One example of a microaggression which happened this week was a microinsult. I had a parent come into our center to enroll their child and the parent happened to be a Spanish speaking parent. I assumed because he did not speak English that he would have a hard time filling out the forms which were in all English. We do not have our forms in Spanish yet. I asked him if he would have trouble filling out the form because it was in English and because of our studies this week I automatically felt like it was a microinsult. I really did not know at the time another way to ask him if he needed help with the forms. I am sure he felt that I thought just because he was Hispanic and spoke Spanish that right away he would not be able to fill out the forms. He told me that he would be okay and I told him that if he needed any help to please call and we would have one of our teachers who speaks Spanish help him.
I felt really bad, but did not know another way to find out if he needed help.
Not being on the receiving end of discrimination was a different feeling. I feel now how easy it is being ignorant in certain situation when you just don't know how to come across.
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that sometimes, we try to be polite but the way we sometimes say things may not be the best way. I agree with you that it was a microinsult when you asked your partent if he needed help with the paperwork since it is all in English. When parents come to sign-up their children with us, the clerks always ask if they need assistance or asked if they need assistance. However, if we are confronted with a parent whose first language may not be English, we often assume that they will always need help whether or not this is true. Thanks for sharing the great insight this week and being honest about it.
Hi Jamie, I thank it was good that you recognized how you may have insulted the man at your job. I also commend you for sharing such a relateable story of how microaggressions can happen even when we are trying to be polite. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully this story will help others to recognize some of the subtle microaggressions we all take part in from time to time.
ReplyDeleteJamie,
ReplyDeleteThis can be a difficult situation. Now that you mention it, I probably did this myself a few times this past school year. Boy, this has been a real eye opening class!
Thank you for sharing.
Jennifer