Racial microaggressions as a tool for critical race research
TL;DR: In this article, critical race theory is used to explain how everyday forms of racism emerge in the everyday experiences of people of color, and they provide a framework for understanding and analyzing racial microaggressions that demonstrates how everyday racist events are systemically mediated by institutionalized racism.
Abstract: This conceptual article utilizes critical race theory (CRT) to explain how everyday forms of racism – racial microaggressions – emerge in the everyday experiences of People of Color. We provide a framework for understanding and analyzing racial microaggressions that demonstrates how everyday racist events are systemically mediated by institutionalized racism (i.e. structures and processes), and guided by ideologies of white supremacy that justify the superiority of a dominant group (whites) over non-dominant groups (People of Color). To demonstrate the conceptual utility of the framework, we utilize historical and contemporary examples of racial micoraggressions, and offer varied ways to use the framework in critical race research. We argue racial microaggressions can be a powerful ‘tool’ for identifying, disrupting, and dismantling the racism that marginalizes, subordinates and excludes People of Color in and outside of education.
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TL;DR: A new strategic framework developed for addressing microaggressions is introduced that moves beyond coping and survival to concrete action steps and dialogues that targets, allies, and bystanders can perform (microinterventions).
Abstract: Given the immense harm inflicted on individuals and groups of color via prejudice and discrimination, it becomes imperative for our nation to begin the process of disrupting, dismantling, and disarming the constant onslaught of micro- and macroaggressions. For too long, acceptance, silence, passivity, and inaction have been the predominant, albeit ineffective, strategies for coping with microaggressions. Inaction does nothing but support and proliferate biased perpetrator behaviors which occur at individual, institutional and societal levels. This article introduces a new strategic framework developed for addressing microaggressions that moves beyond coping and survival to concrete action steps and dialogues that targets, allies, and bystanders can perform (microinterventions). A review of responses to racist acts, suggest that microaggression reactions/interventions may be primarily to (a) remain passive, retreat, or give up; (b) strike back or hurt the aggressor; (c) stop, diminish, deflect, or put an end to the harmful act; (d) educate the perpetrator; (e) validate and support the targets; (f) act as an ally; (g) seek social support; (h) enlist outside authority or institutional intervention; or (h) achieve any combination of these objectives. We organize these responses into four major strategic goals of microinterventions: (a) make the invisible visible, (b) disarm the microaggression, (c) educate the perpetrator, and (d) seek external reinforcement or support. The objectives and rationale for each goal are discussed, along with specific microintervention tactics to employ and examples of how they are executed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
301 citations
Cites background from "Racial microaggressions as a tool f..."
...We concur with Huber and Solorzano (2014) that the term racial macroaggression be reserved for systemic and institutional forms of racism that is manifested in the philosophy, programs, policies, practices and structures of governmental agencies, legal and judicial systems, health care…...
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...Huber and Solorzano (2014) used the term macroaggression to refer to the power of institutional and structural racism....
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...The reasons for inaction appear particularly pronounced and applicable to the expression of racial microaggressions (Sue et al., 2007), and racial macroaggressions, a concept to be introduced shortly (Huber & Solorzano, 2014)....
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TL;DR: The authors used Critical Race Theory to analyze and present the effects of teachers leaving the teaching force at faster rates than their White counterparts, despite recruitment efforts, teachers of Color are underrepresented and leave the teaching workforce at faster rate than their white counterparts.
Abstract: Despite recruitment efforts, teachers of Color are underrepresented and leaving the teaching force at faster rates than their White counterparts. Using Critical Race Theory to analyze and present r...
152 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a timely conceptualization of how public and societal fears related to COVID-19 may contribute to unique mental health disparities and the presence of race-based trauma among Asians and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders residing in the United States is presented.
