When you ask a simple, harmless question like this one, be careful, folks -- it is "MICROAGGRESSION."
Huh?
Even my "Huh" can be a microaggression. I didn't realize that "huh?" in a surprised tone, expresses prejudice against what is now important to many, many people.
The term was coined by Chester M. Pierce in 1970; specifics were detailed by Mary Rowe in 1973 in her book in which she detailed various microaggressions -- references to sex, gender, and race. People paid attention for a while, but back then we were getting more and more involved with being "Politically Correct."
Now microaggression in the news -- a hot college-kid thing, that has also caught on with students' older-wiser friends, and inspired their peers -- professors, teachers, lecturers -- to examine these kinds of racist murmurs as a trend that reflects national guilt.
I think it's a good trend, a sensible trend -- it's not turning back the clock to our previous years of fretful awareness of the deep prejudice instilled in us from the beginning of our school days, (from even earlier).
Our chatty friendly remarks -- how we observe hair, skin color, facial and body features -- need to be examined. These subtle, friendly sounding, often automatic, exchanges -- for instance, put-downs of blacks by offenders -- play a role in unfairness in the legal system as they can influence the decisions of juries, and hey-- microaggesioning is what the Speaker of the House and his gang are doing daily, affecting how people view the successes or failures of the White House.
Is microagreession something YOU and I should deal with? Guys, we have learned before to keep track of anything that is a big deal for kids. I say focus on this -- learn all you can about microaggression -- dance it, sing it, practice it every day.
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4 comments:
I have become more and more sensitive to these in recent years. I think it's like becoming more and more sensitive to 2nd hand smoke. The less there is of it in my daily life, the more disturbed I am by the intermittent occurences
I never heard of this before, Em. Microagression isn't on the auto word fill in. Something to consider. I agree that we have to listen to the kids. At one time that was me and it has come to pass. Thank you, Em.
I figure if someone wants to tell me something about themselves they will. I do more listening than talking.
Hmm. When I read the sign, I thought, Writer. :-)
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