Practice Awareness of Microaggressions

Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

When Head Start close for the summer I help out at a daycare center. One of my good friends name Esmeralda is a teacher in the one year old room. Esmeralda is from Asia. So one day we had a luncheon for the staff and parents. That day I was working with her and it was our turn to go get out our plate. When we walked in it was a couple parents and other staff in the room. So Esmeralda fixed her plate and another staff member said “Esmeralda I can’t believe you are eating other foods besides white rice, you always eat white rice is that all popular food that every Asian people eat”? I looked at Esmeralda and she looked like she was so angry. Esmeralda said “what you say”/ The other staff said “I was just wondering because that’s all you eat”. So then that’s when I said “my husband is from South Carolina and he eats white rice with everything. I told Esmeralda to ignore her that some people are just dumb. I felt bad because from learning about different microaggression I knew this was a form of micro-racial.

In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people

My experience with microaggression affect my perception of prejudice and stereotypes because I have learned that if people do not understand something they will tend to assume and make presumption. It makes me upset to know microaggression happens outside the level of awareness of well-intended individuals. It makes me disturbed when I observe hatred towards people of any culture, race, gender or ability. This week I learned to never assume things, ask meaningful questions and be kind and respectful.