On November 17, 2022, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) hosted a Diversity Education Training event that focused on microaggressions. The session was taught by Sherrie Fuller, the Coordinator of Diversity Education.
In this session, participants learned about what microaggressions are, reflected on what they learned, and considered ways to do better.
A microaggression is “a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial minority).” Phrased in another way, “Microaggressions are the everyday slights, insults, putdowns, invalidations, and offensive behaviors that people experience in daily interactions with generally well-intentioned individuals who may be unaware that they have engaged in demeaning ways” (adapted from Sue et al. 2007).
In our daily lives, we need to be aware of “our stuff” that we are born with and what we learn from environment, and work on aligning intention with impact.
The rest of the session identified themes of microaggressions (i.e. color blindness, ascription of intelligence, myth of meritocracy, environmental, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc.); considered the psychological impact of microaggressions, such as anxiety, depression, loss of drive, a decrease in confidence, and physical consequences; and learned how individuals as well as supervisors and leaders can help mitigate microaggressions.
The session closed with a list of things to think about:
- We have to coexist
- We are responsible for each other
- Intention and impact
- Don’t be afraid to have conversations and listen and reflect—be willing to be uncomfortable and intervene to have that dialogue
WMU English ABAR Group 