Abstract: Following the outbreak of COVID-19, reports of discrimination and violence against Asians and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have increased substantially. The present article offers a timely conceptualization of how public and societal fears related to COVID-19 may contribute to unique mental health disparities and the presence of race-based trauma among AAPIs residing in the United States. The relationships between media, increasing rates of xenophobia and sinophobia, and racial discrimination are provided. Next, the deleterious effects of race-based discrimination on the emotional and physical well-being of people of color and Indigenous groups (POCI) and AAPIs are described. Finally, the article identifies the clinical implications of counseling AAPI clients, encourages a decolonization of current trauma-focused interventions, and presents specific strategies to heal race-based trauma in AAPI client populations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
100 citations
Cites background from "Racial microaggressions as a tool f..."
...…for Counseling Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders In the United States, an ideology of White supremacy exists, which justifies policies and practices that maintain the subordination of people of color through social arrangements using power and White privilege (Huber & Soloranzo, 2015)....
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100 citations
TL;DR: This article explored a curricular reform project that integrated explicit attention to issues pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, representation, visualization, and communication of data in an introductory computer science class.
Abstract: Data visualizations are now commonplace in the public media. The ability to interpret and create such visualizations, as a form of data literacy, is increasingly important for democratic participation. Yet, the cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills needed to produce and use data visualizations and to develop data literacy are not fluidly integrated into traditional K–12 subject areas. In this article, we nuance and complicate the push for data literacy in STEM reform efforts targeting youth of color. We explore a curricular reform project that integrated explicit attention to issues pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation, representation, visualization, and communication of data in an introductory computer science class. While the study of data in this unit emphasized viewing and approaching data in context, neither the teacher nor the students were supported in negotiating the racialized context of data that emerged in classroom discussions. To better understand these dynamics, w...
88 citations
Cites background from "Racial microaggressions as a tool f..."
...…one such process that has received a great deal of attention in research that examines race and racism in classrooms and educational settings (Pérez Huber & Solórzano, 2015; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015; Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo, & Rivera, 2009; Wang, Leu, & Shoda, 2011; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, &…...
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...First, racial microaggressions are largely identified through the post-hoc accounts of targets (Pérez Huber & Solórzano, 2015; Yosso et al., 2009) or, in some instances, by researchers using observation protocols (Suárez-Orozco et al., 2015)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control in the UK as much as in the US as mentioned in this paper, despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men.
Abstract: In a bold and innovative argument, a rising legal star shows readers how the mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control. This is a terrifying reality that exists in the UK as much as in the US. Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men and deprives an entire segment of the population of their basic rights.
4,913 citations
"Racial microaggressions as a tool f..." refers background in this paper
...Could this be an example of what Michelle Alexander (2012) refers to as the ‘New Jim Crow.’...
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...Thus, the macroaggression that operates in Floyd is in fact, the ideological beliefs in white superiority that led to actions of law enforcement to criminalize Men of Color through such policies13 (see Alexander 2012)....
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...Separate facilities for People of Color in the 1930’s ‘South’ were normative in dominant society, practiced and enforced accordingly in automatic and unconscious ways by many whites, accepted as a ‘natural’ way of life (Alexander 2012)....
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TL;DR: Almost all interracial encounters are prone to microaggressions; this article uses the White counselor--client of color counseling dyad to illustrate how they impair the development of a therapeutic alliance.
Abstract: Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnic minorities. A taxonomy of racial microaggressions in everyday life was created through a review of the social psychological literature on aversive racism, from formulations regarding the manifestation and impact of everyday racism, and from reading numerous personal narratives of counselors (both White and those of color) on their racial/cultural awakening. Microaggressions seem to appear in three forms: microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation. Almost all interracial encounters are prone to microaggressions; this article uses the White counselor--client of color counseling dyad to illustrate how they impair the development of a therapeutic alliance. Suggestions regarding education and training and research in the helping professions are discussed.
3,916 citations
"Racial microaggressions as a tool f..." refers background in this paper
...…are delivered (verbal, behavioral, environmental) and the various forms they take (microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation) (Constantine 2007; Constantine and Sue 2007; Sue 2010; Sue and Constantine 2007; Sue et al. 2007a, 2007b) that has proved very useful in microaggressions research....
