Representatives
3. Over few years between 80%-90% of the U.S. Senate
4. 92% of Forbes 400 Executive CEO level positions
5. 90% of Public School Superintendents
% of Athletic Team Owners
% of U.S. Presidents

19. Six Basic Assumptions
4. The characteristics of these forms of bias are their invisible, unintentional and subtle nature; usually outside the level of conscious awareness.
5. Racial, gender and sexual orientation microaggressions create psychological dilemmas for the perpetrator and recipient because they represent a clash of racial, gender and sexual orientation realities.
6. Microaggressions create a hostile and invalidating climate for marginalized groups, saps their spiritual and psychic energies, and their cumulative nature can result in depression, frustration, anger, rage, loss of self esteem, anxiety, etc.

20. Harmful Impact Controversy
Microaggressions are constant and continual without an end date (an everyday hassle may be time limited).
Microaggressions are cumulative and any one may represent the feather that breaks the camel's back
Microaggressions must be deciphered because they contain double messages (especially microinvalidations)
Microaggressions are constant reminders of a person's second class status in society
Microaggressions symbolize past historic injustices (enslavement of African Americans, incarceration of Japanese Americans and the taking away of land from Indigenous peoples.

21. Harmful Impact
Studies reveal, that microaggressions, while seemingly trivial in nature have major consequences for marginalized groups in our society because they:
increase stress in the lives of people of color (APA, 2017),
deny or negate their racialized experiences (Neville, Awad, Duran, Lee & Browne, 2013),
lower emotional well-being (Ong, Burrow, Fuller-Rowell, Ja & Sue, 2013),
increase depression and negative feelings (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Hamit & Rasmus, 2014),
assail the mental health of recipients (Sue, Capodilupo, & Holder, 2008),

22. Harmful Impact (continued)
impede learning and problem solving (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall & Lewis, 2012; Salvatore & Shelton, 2007),
impair employee performance (Hunter, 2011),
take a heavy toll on the physical well-being of targets (Clark, Anderson, Clark & Williams, 1999)
contribute to stereotype threat (Steele, Spencer & Aronson, 2002), and
contribute to the imposter phenomenon experienced by people of color (Cokley, Smith, Bernard, Hurst, Jackson et al, 2017).

23. Plane Incident: Psychological Dilemmas
1. Clash of Racial Realities
2. Invisibility
3. Perceived Minimal Harm
4. Catch-22

24. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DILEMMAS
Dilemma One: Clash of racial realities.
“Did the person engage in a microaggression or did the person of color simply misinterpret the action?
The racial reality of people of color is different from the racial reality of White Americans.

25. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DILEMMAS
Dilemma Two: The Invisibility of Unintentional Expressions of Bias.
The perpetrator of a microaggression is usually sincere in the belief they acted without racial bias.
Herein lays a major dilemma. How does one prove that a microaggression has occurred? More importantly, How do we make the perpetrator aware of it?
The most accurate assessment about whether racist acts have occurred in a particular situation is most likely to be made from those most disempowered rather than those who enjoy the privileges of “power”

26. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DILEMMAS
Dilemma Three: Perceived Minimal Harm of Racial Microaggressions.
When individuals are confronted with their microaggressive behaviors, the perpetrator usually believes that the victim has overreacted, is being overly sensitive and/or petty.
Usually, Whites consider microaggressive incidents to be minor and people of color are encouraged (by Whites and oftentimes by other people of color) to “not waste time or effort on it.” “Let it go!”
However, microagressions are associated with a negative racial climate and emotions of self-doubt, frustration, and isolation.
While microaggressions may be seemingly innocuous and insignificant, their effects can be quite dramatic (psychological well-being and inequities in health care, education, and employment.

27. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DILEMMAS
Dilemma Four: The Catch-22 of Responding to Microaggressions.
When a microaggression occurs, the recipient is usually placed in a Catch-22. The immediate reaction might be a series of questions:
“Did what I think happen, really happen? Was this a deliberate act or an unintentional slight? How should I respond? Sit and stew on it or confront the person? What are the consequences if I do? If I bring the topic up, how do I prove it? Is it really worth the effort? Should I just drop the matter?

28. Catch-22 of Responding
The levels of conflict that go on within a person of color are multifaceted.
1. First, the person must determine whether a microaggression has occurred. People of color rely heavily on experiential reality that is contextual in nature and involves life experiences from a variety of situations.
To people of color, connecting the dots suggest it is a nonrandom event. Whites evaluate the incident in isolation and fail to see a pattern of bias, are defended by a belief in their own morality, and can in good conscience deny that they discriminated.

