The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Anran Tang
Dong Hee Jang
Brandon Irby

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Imagine that you belong to a racial minority group in your school, and someday when
one of your classmates asks you the question that you are tired of answering in your whole life:
where are you from, while complimenting you for speaking good English. You can do nothing
but to thank their kindness and compliment. When encountering a situation like this, racial issues
that are seemingly small and cause minor to no harm emerge under the surface of the deceptively
friendly faces of your classmates that belong to racial majority groups.
Racism gradually become a more and more sensitive topic in todays developed society,
and it is believed that people are more aware of the harmful consequences that are brought by
racist actions. However, according to Thompson & Neville (as cited in Sue et al, 2007), that
racist issues continues to raid the United States regardless of decades of civil rights movement
trying to change racial interactions. Whats more, it is even stated in President Clintons Race
Advisory Board that (a) racism is one of the most divisive forces in our society, (b) racial
legacies of the past continue to haunt current policies and practices that create unfair disparities
between minority and majority groups, (c) racial inequities are so deeply ingrained in American
society that they are nearly invisible, and (d) most White Americans are unaware of the
advantages they enjoy in this society and of how their attitudes and actions unintentionally
discriminate against persons of color (Advisory Board to the Presidents Initiative on Race,
1998).
Although theres no doubt that most people in the United States are aware of the racism
issue existed in this immigrant country, and are trying to make effort to eliminate the harms of it,
the stereotypes and racist actions towards racial minorities still exist, and it is believed, according
to Thompson & Neville (as cited in Sue et al, 2007), that in recent history, racism in North

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

America has undergone a transformation, which are described as modern racism with a more
subtle form.
This paper focused on these kinds of subtle racial issues happen in school. The issues are
somewhat undervalued to most students and teachers, but the research our group conducted
shows that it is essential for us to put effort to prevent these forms of racism from happening
between daily communication by utilizing different communication strategies. Following
discussed the harm of Racial Microaggression and the dilemma of preventing it, the invisibility
and minimized damage of Racial Microaggression. The solutions of Racial Microaggression and
how to communicate better when encountering it, and the strategies thought to be better to solve
the communicative barriers according to the articles and the interview results are discussed as
well.

Getting to Know Racial Microaggression

The existence of todays racism phenomenon in school, which is usually minor, invisible,
unintended, can be led to a term called Racial Microaggression. According to the article Racial
Microaggressions in Everyday Life, the definition of Racial Microaggression 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 (Sue et al, 2007).
Our group conducted a 10-question interview (the interview questions are listed below in
the appendix section) that are focused on different aspects of Racial Microaggression, such as the
experience related to it, the action taken when encountering Racial Microaggression, and the
solution may take to prevent this issue. We picked 9 students, including both males and females,
aged from 15 to 22 years old, which would allow us to get all levels of students, plus 1 professor
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The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

that are either Asian Americans, African Americans, or International students on OSU campus.
Most of our participants answered that they have experienced similar situation when their
communication partner did not realize that they were stereotyping or implementing negative
racial slights while communicating with them either verbally or nonverbally.
One of the answers that stood out during these interviews was an Asian female student
that our group interviewed. She stated that, I sometimes experienced stereotyping in class. In
one of my classes, some of my classmates always talks about Asian students high GPA. Among
the other students our group interviewed, especially for Asian students, all of them brought up
the issue that they always face the situation when someone else saying Asians always get the
highest GPA in class. This phenomenon is defined by the article as a statement that transmits the
message of All Asians are intelligent and good at studying (Sue et al, 2007).
Another person that our group interviewed was a 20-year-old African-American, and he
responded that he has experienced minor racial attacks. He stated that, one person said to him,
Youre black and you aren't an athlete, how did you even make it into Ohio State. We asked
him if that was a positive or negative experience for him and the reason for it, he answered, It
was a negative experience, because It was bad stereotyping and I feel if I wasnt an African
American, that person would not have said that to me. In the article Racial Microaggressions in
Everyday Life, Sue et al (2007) described these statements as Racial Microaggressions that
convey messages such as people of color are not generally not as intelligent as Whites, and it
is unusual for someone of your race to be intelligent.
Looking back at the interview results about the experiences of Racial Microaggression, it
has been determined that Racial Microaggression has negative influence on our participants,
since most of our interviewees expressed negative to neutral emotional reactions to the racial

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

experiences they have. Racial Microaggression can be harmful to people because it is obvious
that not all Asians have high GPA, not all black people are athletic and unintelligent, and not all
white people are racist. Our results of the interviews have showed us that Racial
Microaggression is a growing concern in school. Whats more, many of our interview results
stated that the interviewees felt offended sometimes when racial jokes are made during
communication in class, and they think that it reflects model minority stereotypes. When asking
about whether racism happens during teacher-student interaction, some of our interviewees
expressed that although severe racism does not happen on a regular basis, stereotypes happen
daily even the person does not mean to conduct harmful messages towards racial minorities.
Based on the article On campus, a new civil rights era rises, minority students mostly agreed that
they are being tokenized, or in other words, being treated like minorities (Bruinius &
Mendoza, 2016), which is being said, stereotyping is becoming an increasingly serious problem
on campus.