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: Using critical race theory as a framework, the authors provided an examination of racial microaggressions and how they influence the collegiate racial climate using focus group interview data from African American students at three universities.
Abstract: Microaggressions are subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously. Using critical race theory as a framework, the study described in this article provides an examination of racial microaggressions and how they influence the collegiate racial climate. Using focus group interview data from African American students at three universities, it reveals that racial microaggressions exist in both academic and social spaces in the collegiate environment. The study shows how African American students experience and respond to racial microaggressions. It also demonstrates how racial microaggressions have a negative impact on the campus racial climate. ... one must not look for the gross and obvious. The subtle, cumulative miniassault is the substance of today's racism... (Pierce, 1974, p. 516) In and of itself a microaggression may seem harmless, but the cumulative burden of a lifetime of microaggressions can theoretically contribute to diminished mortality, augmented morbidity, and flattened confidence. (Pierce, 1995, p. 281) These two epigraphs by psychiatrist Chester Pierce over a 21-year period speak volumes about an important, persistent, and underresearched social problem in the United States: racial microaggressions. Little is known about microaggressions, and yet this subtle form of racism has a dramatic impact on the lives of African Americans. Pierce and his colleagues have defined racial microaggressions as "subtle, stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal exchanges which are 'put downs' of blacks by offenders" (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Wills, 1978, p. 66). They further maintain that these "offensive mechanisms used against blacks often are innocuous" and that the "cumulative weight of their never-ending burden is the major ingredient in black-white interactions" (p. 66). Additionally, Davis (1989) defined racial microaggressions as "stunning, automatic acts of disregard that stem from unconscious attitudes of white superiority and constitute a verification of black inferiority" (p. 1576). Racial microaggressions, or unconscious and subtle forms of racism, though pervasive, are seldom investigated (Delgado & Stefancic, 1992; Johnson, 1988; Lawrence, 1987; Sol6rzano, 1998). Occasionally, African American students get a glimpse into the world of unconscious racism as demonstrated in comments such as those related to us by students who participated in the study described in this article: "When I [a White person] talk about those Blacks, I really wasn't talking about you," "You [a Black person] are not like the rest of them. You're different," "If only there were more of them [Black people] like you [a Black person]," and "I don't think of you [a Black person] as Black." Referring to White authority figures in particular (i.e., judges and other criminal justice authorities), Davis (1989) has suggested that Whites are capable of such utterances because "cognitive habit, history, and culture [have made them] unable to hear the range of relevant voices and grapple with what reasonably might be said in the voice of discrimination's victims" (p. 1576). Subsequently, as Pierce (1974) maintained, each Black person "must be taught to recognize these microaggressions and construct his future by taking appropriate action at each instance of recognition" (p. 520). RACE, RAcism, AND RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS Our study of the collegiate racial climate and the effect of racial microaggressions begins by defining race and racism. One can argue that dominant groups often attempt to legitimate their position via ideological means or a set of beliefs that explains or justifies some actual or potential social arrangement. According to Banks (1995), an examination of U.S. history reveals that the "color line" of race is a socially constructed category, created to differentiate racial groups and to show the superiority or dominance of one race-in particular, Whites-over others. …
2,144 citations
"Racial microaggressions as a tool f..." refers background in this paper
...…include engaging in counterspaces, places located within or outside of educational institutions where People of Color develop strategies for healing, empowerment, and building a sense of community (Grier-Reed 2010; Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso 2000; Solorzano and Villalpando 1998; Yosso et al. 2009)....
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...…2012; Matias 2012; Masko 2005; Mosley 2010; Orozco 2012; Pérez Huber 2011; Rollock 2012; Rolón-Dow 2011; Smith, Yosso, and Solorzano 2006; Smith et al. 2007a, 2007b; Solorzano 1998; Solorzano and Villalpando 1998; Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso 2000; Urrieta and Villenas 2014; Yosso et al. 2009)....