29. Catch-22 of Responding
2. Second, how one reacts to a microaggression may have differential effects, not only on the perpetrator but the person of color as well. Deciding to do nothing by sitting on one’s anger is one response.
This response can occur because recipients may (a) be unable to determine whether a microaggression has occurred, (b) be at a loss of how to respond, (c) rationalize that “it won’t do any good anyway”, (d) engage in self-deception through denial – “It didn’t happen,” (e) determine the consequences are too great or (f) rescue or protect the offender.
While these explanations for non-response may hold validity to the person of color, not doing anything has potential psychological harm. It may mean a denial of one’s experiential reality, dealing with a loss of integrity, or dealing with pent up anger and frustration likely to take both a psychological and physical toll.

30. Catch-22 of Responding
3. Third, responding with anger and striking back is likely to engender negative consequences for persons of color as well. They are likely to be accused of being racially oversensitive, paranoid or that their emotional outbursts confirm stereotypes about minorities.
In this case while feeling better in the immediate moment by relieving pent-up emotions, the reality is that the general situation has not been changed.
In essence, the Catch-22 means you are “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t”.

31. Overcoming Microaggressions
1. Acknowledge and accept the fact that you are a product of cultural conditioning and have inherited the biases, fears, stereotypes of your ancestors.
We have been socialized into a society in which there exists individual, institutional and societal biases associated with race.
None of us are immune from inheriting the biases of our ancestors, institutions and society.

32. Overcoming Microaggressions
2. Understand yourself as a racial/cultural being by making the “invisible,” visible. Race, culture and ethnicity is a function of each and everyone of us. It is not just a “minority” thing.
“I had never thought about myself as being White until this class….I don’t know why, but I always thought that race referred to only Blacks or other minorities, and why can’t people just be people, like everyone else? When you ask me about getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror whether I see myself as a White person…….I don’t. You know, I really don’t want to think of myself as a white person! There’s something about it that’s bad or uncomfortable about doing so.” (White student diary).

33. Overcoming Microaggressions
3. Be open and honest about your vulnerabilities.
All the white people I know deplore racism. We feel helpless about racial injustice in society, and we don’t know what to do about the racism we sense in our own groups and lives. Persons of other races avoid our groups when they accurately sense the racism we don’t see (just a gays spot heterosexism in straight groups, and women see chauvinism among men). Few white people socialize or work politically with people of other races, even when our goals are the same. We don’t want to be racist – so much of the time we go around trying not to be, by pretending we’re not. Yet, white supremacy is basic in American social and economic history, and this racist heritage has been internalized by American white people of all classes. We have all absorbed white racism; pretense and mystification only compound the problem.” (Sara Winter)

34. Overcoming Microaggressions
4. Monitor and make sense of your emotional reactions.
“When someone pushes racism into my awareness,
I feel guilty (that I could be doing so much more); angry (I don’t like to feel like I’m wrong); defensive (I already have two Black friends...I worry more about racism than most whites do - isn’t that enough): turned off (I have other priorities in my life with guilt about that thought): helpless (the problem is so big - what can I do?). I HATE TO FEEL THIS WAY. That is why I minimize race issues and let them fade from my awareness whenever possible.” (Sara Winter).

35. Overcoming Microaggressions
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.

36. Overcoming Microaggressions
5. Everyone commits racial blunders. Don’t become defensive. Recover, not cover up!
“I was deeply troubled as I witnessed on a daily basis the detrimental effects of institutional racism and oppression on ethnic-minority groups in this country. The latter encounters forced me to recognize my privileged position in our society because of my status as a so-called Anglo. It was upsetting to know that I, a member of White society, benefited from the hardships of others that were caused by a racist system. I was also disturbed by the painful realization that I was, in some ways, a racist. I had to come to grips with the fact that I had told and laughed at racist jokes and, through such behavior, had supported White racist attitudes. If I really wanted to become an effective, multicultural psychologist, extended and profound self-reckoning was in order. At times, I wanted to flee from this unpleasant process by merely participating superficially with the remaining task…while avoiding any substantive self-examination.” (Dr. Mark Kiselica).

37. When is Microaggression Awareness Successful?
Difficult dialogues are successful when individuals
truly listen to one another and engage in a “dialogue” rather than a “monologue”,
become less defensive,
are able to understand the worldview of others,
become increasingly comfortable with differences between themselves and others, and
achieve new insights about themselves, about others, and about how our society treats racial issues.

38. OUTCOME OF SUCCESSFUL MICROAGGRESSION AWARENESS
Group Outcome
The President’s Initiative on Race has found that constructive conversations have the following potential group impact:
Heal racial and ethnic divides.
Reduce prejudice and misinformation.
Foster improved race relations.

