From the course: Dealing with Microaggression as an Employee

Defining microaggression

- Microaggressions. It's probably a buzzword you've heard in the workplace, school or in a social setting. You see, it's easy to cite the obvious overt behaviors of racism like using race-based slurs or threats, but more subtle and insidious forms of racist stereotyping can be hard to pin down. It's important to know that racism comes in many forms, but there are two categories, overt and covert and microaggression is covert. So where does the term microaggressions come from? It's not just another euphemism or fancy code word for racism. It's researched and well-studied, microaggressions was coined after the civil rights era by Professor Chester M Pierce and revived in recent years by psychologist Darryl Wing Sue. Microaggression by technical terms is defined as brief in everyday exchanges that act as insults or send denigrating messages to marginalized groups. The micro in microaggression refers to person-to-person interactions while the macro refers to systemic racism. Systemic racism includes social structures and institutions. For example, your employer choosing to only recruit at Ivy League or Big 10 institutions that disproportionately have lower numbers of Black or indigenous people of color is the macro in the macro aggressive behavior. But when they find talent of color at those institutions to recruit, saying things like, you're different than what I expected. This is the micro in microaggression. Microaggressions are constant stings and barbs and studies show that they negatively impact job satisfaction, self-esteem, and physical and mental health of marginalized professionals. As with any buzzword, the meaning gets diluted at best and ignored at worst, but that doesn't erase the harmful impacts. According to the Center of Talent and Innovation, race discrimination outside of work affects the majority of underrepresented employees. 78% of Black employees, 52% of Asian employees, and 50% of Latinx employees say they've experienced discrimination or bias outside of work and are fearful of it for themselves or their families compared to 28% of white employees. Yet while employees carry this pain to work, they cannot unburden themselves. More than two out of three are currently uncomfortable discussing race relations, and 29% feel it's never acceptable at their company to speak out about experiences of race-based bias. More alarming, Black employees who said it was never acceptable to discuss race relations at work are more than twice as likely to regularly feel isolated and/or alienated at work. Black professionals also shared that they've experienced microaggressions at higher rates than other ethnic groups. Defining microaggressions and discussing it are the first steps in identifying when it occurs and recognizing it from other forms of racism. And sometimes microaggressions are so subtle that it's unclear what's actually happening. The invisibility of microaggressions may be more harmful than more overt and deliberate acts. In fact, the major vehicle for racism in the United States is subtle offenses done to marginalized groups in egregious and never ending ways. For example, take the mispronunciation of ethnically challenging names that force individuals to shorten, hyphenate, or make their names socially acceptable. The impact that names have in the workplace environment and the implicit bias associated with competency or cultural experiences can be overwhelming. These offenses are microaggressions that over time contribute to a system of oppression. So, whew. Let's all take a deep breath. That was a lot. I know. The work we have to do in eliminating microaggressions is to make the invisible visible. The power of microaggressions lies in the invisibility to the perpetrator. So in order to address it, we must define it, recognize it, and call it out.

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