Harms of Racial Microaggression

Sue's American psychologist article laid his theory and an initial taxonomy of
microaggressions back in 2007. For now, Sues team is intervening how these subtle
communications are varied among various populations. Sue and his team conducted interviews
with thirteen African-American, who explained their perception of microaggression
interpretations and the emotional toll they were going through. The respondents affirmed that
these backhanded communications made them feel they werent worth of belonging, they are
abnormal, or they are untrustworthy. Some respondents described their terrible feeling of being
looked suspiciously in the malls as if they were thugs (Sue, 2010).

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

The power of racial microaggressions lies in their invisibility to the perpetrator and,
oftentimes, the recipient (as cited in Sue, 2007) -- this statement indicates that there are
dilemmas impeding students from preventing Racial Microaggression because of the
unintentional actions and invisibility. The harms caused by Racial Microaggression seems to be
minor and unimportant, and yet as stated above, based on our interview results and literature
reviews, most minorities experienced negative emotional appeal when facing Racial
Microaggression. To get better and specific results of the harmful aspects of Racial
Microaggression, our group classified the term based on the article by Sue et al (2007), that
Racial Microaggression is categorized as three types: microassault, microinsult, and
microinvalidation.
Specifically focused on one of the three types of Racial Microaggression, one of our
interview participants, an African-American student stated that he has experienced a lot of
behaviors that were, to him, demeaned his racial identity, which is defined as Microinsult by Sue
et al (2007). The interviewee depicted the experience to our group, that he went to a
predominantly white school, and some quotes that he experienced in that school were, you are
black, how can you afford to go to this school?, and you're black and you don't play sports?.
According to the article Racial Microaggressions Against Black American, Pre-assuming that
Black individuals are inferior in status and credentials are one of the issues that emerged during
the several studies that were conducted by researchers, which indicates that racial
microaggressions would result in psychological distress in African-Americans, and the racerelated stress occurs more frequently in response to subtle and invisible forms of racism (2008).
The same answer was also provided by the participant as the questions asked by his white
classmates, he felt aggrieved and would try to halt the communication if this happened again.

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Other than microinsults, several answers that were related to microinvalidation also
grabbed our attention. We had 2 participants that are Asian students stated that they used to be
put in a situation when a white student complimented them for speaking good English and asked
where they came from. Since both of them are international students, so the experiences were not
necessarily negative, but they would not be happy if they were kept asking about these kinds of
questions. As defined by Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life, microinsult is characterized
by communications that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or
experiential reality of a person of color (2007), and the experiences fit what the participants
have provided us. Needless to say, this phenomenon is quite common no matter the individual of
minority was born and raised in the United States, or held another cultural background. The
cognition and pre-assumption of individuals of minority are all perpetual foreigners is a typical
action from an individual of majority excluding the minorities and trying to conduct racism acts.
Therefore, as stated above, the acts of racial microaggression and the three types within have
relatively negative impact on individuals of minority, and have the possibility to result in mental
distress.
While our group did not get proper answers for microassualt, as defined by Racial
Microaggressions in Everyday Life, microassualt is an explicit racial derogation characterized
primarily by a verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through namecalling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory actions (Sue et al, 2007). The term can
be labeled when someone uses racial epithets on people of color, which is the closest type to the
so-called old fashioned racism, since it is the only type that is often consciously conducted.

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Strategies Help Prevent Racial Microaggression

While studying Sues theory, we found that not everybody thinks or agrees that
microaggressions are rampant and destructive as Sue refers them. In fact, respondents to in
rebuttal letters of the 2007, accused Sue of too much blowing of the phenomenon out of
proportion and propagating a negative agenda. If his theory was implemented, it would restrict
rather than promoting the candid interaction between people of different racial groups. One of
the critics to Sues work, Kenneth R. Thomas, University of Wisconsin-Madison, a white person
says looking at every word of Sues work would potentially discourage therapist genuineness.
Also, Sues work is supposed to enforce a victim mentality by executing problems that didnt
exist before. Thomas says the theory characterizes people of the color as vulnerable and weak, it
reinforces a tradition of victimization instead of preaching a culture of opportunity.
Another firm owner, Kenneth Sole, PhD owner of Sole and Associate Inc. that train
workers on team communication agrees with Sue that microaggressions are potentially
damaging. To avoid embarrassment and intimidation of his workers after clients complain about
them, he works with them to empower rather than victimize them. Sole says that when a white
makes an offensive remark to his black employees, the latter could choose to be angry or
perceive the arrogance of the white and move on. For Sues part, Sole believes it is important to
keep the light shining on the harmful encounters the people of color are inflicted no matter how
he decide to handle it. As Kenneth Sole maintains, it is important to preach the invisible to
become visible. As microaggression are invisible, making them visible allows us to see the
inhuman actions and attitudes that are discriminatory and unjustified by humanity.
Then the question is posed: how do we prevent Racial Microaggression, or, how do we
make it visible? It is hard to make the change since some of the Racial Microaggression acts are

