“It is not the White supremacists, Ku Klux Klan members, or Skinheads, for example, who pose the greatest threat to people of color, but instead well-intentioned people, who are strongly motivated by egalitarian values, believe in their own morality, and experience themselves as fair-minded and decent people who would never consciously discriminate… On a conscious level they may endorse egalitarian values, but on an unconscious level, they harbor antiminority feelings.”
Prof. DERALD WING SUE
MICROAGGRESSIONS IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Randy Mendez, 38, from Eugene, Oregon, says being asked “Where are you really from?” over and over again starts to feel like the question is really, “So, what are you doing here?” He says that he always says that he was born in Oregon, but his father is from Mexico, since that seems to be what people are usually asking. He says nobody ever asks him where his mother is from. (Reported by Christina Zdanowicz, CNN, “No, Where Are You Really From?)
When a co-worker or a supervisor asks you “Where are you from?” or “Where were you born?” it is sending you a message that “You are not American” and that “You are a foreigner.” [iii] Such aggressive action should be addressed thoughtfully, and without delay. See, STOP Technique: Microaggression.
Experts believe that plain expressions of racism (hate crimes, physical assaults, use of racial epithets, and blatant discriminatory acts) are increasingly transformed into a more “contemporary and insidious form that hides in our cultural assumptions/beliefs/values, in our institutional policies and practices, and in the deeper psychological recesses of our individual psyches.”[iv] In other words, “race experts believe that racism has become invisible, subtle, and more indirect, operating below the level of conscious awareness, and continuing to oppress in unseen ways.” [v]
“Microaggressions can be directed at any marginalized group. Groups that are marginalized by our society exist on the margins (lower or outer limits) of social desirability and consciousness.” [vi]
Microinvalidation
“Microinvalidations may potentially represent the most damaging form of the microaggressions.” [vii] For example, statements such as “I ’ m not homophobic, I have a gay friend, ” “ I have nothing against Muslims, I’ve a good friend who is a Muslim,” and “ As an employer I treat all men and women equally ” may possess the following hidden messages: “ I am immune to heterosexism, ” “ The only reason I have hesitations about interracial relationships is concern about the offspring and it has nothing to do with personal bias,” and “ I never discriminate against women.” When such statements are made to a person of color, for example, they deny the racial reality of the individual (an experience that personal racial bias resides in everyone).[viii]
When asked “Where are you from?” in the context of this article, the aggressor is attempting to invalidate the victim’s expertise, knowledge, humanity, position and standing in the company or the community.
Experts do recognize microaggression as bullying.[ix] Bullying has no room in workplace and should not be tolerated.
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[i] Please Stop Asking People of Color Where They’re From. Eisa Nefertari Ulen, Reader’s Digest. March 25, 2022.
[ii] Unmasking “racial micro aggressions”, Tori DeAngelis, American Psychological Association, February 2009, Vol 40, No. 2, Page 42.
[iii] Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation /Derald Wing Sue. Taxonomy of Microaggressions, Table 2.1, Page 32.
[iv] DeVos & Banaji, 2005; Dovidio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson 2002; Nelson, 2006; Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008.
[v] Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation /Derald Wing Sue. Chapter: The Changing Face of Racism, Page 8.
[vi] Id. pp. 13-14.
[vii] Id. p. 37.
[viii] Id. p. 38.
[ix] Bullying and Microaggressions, David Rivera Ph.D., Psychology Today. (2011)
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