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TL;DR: This article explored the psychological, social, and physiological effects of perceived racism among African Americans, and provided a biopsychosocial model for perceived racism as a guide for future research.
Abstract: Various authors have noted that interethnic group and intraethnic group racism are significant stressors for many African Americans. As such, intergroup and intragroup racism may play a role in the high rates of morbidity and mortality in this population. Yet, although scientific examinations of the effects of stress have proliferated, few researchers have explored the psychological, social, and physiological effects of perceived racism among African Americans. The purpose of this article was to outline a biopsychosocial model for perceived racism as a guide for future research. The first section of this article provides a brief overview of how racism has been conceptualized in the scientific literature. The second section reviews research exploring the existence of intergroup and intragroup racism. A contextual model for systematic studies of the biopsychosocial effects of perceived racism is then presented, along with recommendations for future research.
2,002 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Using critical race theory as a framework, this paper provided an examination of racial microaggressions and how they influence the collegiate racial climate using focus group interview data from African American students at three universities.
Abstract: Microaggressions are subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously. Using critical race theory as a framework, the study described in this article provides an examination of racial microaggressions and how they influence the collegiate racial climate. Using focus group interview data from African American students at three universities, it reveals that racial microaggressions exist in both academic and social spaces in the collegiate environment. The study shows how African American students experience and respond to racial microaggressions. It also demonstrates how racial microaggressions have a negative impact on the campus racial climate. ... one must not look for the gross and obvious. The subtle, cumulative miniassault is the substance of today's racism... (Pierce, 1974, p. 516) In and of itself a microaggression may seem harmless, but the cumulative burden of a lifetime of microaggressions can theoretically contribute to diminished mortality, augmented morbidity, and flattened confidence. (Pierce, 1995, p. 281) These two epigraphs by psychiatrist Chester Pierce over a 21-year period speak volumes about an important, persistent, and underresearched social problem in the United States: racial microaggressions. Little is known about microaggressions, and yet this subtle form of racism has a dramatic impact on the lives of African Americans. Pierce and his colleagues have defined racial microaggressions as "subtle, stunning, often automatic, and nonverbal exchanges which are 'put downs' of blacks by offenders" (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Wills, 1978, p. 66). They further maintain that these "offensive mechanisms used against blacks often are innocuous" and that the "cumulative weight of their never-ending burden is the major ingredient in black-white interactions" (p. 66). Additionally, Davis (1989) defined racial microaggressions as "stunning, automatic acts of disregard that stem from unconscious attitudes of white superiority and constitute a verification of black inferiority" (p. 1576). Racial microaggressions, or unconscious and subtle forms of racism, though pervasive, are seldom investigated (Delgado & Stefancic, 1992; Johnson, 1988; Lawrence, 1987; Sol6rzano, 1998). Occasionally, African American students get a glimpse into the world of unconscious racism as demonstrated in comments such as those related to us by students who participated in the study described in this article: "When I [a White person] talk about those Blacks, I really wasn't talking about you," "You [a Black person] are not like the rest of them. You're different," "If only there were more of them [Black people] like you [a Black person]," and "I don't think of you [a Black person] as Black." Referring to White authority figures in particular (i.e., judges and other criminal justice authorities), Davis (1989) has suggested that Whites are capable of such utterances because "cognitive habit, history, and culture [have made them] unable to hear the range of relevant voices and grapple with what reasonably might be said in the voice of discrimination's victims" (p. 1576). Subsequently, as Pierce (1974) maintained, each Black person "must be taught to recognize these microaggressions and construct his future by taking appropriate action at each instance of recognition" (p. 520). RACE, RAcism, AND RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS Our study of the collegiate racial climate and the effect of racial microaggressions begins by defining race and racism. One can argue that dominant groups often attempt to legitimate their position via ideological means or a set of beliefs that explains or justifies some actual or potential social arrangement. According to Banks (1995), an examination of U.S. history reveals that the "color line" of race is a socially constructed category, created to differentiate racial groups and to show the superiority or dominance of one race-in particular, Whites-over others. …
1,985 citations