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

deeply related to stereotypes and the ingrained values of the society. To extend our research
findings beyond the dilemma of preventing Racial Microaggression, our group collected insights
and thoughts from our research participants as well as scholarly sources.
Through the development of globalization, especially in a country for immigration like
the United States, accommodating others during either verbal and nonverbal actions is essential
over our daily communication. The more important thing is, to stop judging people based on
their race and stereotypes towards that race, as well as to think before speaking, yet not to
overthink. It was mentioned by one of our participants, a 22-year old Asian communication
student, that it is important to think from others perspectives and accommodate other cultures.
To see a person as an individual, but to not alienate them or assess all their actions based on their
race, either neglect their cultural differences, is what we need to consider when communicating
with a person of different cultural background. For instance, when we see an African-American
does something, we should try not to link his/her action to their race, or when we see an AsianAmerican gets a high score in the exam, we should try to conclude this on her individuals
intelligence but her race.
It is also worth mentioning that in some cases different minority groups can face distinct
actions or messages of Racial Microaggression. While some of our research findings indicate
that a lot of minority groups are facing minor and invisible, the participants of our research that
are African-Americans all reported more intense, hostile, and sometimes consciously-conducted
messages while encountering Racial Microaggression. When conversations step into a more
aggressive situation because of inappropriate acts are conducted, the both victims and
transgressors should be trained for conflict management. While it is almost harmful to both sides
to be competitive fighting style when facing a conflict that relates to racism, it is effective if the

The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

both sides are collaborating and acknowledge the harm of Racial Microaggression. The
aggrieved feelings and race-related stress of the victims are necessary to be discussed when
minorities are facing Racial Microaggression, and it would be making the harms of the invisible
racism visible if the both sides of the conversation can come to an agreement of it. Of the six
styles of conflict management, the collaborating style is evaluated as the most effective and
appropriate in managing conflict (as cited in Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, 2014). However,
from the answers of other minority groups other than African Americans, most of the victims of
Racial Microaggression, either being able to perceive the hostile messages or not, would choose
to yield the unpleasant situation. Based on Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, yielding style is usually
ineffective when hoping to achieve personal goals and would strain the relationships of the
people involving in the conversation (2014). It is obvious that when encountering Racial
Microaggression, we should not ignore the actions of the transgressor and let go of the
depressing feelings of oneself. To prevent Racial Microaggression, it is important for both
victims and transgressors to directly face the problem and to accommodate others values and
beliefs.

Conclusion
As presented above, racism has evolved into its modernized, more subtle (up to invisible
for the perpetrator and the victim) form, which arises from racial stereotypes and can be
unintended. Since stereotyping is a cognitive issue rather than racial, preventing racial
microaggression requires regular communication and understanding between the representatives
of the majority and the minorities, to make sure that peoples skin colors do not account for their
actions, along with communication being adjusted to make account of cultural differences.

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The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Reference
Bruinius H., & Mendoza J. (2016). On campus, a new civil rights era rises. The Christian
Science Monitor Weekly, 20-23.
Guerrero, L. K., Andersen, P., & Afifi, W. A. (2014). Close Encounters: Communication in
relationships. SAGE Publications.
Sue, D.W., Capodilupo, C.M., Torino, G.C., Jennifer M. Bucceri, Holder, A.M.B., Nadal, K.L.,
& Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for
clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286.
Sue D. W., Nadal K. L., Capodilupo C. M., Lin A. I., Torino G. C., & Rivera D. P. (2008). Racial
Microaggressions Against Black Americans: Implications for Counseling. American
Counseling Association, 86, 330-338.

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The Prevention of Racial Microaggression

Appendix
Interview questions:
1. Have you ever encountered racial topics that are brought up by either a teacher or a student in
class that are aiming towards your race? If so, how do they talk about the topics related to your
race? Is that experience positive or negative?
2. Do you think racism happens from a teacher-student perspective? If so, how?
3. If you feel offended when your teachers/students joking about your race even though you know
they dont mean it, how do they usually talk about your race when it happens?
4. Please provide us any experience you have when someone provides you minor hostile messages
via either verbal or nonverbal communication aiming on your race if youve experienced it
before or can think of any thats close to it.
5. What would you respond when someone using racial epithets on you?
6. What would you respond when someone(normally a white co-worker) asking you how did you
get your job?
7. What would you respond when youre repeatedly asked where were you born or complimented
for speaking good English?
8. Do you feel that white people are also victims of racism from a teacher to student interaction?
And how do you think that it happens?
9. How do you think that we should communicate with each other to prevent these minor
communicative messages that are hostile, derogatory, or the negative racial slights and insults
toward people of color?

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