39. OUTCOME OF SUCCESSFUL MICROAGGRESSION AWARENESS
Personal Cognitive Outcome
On a cognitive level, cross-racial interactions and dialogues are a necessity
to increase racial literacy,
to expand the ability to critically analyze racial ideologies, and
to dispel stereotypes and misinformation about other groups

40. OUTCOME OF SUCCESSFUL MICROAGGRESSION AWARENESS
Personal Emotional Outcome
On an emotive level, participants of successful racial dialogues report
less intimidation and fear of differences,
an increased compassion for others,
a broadening of their horizons,
appreciation of people of all colors and cultures, and
a greater sense of connectedness with all groups

41. Perpetrators (It is all of us!): Become Enlightened
OVERCOMING MICROAGGRESSIONS – Prevention and Remediation
Bias Prevention
Bias Cleanse
Bias Check
Anti-Bias Action
Principle One – Learn From Sources Within The Group – Bias Cleanse & Bias Prevention
Principle Two – Learn From Healthy and Strong People of The Culture – Bias Cleanse & Bias Prevention
Principle Three – Learn From Experiential Reality – Bias Cleanse & Bias Prevention
Principle Four – Learn From Constant Vigilance of Your Biases and Fears – Bias Check
Principle Five – Learn From Being Committed to Personal Action Against Bigotry – Anti-Bias Action

42. Racial Microaggressions
Figure 1 – Categories and Relationship of Racial Microaggressions
Racial Microaggressions
Commonplace 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.
Ascription of Intelligence
Assigning a degree of intelligence to a person of
color based on their race.
Second Class Citizen
Treated as a lesser person or group.
Pathologizing cultural values/communication styles
Notion that the values and communication styles of people of color are abnormal
Assumption of Criminal status
Presumed to be a criminal, dangerous, or deviant based on race.
Alien in Own Land
Belief that visible racial/ethnic minority citizens are foreigners.
Color Blindness
Denial or pretense that a White person does not see color or race.
Myth of Meritocracy
Statements which assert that race plays a minor role in life success.
Denial of Individual Racism
Denial of personal racism or one’s role in its perpetuation.

43. Table 1: Examples of Racial Microaggressions
Themes
Microaggression
Message
Alien in Own Land
When Asian Americans and Latino Americans are assumed to be foreign-born
“Where are you from?” “Where were you born?”
“You speak good English.”
“A person asking an Asian American to teach them words in their native language.”
You are not American.
You are a foreigner.  
Ascription of Intelligence
Assigning intelligence to a person of
color based on their race
“You are a credit to your race.”
“You are so articulate.”
Asking an Asian person to help with a math or science problem
People of color are generally not as intelligent as Whites
It is unusual for someone of your race to be intelligent.
All Asians are intelligent and good in math/sciences.
Color Blindness
Statements that indicate that a White person does not want to acknowledge race
“When I look at you, I don’t see color.”
“America is a Melting Pot”
“There is only one race, the human race”
Denying a person of color’s racial/ethnic experiences.
Assimilate/acculturate to dominant culture.
Denying the individual as a racial/cultural being.

44. Criminality/Assumption of Criminal Status
A person of color is presumed to be dangerous, criminal, or deviant based on their race
A White man or woman clutching their purse or checking their wallet as a Black or Latino approaches or passes.
A store owner following a customer of color around the store.
A White person waits to ride the next elevator when a person of color is on it.
You are a criminal.
You are going to steal/ You are poor/ You do not belong.
You are dangerous.
Denial of Individual Racism
A statement made when Whites deny their racial biases.
“I’m not racist. I have several Black friends.”
“As a woman, I know what you go through as a racial minority.”
I am immune to racism because I have friends of color.
Your racial oppression is no different than my gender oppression. I can’t be a racist. I’m like you.
Myth of Meritocracy
Statements which assert that race does not play a role in life successes.
“I believe the most qualified person should get the job”
“Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough.”
People of color are given extra unfair benefits because of their race.
People of color are lazy and/or incompetent and need to work harder.
Pathologizing Cultural Values/Communication Styles
The notion that the values and communication styles of the dominant/White culture are ideal.
Asking a Black person: “Why do you have to be so loud/animated? Just calm down.”
To an Asian or Latino person: “Why are you so quiet? We want to know what you think. Be more verbal.” “Speak up more.”
Dismissing an individual who brings up race/culture in work/school setting
Assimilate to dominant culture.
Leave your cultural baggage outside.

45. Second Class Citizen
Occurs when a White person is given preferential treatment as a consumer over a Person of color
Person of color mistaken for a service worker.
Having a taxi cab pass a person of color and pick up a White passenger
Being ignored at a store counter as attention is given to the White customer behind you
“You people…”
People of color are servants to Whites. They couldn’t possibly occupy high status positions.
You are likely to cause trouble and/or travel to a dangerous neighborhood.
Whites are more valued customers than people of color.
You don’t belong. You are a lesser being.
Environmental
Microaggressions
Macro-level Microaggressions, which are more apparent on systemic and environmental levels
A college or university with buildings that are all named after White heterosexual upper class males
Television shows and movies that feature predominantly White programs, without representation of people of color
Overcrowding of public schools in communities of color
Overabundance of liquor stores in communities of color
You don’t belong/ You won’t succeed here. There is only so far you can go.
You are an outsider/ You don’t exist.
People of color don’t/shouldn’t value education.
People of color are deviant.