Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

                “People watching” has always been one of my favorite pastimes.  After a long day at work, when I first began teaching, I used to go to the big mall that was located in my city and just sit and watch people walk by.  I’d hear little snippets of conversation between mothers and children, arguments between boyfriends and girlfriends, and juicy gossip between high school girls.  It wasn’t about being nosey, it was refreshing to step out of my own existence and enjoy listening to others. 

                Every so often, I would hear a conversation that was upsetting in one way or another.  One day, shortly after Obama had been elected president, I was sitting in that mall and watching a group of old men talk and have lunch.  I was sitting close to them, reading a book, and they had acknowledged that I was there and had smiled at me.  At the same moment, one of my students spotted me and walked over with his mother to say hi.  He was in third grade and black, and was wearing a t-shirt that had a picture of Obama on it.  The caption read; “I’m next.”  He gave me a big hug and I greeted his mother and him, then held him at arm’s length and complimented him on his shirt.  He beamed from ear to ear and the mother gushed about how amazing it was to watch Obama’s inauguration.  When they walked away, I went back to reading my book. 

                As I was reading, I heard one of the old men say, “Can you believe that?  Now they all think they can be president!”  Another responded with, “They won’t be smiling when someone assassinates the nigger.”  It must have been at that moment that they noticed me staring at them with my mouth hanging open.  The four men that had previously smiled at me all glared and turned their backs to me.  I grabbed my things and walked away.  I didn’t know what to say.  This was an example of a microassault.  It was intentional and meant to harm whoever could hear it.  

                It disgusts me that people are still capable of generalizing black people, as well as using that horrible word to degrade them as a group.  I have never thought myself different from or better than the black population in our country.  I proudly voted for Obama because he was the best candidate at the time; I didn’t care if he was purple with yellow polka dots.  However, it is not only the black population in our country that experiences racism.  Being a staff member in a school that is more than 90% black has made me a minority for the first time in my life. 

                Over the last few weeks, I have had a student teacher working with me in my classroom.  Her father is white and her mother is black.  She is a smart, pretty, young girl who attends a private University and works hard.  I had hoped she would be able to relate with my student body on many levels; she is near their age and she is black.  However, my students began to reject her from the moment she entered my room.  It began with sexual comments from the boys; which led the girls to resent her.  It later led to the girls constantly telling her how “white” she is.  They said she was “so white” because she attended a private university and because she’s a cheerleader.  They also used that against her because she’s smart and she can’t dance.  I spoke with a few of my female students about their microinsults and how they could be negatively affecting my student teacher.  One of them responded; “Miss Douglass, she isn’t like us.  She IS white.”  I was baffled at the fact that she was continuing the very stereotypes that so many black people in our country have fought against.  She was calling her “white” like it was a bad thing to be, and her reasoning was that she was smart, talented, and attended a university.  As if this was something that only white people could accomplish. 

                I am often speaking to my students about their stereotypes toward white people, and am very candid with them about the stereotypes that I was exposed to growing up.  I want them to see that just because someone was taught one thing, does not mean that that is what they have to believe and practice in their adult life. 

                Stereotypes, racism, and discrimination will always exist.  I have learned that the only thing I can do is to be the best person I can be and to teach my students that they should do the same.  I always tell them that they don’t need to like everyone; they simply need to be tolerant and respectful.  Everyone is a person, and everyone is entitled to being who they are.  A saying I have always disliked is, “I don’t see color.”  Of course you see color.  Everyone sees color; and to pretend that it is not there is disrespectful to the individual.  It doesn’t matter if you were raised to believe that interracial marriages are wrong, or that all white people are rich.  What matters is that we learn to challenge those biases by getting to know people from different cultures and ethnicities, and we learn to appreciate our differences and celebrate the fact that we are all on this earth together.