Microaggressions in Every Day Life

Initially I perceived the following experience as a micro aggression.  I was at a community forum this week for our local school district.  The superintendent was facilitating the discussion on how the school board will be making a decision on which elementary school to close in our neighborhood.  This is a community forum where you are guaranteed to have an upset parent or two because our children’s social/emotional balance could be thrown off a bit as they transition to a different school in two years.  As questions were being asked the superintendent was being attentive until a question came from an American Indian man.  As he started his question, the superintendent cut him off.  I perceived this as a micro-insult and was saddened by the negative message she was sending about this citizen’s question.  As the meeting progressed, the superintendent began cutting all parents off as they were asking their questions and I began hoping she did not insult this man based on his race since she was cutting many other parents off.

I felt my micro-aggression radar was very over active this week.  Whenever there was a person of a different race I was watching to see how people around them were communicating and interacting with them.  At one point I observed a white lady getting angry at an African American driver for no apparent reason and I had to wonder if the lady would have reacted the same way if the other driver was a white person.